Bollywood’s half-yearly report card is marked in red: A handful of hits and string of flops

Before 2023 began, film producer Anand Pandit had shared the lesson the Hindi film industry learnt from the great debacle of 2022 — “Don not take the audience for granted by offering the same, predictable fare day in and day out,” he had told indianexpress.com. But, in Adarsh’s opinion, the filmmakers were not paying attention.

“They have taken the audience for granted. I always say that the audience can be very ruthless as is evident with response garnered by some of the films, including Adipurush,” he said while adding that the filmmakers need to deliver what they promised, “Otherwise just don’t attempt it.”

Pathaan and then bust

The first big release of the year, Aasmaan Bhardwaj’s Kuttey, starring the likes of Tabu, Arjun Kapoor, and Radhika Madan, gave the year a dull start (Rs 4.65 cr). But, the trade rejoiced as Shah Rukh Khan returned to the theaters after a gap of four years with Pathaan. People swarmed into the cinema halls to watch SRK on the big screen, resulting in new box office records. The Siddharth Anand directorial became the highest-grossing Hindi film with a total collection of Rs 543.05 cr. It also became the fastest Hindi film to hit Rs 100 crore, Rs 200 crore, and Rs 300 crore nett box office.

Shah Rukh Khan in Pathaan.

Salman’s KKBKKJ, Akshay’s Selfiee, Kartik’s Shehzada, Ajay Devgn’s Bholaa failed

Just when trade experts and film industry insiders were celebrating this uptick, Kartik Aaryan’s Shehzada tanked at the box office and could only add Rs 32.20 cr to the total earnings of the film industry. After Kartik, it was Akshay Kumar who disappointed his fans and they rejected his film Selfiee. It had a lifetime collection of Rs 16.85 cr. Though Ranbir Kapoor’s Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar (Rs 149.05 cr) and Rani Mukerji’s Mrs Chatterjee Vs Norway (Rs 21.67 cr) saw a decent footfall, the films that followed didn’t give audience a reason to venture out of their homes.

Ajay Devgn, who delivered the hit Drishyam 2 last year, failed to work his magic with Bholaa (Rs 82.04 cr) and Salman Khan couldn’t take advantage of his fandom as his fans blatantly rejected Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan (Rs 110.53 cr). Smaller films like Zwigato, Bheed, Gumraah, and Afwaah barely sold any tickets.

Adipurush’s debacle

Adipurush’s debacle left Adarsh upset as he said, “The film had the potential to be a huge grosser because it is a depiction of the Ramayan. There were so many emotions involved in the film but they made a mockery of everything. They decided to revise some dialogues but that’s just a small part of it. What about so many scenes and cinematic liberties that you have taken? You made a joke out of what you have shown on the screen. Of course, the film started well at the box office because it was a retelling of Ramayan. People wanted to watch Ramayan on the big screen but just see how it fell after taking a good start. It crashed completely.” Made on a massive budget of Rs 500 cr, Adipurush ended its run in the theaters with just Rs 136.54 cr.

After January, no month could cross the threshold of Rs 1000 crore. Film producer and trade analyst, Girish Johar revealed, “Before the pandemic, which was in 2019, we clocked somewhere around Rs 2700 crore in the Hindi market in the first six months. In 2022, we clocked around Rs 1800-1900 crore. So, we were a bit down but it was a good recovery as the world came out of a pandemic. However, in 2023, I was expecting at least a 10 per cent jump vis-a-vis last year, which has not happened. We are the same in terms of what we clocked in 2022 in the first half, around 1900 crore only.”

Adipurush failed drastically at the box office.

While the likes of Akshay Kumar, Kartik Aaryan, Ajay Devgn and Salman Khan failed to deliver, Sudipto Sen’s The Kerala Story (Rs 242.20 cr) and Laxman Utekar’s Zara Hatke Zara Bachke (Rs 84.66 cr) emerged as the surprise contributors to the overall box office collection. Even recently released Satyaprem Ki Katha is performing decently well with Rs 38.50 cr already coming its way within the first weekend.

The success of these films has proven the observation of only big-scale films working on the silver screen after the pandemic, wrong. Girish Johar noted, “Earlier, it was said that post-pandemic, only big films will work, which The Kerala Story, Zara Hatke Zara Bachke, and Mrs Chaterjee Vs Norway have proved otherwise. They have shown that there still is life at the box office. People are willing to watch movies in the theaters. They do not only want tentpoles. They want to watch content-driven, good storytelling and good films also. I hope these films continue to flourish as they maintain the tempo of the box office.”

Small films did good business in the first half of 2023.

A close look at the box office performance of the movies in the first half of 2023 has made Johar understand that the filmmakers need to not only identify good stories, but they should also look at the budgeting again. “Cost has to be reworked,” he suggested.

Going forward, the film trade experts are looking forward to the rest of the year and are hoping that the upcoming releases will reverse the damage done by the ones that released during the first half of the year. Some of the major releases to look forward to are Shah Rukh Khan’s Jawan and Dunki, Salman Khan’s Tiger 3, Ranbir Kapoor’s Animal, and Akshay Kumar’s OMG 2.