“When everyone is chasing golden opportunities in Hollywood, I want to go to South Indian films. As Indian cinema transcends the boundaries of language and single handedly achieves, the financial status of the film industry will grow beyond imagination’: these are the words of Salman Khan. While talking about the promotion of Godfather movie, Salman talks about the need for Bollywood and the South Indian film industry to harmonize. It is noteworthy that this statement of Salman Khan is at a stage when the Bollywood film industry is going through a big crisis. As Bollywood faces crisis, South Indian cinema is seen conquering the world with shocking themes and approaches. This has literally taken Bollywood by storm. Some see it as a bad sign that the film industry is venturing into new territories from the city of Mumbai.
It is not a new thing that the film industry is in trouble. In Kerala too, the film industry has faced big crises at times. At one point Kerala was known in other states as the land of spices. Kerala’s broken film scene was seeking refuge in blue films to hold on. The filmmakers were able to realize that this problem was only of the film industry and there were no external problems. They came up with new resolutions. They tried to bring the family audience closer to the theatres. It was successful.
But this is not the problem in Bollywood. It is not a problem that can be solved within the film. Most of the problems are extraneous. It is largely due to the change in the political climate in North India.
What political change has affected Bollywood?
The Bollywood film industry is caught between hashtag campaigns and boycott calls. It has been a long time since the story writers, directors and stars have been hunted for the themes of the movie. There are huge campaigns against films which are believed by a section to speak against the country. Due to this very reason, there have been big limitations in Bollywood. Most are forced to make films to please certain sections. This makes the film ‘predictable’ and Bollywood has reached a big disaster.
There are calls to deport actors and filmmakers who have no national consciousness. Historical films that cannot interpret history according to certain ideas are sure to face attack. To overcome all this, the story writers of films spend more energy. Due to this very reason many factors that contribute to the success of the film have to be avoided.
The actor’s film speaking out against the policies of the ruling party and the critical subject matter will greatly upset the boycott community. Joining the campaign is a group of extremists. They argue that Bollywood issues are destroying Indian culture. Continual box office failures are adding strength to this campaign.
Talking to the media regarding the promotion of Poniyin Selvam movie, Aishwarya Rai said that today there is a social atmosphere where the audience is interested in watching films from all languages of the country. These words need to be specifically taken into the ongoing debates about Bollywood – South Indian films. No one will say that there were no good themes in South Indian cinema in the past. Bollywood has often been driven by South Indian films. But the accolades were centered around Bollywood. Acting in Bollywood films was considered a big deal even by South Indian actors. This situation is now changing. The reality is not that people want to watch movies from all languages, Bollywood’s thematic failure is driving the audience’s attention to non-language films. Aishwarya sees this change in India’s social environment. What they did was wrap it up in beautiful language.
Salman Khan and Aishwarya are among the stars who have stepped in with the new change. Salman made his Telugu debut at the age of 56 with Chiranjeevi’s ‘Godfather’. Aishwarya, who made her debut with Mani Ratnam’s Tamil film Iruvar, is showing her South Indian interest with her new film Ponniyin Selvan.
A spectacle for Bollywood
Bollywood films have faced massive setbacks this year as calls for boycotts have been raised. Bollywood films made with huge budgets broke eight stories. At the same time, South Indian films also achieved amazing results. Many of the films that have been hugely successful at the box office have collected over 100 crores. Starring Kamal Haasan, Vijay Sethupathi and Fahadh Faasil in lead roles, ‘Vikram’ collected Rs 432.50 crore worldwide. Mahesh Babu-Keerthy Suresh starrer Telugu film Sarkaru Vaari Pada collected Rs 200 crores. After Baahubali, RRR is a film made by director Rajamouli at a cost of 550 crores. The box office profit of the film is 1200 crores. The film managed to break box office records worldwide. Beast is a film starring Vijay and Pooja Hegde in lead roles. The collection of the film is 260 crores.
At the same time, most of the Bollywood films that were released with high expectations turned out to be a loss without an audience. Aamir Khan’s Lal Singh Chadha, Akshay Kumar’s Rakshabandhan and Vijay Devarakonda’s Liger were hit by a storm of boycotts before they even hit the theatres. Both Aamir and Akshay Kumar’s films were banned for political and religious reasons. But the reason behind the liger boycott is far more bizarre. Karan Johar is said to be one of the production partners of Liger as the main reason behind the boycott. In the talk show Koffee with Karan, there was also a controversy when there were remarks against the South Indian superstar Nayartara. Vijay Devarakonde was kicked out after speaking against the boycott culture in a press conference held as part of the promotion of his film. Ligar’s heroines who attended the pooja held at Tamil superstar Vijay’s house were criticized for sitting on the sofa while stopping the priests. The movie Ligar was made with the Hindi audience in mind.
A radical boycott
Boycott is a popular term in India for boycotting foreign products. Boycott is a powerful weapon in the method of non-violent struggle introduced by Gandhiji. Today, the same boycott is being used as a major violent weapon to disrupt the Bollywood industry. The boycott will also directly affect thousands of people who are making a living behind a multi-crore film. There is a movement to destroy the film industry because of hatred towards the actions or ideas of an actor. The boycott has also paralyzed those who work as technical assistants in the pre-production and post-production work of the film. Ordinary workers are also the real victims of the boycott culture. As protesters gather to destroy works that oppose their political or religious ideals, artists are left with a dilemma where they can’t imagine a new story.
Economic Reasons Behind Bollywood Crisis
Many other reasons can be found behind Bollywood’s crisis. Observations point out that most of the Hindi films are made without knowing the needs of the new generation. This is a major factor in driving audiences away from theatres. The fact that there are fewer single screen theaters in North India than in South India has also been raised as an issue. This is the factor that deters common people from going to the theater and watching the film. One has to pay three to four times the ticket price of a single screen theater in multiplexes. 62 percent of single screen theaters in the country are in South India. This is also the reason why South Indian films face more collection than Bollywood films, according to the study conducted by the SBI research team.
At the same time, the lack of oil in single screen theaters is not a new thing and Hindi films have become huge hits under the same conditions.
Entertainment packages of Hindi films are relatively high. Hindi films screened in Mumbai, the hub of Bollywood, are levied an entertainment tax of 45 percent. In Uttar Pradesh, it jumps to 60 percent. Meanwhile, Kannada and Tamil films are not subject to entertainment tax in their own country. In Andhra Pradesh, only 15 percent tax is levied on Telugu films. According to reports, only one-fifth of the 50 Bollywood films released last year broke even. Bollywood, which is facing a poverty of ideas, is making a last-ditch effort to gain success by dubbing and presenting hit films in languages including Malayalam.
Dhoni also loves South India
Former Indian cricket team captain M. S. Dhoni and his wife Sakshi prefer to center their new production house in South India. The experience of leading the Chennai Super Kings in the IPL should be considered to have strengthened Dhoni’s South Indian connection. The company starts with the name ‘Dhoni Entertainment’. Soon, when big budget films starring Allu Arjun, Junior NTR, Suriya and Dhanush are released under the banner of Dhoni Entertainment, more people may come here with industry opportunities in the future. South India will continue to dominate the Indian film industry until Bollywood is able to overcome the boycott threats and come back with the resources that the new generation of audiences want.