PVR's Ajay Bijli shared his views on the theatrical revival post-pandemic in a podcast with Nikhil Kamath.
Ajay Bijli, the founder of PVR and current Managing Director of PVR INOX Ltd, shared his insights on the comeback of audiences to theatres post-pandemic in a recent conversation. The exhibitor shared that in south, which has revived after pandemic, some people are still hesitant to return as Bollywood films are still not clicking with the audience.
Bijli shared these views during the latest episode of WTF is podcast with Nikhil Kamath, co-founder of Zerodha. The podcast also had Sajith Sivanandan, President and head of Disney+ Hotstar, and Vijay Subramaniam, the Founder and Group CEO of Collective Artist’s Network as guests. The episode featured industry experts who share their insights on the preferences, trends, and cultural nuances that shape the entertainment landscape of the nation.
A Forbes India report had found that for 62% of the total box office revenue of India had come from south in 2021, while no Hindi film was in the top 5 of the highest-grossing films domestically in 2022. Ajay Bijli said theatres are making a comeback, “If the content is king, theatres are the kingdom.” He cited examples of hits like Hollywood’s Avatar 2 and the sleeper Bollywood hit The Kashmir Files as a resurgence of the theatrical experience in the country.
The pandemic had hurt the theatrical business in India, much like the rest of the world. While the highest-grossing films in the country had routinelsy grossed Rs 600-700 crore for several years, in 2020 and 2021, no film crossed Rs 500 crore. 2022 marked a revival with hits like RRR, KGF 2 down south but Bollywood still fell short. It wasn’t until this year that hits like Pathaan and Gadar 2 that Hindi films finally picked up pace.
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