Bollywood social dramas lose steam

NEW DELHI :Hindi comedies and dramas with relevant social messages, which were a big draw before the Covid-19 outbreak, have lost steam at the box office after the pandemic. At that time, films like dangal, Bajrangi Bhaijaan and Badhaai Ho had made the cash registers ring.

However, the genre has witnessed a series of failures in recent years. Reflecting the trend in Hollywood, where big spectacles and superhero movies had replaced dramas in the late 2000s, industry experts say there has been an overdose of such films, leaving no distinction between the home screens and cinemas.

However, some still see hope. Well made movies, like 12th failure, can still get good numbers if done right, because the genre appeals to a family audience. “In recent times, we have mainly seen a lot of action films and comedies (released in cinemas), which try to replicate what has already been successful at the box office. That said, if made on the right scale and coupled with some kind of entertainment value, social dramas can also find an audience even if the number of titles made dwindles over time,” said film distributor and exhibitor Akshaye Rathi .

He pointed out the strong social messages even in an action movie like jawan in addition to small-scale films such as Zara HatkeZara Bachke and Satyaprem Ki Katha which stand out as attempts to take the genre forward in a year like 2023 when large-scale commercial artists like Pathan and Gadar 2 dominated the box office.

“People are tired now (of the genre); OTT has completely saturated that market. Since you see the same type of content in theaters and at home, it has lost its value. The public is looking for something new and fresh,” said independent exhibitor Vishek Chauhan, referring to recent failures such as Laal Singh Chaddha, Raniganj Mission and Raksha Bandhan.

Content genres often die from oversupply, Chauhan added, a trend that has also been observed in Hollywood, where the superhero genre is saturated.

That said, film industry experts point out that content consumption patterns are cyclical, so every few years there is a bias toward a certain genre that will change as preferences continue to evolve.

Additionally, over the last decade, there has been a good mix of audiences choosing to go out and watch a movie in the theater while also consuming content on OTT platforms. This event continues to balance perfectly with both formats growing in parallel, said Ashish Saksena, director of cinema operations at BookMyShow.

“At the end of the day, the quality of a film matters,” said Rahul Puri, CEO of Mukta Arts and Mukta A2 Cinemas. “If it has a connect with the audience, the tickets and collections will definitely be good. For example , a good social drama movie will have better numbers than a weak action movie and vice versa.”

The trend of comedies and dramas peppered with social messages took off in the late 2000s with hits like 3 Idiots, which coincided with the proliferation of multiplexes in urban areas that catered to upscale family audiences.

Actors like Akshay Kumar sought to capitalize on the genre with films like Toilet: Ek Prem Katha, pad man and Mangal Mission while newer names like Ayushmann Khurrana emerged with hits like Badhaai Ho, bullet and Dum Laga Ke Haisha.