Year 2022 has been one of the worst years for the Hindi film industry. At least 14-15 films, which had big budgets and/or exciting star casts and lots of hopes pinned on them, failed to make the mark at the box-office. And of the 14 films, which scored at the ticket windows, just five were Hindi films, the others being dubbed versions of either South Indian films or of Hollywood films. The Hindi films which roared at the box-office were Drishyam 2, The Kashmir Files, Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2, Brahmastra: Part One – Shiva and Gangubai Kathiawadi. The other language films from India, which contributed phenomenally to the Hindi box-office were K.G.F. Chapter 2, RRR, Kantara and Karthikeya 2. The Hollywood films which created magic at the Hindi box-office were Avatar: The Way of Water, Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness, Top Gun: Maverick, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and Thor: Love And Thunder.
The total box-office revenues of the 14 successful films were almost equal to the box-office takings of the balance 183 unsuccessful/average films.
14 SUCCESSFUL VERSUS 183 UNSUCCESSFUL FILMS
The total box-office collections of the 14 successful films of 2022 was approximately Rs. 2,750 crore. This was around 50% of the total box-office collections of all the 197 films released in the year gone by. In other words, the total box-office revenues of the 14 successful films were almost equal to the box-office takings of the balance 183 unsuccessful/average films.
THE RESOUNDING FAILURES
Cirkus, Shamshera, Vikram Vedha, Jayeshbhai Jordaar, Samrat Prithviraj, Laal Singh Chaddha, Raksha Bandhan, Dhaakad, Salaam Venky, Liger, Heropanti 2, Jersey, Bachchan Paandey and Radhe Shyam were the resounding flops which, considering their canvas and/or their budgets and other things, ought to have scored at the turnstiles. In other words, the trade had pinned a lot of hopes on each of the aforementioned and a few other films but their initials, public reports and ultimate businesses disappointed big time.
SEQUELS AND FRANCHISE FILMS
Sequels and franchise films were popular. Of course, there were several franchise films which failed to enthuse the public.Heropanti 2, Ek Villain Returns, HIT: The 2nd Case, Khuda Haafiz Chapter 2: Agni Pariksha, Jurassic World: Dominion (dubbed) and Prem Geet 3 (dubbed) were the sequels which did not live up to the expectations generated by the success of the earlier part/s. However, a whole lot of second and later parts of films worked wonders at the turnstiles. Drishyam 2 and Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 were the Hindi sequels which not only did extremely well at the box-office but also exceeded the business of their respective first parts by leaps and bounds. Among the hit/super-hit dubbed franchise films were K.G.F. Chapter 2, Avatar: The Way Of Water, Karthikeya 2, Top Gun: Maverick and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
The faith that the magic of stars will return is born out of this philosophy: if great content without big stars can work, imagine what kind of crazy business can great content with top stars do!
STARS AND THEIR SHEEN
It was clear from the way films were falling at the box-office that stars had lost their shine and sheen in 2022. The loss may be temporary because there’s no way, the magic of the stars won’t return, but the disappearance of their magic, however transient, was for real. This happened because the audience became more discerning than ever. Exposed to world cinema on OTT platforms and YouTube during the Coronavirus lockdown, the audience’s tastes improved and they became more demanding than they ever were. Earlier, the public consumed even average fares with top stars, passing them off as entertaining content. But now, average content has no place in their scheme of things. Therefore, average stuff with the biggest of stars is no longer selling. However, great content with even lesser face value is working big time. The faith that the magic of stars will return is born out of this philosophy: if great content without big stars can work, imagine what kind of crazy business can great content with top stars do!
People started comparing the annual subscription charge of an OTT platform (which gives them the licence to watch unlimited number of films) with the outgoing for a family if it has to watch a film at the cinemas!
KILLING TICKET PRICES
High admission rates, especially in multiplexes, came into focus for two main reasons: films were falling like nine pins at the turnstiles, and the National Cinema Day was celebrated in India on 23rd September, when ticket prices were capped at Rs. 100. The brisk ticket sales on the National Cinema Day underlined the unhappy truth that ticket prices need to be reduced if footfalls in multiplexes particularly are to see a rise. High admission rates were blamed for many of the films failing to make their mark at the ticket windows. It was concluded that a lot of people preferred to wait for the films to be premiered on OTT platforms rather than watching them in cinemas at the prohibitively high ticket rates unless, of course, the films carried fantastic reports. People started comparing the annual subscription charge of an OTT platform (which gives them the licence to watch unlimited number of films) with the outgoing for a family if it has to watch a film at the cinemas!
Collections are usually bountiful during such weeks with big holidays. But in 2022, festival and national holiday releases had to bite the dust.
FESTIVE/NATIONAL HOLIDAY MYTH BROKEN
That producers clamour for cornering a festival weekend or a week of a national holiday to release their star-studded films is an open secret. Collections are usually bountiful during such weeks with big holidays. But in 2022, festival and national holiday releases had to bite the dust. Cirkus bombed in spite of being a Christmas release. In fact, the star-studded family fare did not even open decently in the festive days. Collections of Ram Setu and Thank God, the two Diwali releases, had nothing to thank God for. Before that, two big films — Laal Singh Chaddha and Raksha Bandhan — opened on the festive occasion of Raksha Bandhan, but both of them took dull starts and ultimately bombed at the box-office. However, a South dubbed film, Karthikeya 2, opened soon after the same festive occasion and a couple of days before the Independence Day, and although it started slow, collections picked up wonderfully because of positive word of mouth. Runway 34 and Heropanti 2, the two releases of the Eid week, neither opened too well nor did they succeed at the ticket windows.
Fresh subjects were tackled by the Southern makers. This has been the case since ages but it got underlined in 2022…
SOUTH MAKERS RISK-TAKERS
It was proven once again that South writers are more experimentative, and South producers, greater risk-takers. Fresh subjects were tackled by the Southern makers. This has been the case since ages but it got underlined in 2022 because not only did the dubbed versions of some of the South language films (released simultaneously or within a couple of weeks of the release of the original versions) fare extremely well but along with that, a lot of Hindi films bombed at the ticket-windows.
Bollywood had, years back, propounded the theory that the multiplex-frequenting audience were not interested in action fares.
ACTION: A UNIVERSALLY-APPEALING GENRE
Action films fetched returns not only from single-screen cinemas but from multiplexes too in 2022. South’s RRR and K.G.F. Chapter 2 were shining examples of action-oriented films fetching tons of money from multiplexes across India. Bollywood had, years back, propounded the theory that the multiplex-frequenting audience were not interested in action fares. Saying so, Hindi film producers concentrated on comedies, romantic films and family dramas. But with the success of Pushpa: The Rise Part 1 (dubbed) in 2021, and RRR (dubbed) and K.G.F. Chapter 2 (dubbed) in 2022, the theory fell flat on its face. The Hindi film industry learnt a major lesson from these South films: that the audience in multiplexes and single-screen cinemas are not divided on the basis of genre of films they consume.