What #BoycottBollywood? Gadar 2, OMG 2, Rocky Aur Rani show 'Bollywood is dead' claim was premature, foolish | Opinion

All it took was two bad years after a global pandemic where Hindi films failed to work the way they used to for naysayers to begin writing the film industry’s eulogies. Needless to say that the last couple of years have been a low phase for Bollywood in terms of both box office performance and the quality of content. Of course, that is largely because the two are related, something the makers were a bit late in understanding. But the series of flops, along with a lot of rage against nepotism and prolonged success of films from the south, led many to believe Bollywood was ‘dead’. Well, it took three films just three weekends to dispel that myth, and quite gloriously too.

Every year in the 2010s, the top 10 highest-grossing Indian films each year had at least seven Hindi films, sometimes even nine, leaving room for the odd Tamil or Telugu blockbuster. But it all changed after the pandemic. In 2021, the highest-grossing Indian film was Pushpa and the top 10 had only two Hindi films. The following year, the top four Indian films were all from down south. Bollywood had to be content with only four spots in the top 10. RRR and KGF 2 outdid most Hindi films with just the dubbed versions and even a small Kannada film like Kantara did more business than most biggies.

For Bollywood, 2023 began with Pathaan, the highest-grossing Hindi film in India ever. It grossed over Rs 1000 crore worldwide and rewrote records everywhere. But its success was attributed largely to the return of Shah Rukh Khan. Insiders and trade analysts were cautious in heralding the film’s success as some sort of a revival for Hindi films. It did, however, prove that no boycott trend and social media backlash can stop a film from succeeding if the audience wants to watch it.

Thankfully, Hindi cinema saw that feedback and applied it, even if it took them six months. The tide turned during the second half of the year. The last three weeks have shown that if you give the audience the film they want, nothing will stop them from going to the theatres. With Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani, there was the chatter about ‘less buzz’ and some muted boycott calls (it’s Karan Johar’s film after all). But it has crossed Rs 300 crore worldwide. OMG 2 saw controversies, court cases, censor trouble, and it came during one of the leanest phases of Akshay Kumar’s career. Yet it has coasted past the 100-crore mark easily.

With Gadar 2, there was no threat of boycott. Why would a patriotic film featuring the iconic Tara Singh face backlash, after all? But it had obstacles too. No trade pundit gave it any chance, with some doubting Sunny Deol’s pull and others wondering if Gadar would appeal to the Gen Z audiences. Well, if they weren’t convinced by the advance booking figures, then the scores of videos of fans arriving at theatres in tractors should have convinced them. Gadar 2 has been a phenomenon, surpassing the lifetime collections of films like Brahmastra and Adipurush in just a week-and-a half. The bottomline, yet again, is that the audience wanted to see it.

The lesson from the success of these films is that no amount of marketing gimmicks or cosmetic touch up of the content can help. Give the audience what they want and they will flock to the theatres. But there is a message to the so-called ‘boycott gang’ as well. They need to learn that Twitter (formerly, now X) is not representative of the audience mood. Social media trends, whether organic or manufactured, can hardly make or break a film. Here’s hoping both sets of ‘stakeholders’ can take home this feedback and the remaining four months of the year give us some great cinema and good old entertainment.