‘Hindi film industry is like dhobi ka kutta’: Kiran Rao says unlike South, Bollywood ‘doesn’t belong to any state, gets all the brickbats’

On The Streaming Show, Kiran expressed relief that on Netflix, Laaptaa Ladies did as well as Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s 2023 blockbuster Animal despite not boasting of big stars or gruesome action sequences. South directors like Vanga, and the South film industries in general, had been performing better than Hindi filmmakers and cinema over the past few years. Case in point: Pushpa, KGF, and Kantara.

But Kiran feels the Hindi film industry gets the shorter end of the stick. “We are not, as a film industry, supported by any state government. Even in Uttar Pradesh, we’re not the state language, Bhojpuri is. In every other state, the state takes ownership and the film industry is treated with the same regard as any other industry,” Kiran argued.

She referred to the Hindi film industry as “dhobi ka kutta,” implying that it doesn’t belong to anywhere specific. “It feels really sad. We get all the brickbats. Everybody keeps talking about how bad Hindi films are and they’re never successful. Within the industry, we’re just a mammoth beast and there’s no one organization that can take decisions for everyone. So, we’re in a tricky spot,” added Kiran.

She confessed that from her experience of promoting Laapataa Ladies prior to its theatrical release, Kiran learnt that there’s no point incurring huge costs on marketing. “Marketing is really like shooting in the dark at this point,” she said, adding, “Even cinemas, which are should be excited to show your trailers, don’t show them so you have to tag your trailer onto another film. You should have trailer programming in cinemas. I have to beg them to play my trailer. Sometimes, you have to pay them to play your trailer, just like you pay for an ad. It makes no sense to me.”

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Kiran reiterated that the theatrical distribution and exhibition system is “broken,” which the OTT platforms have scooped up. “OTT is benefitting from a lot of failures of our cinema system,” argued Kiran. However, she pointed out that the streaming platforms should also release granular data to filmmakers so that they can create in a more informed manner.