How Indian Films Fared In First Six Months Of 2022

Two years since the pandemic outbreak, and most businesses are yet to get back on feet. Film industry, for one, is where things fared better. From Hollywood blockbuster Top Gun Maverick to south Indian films KGF Chapter 2 and Pushpa The Rise, and the Bollywood film Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 – movies got the audience back in theatres and kept the box office buzzing. The Indian box office, too, scored well but not many Hindi films made it to the top. Bollywood faded away in the glory of non-Hindi films in the Indian market in the first half of 2022.

The top five best box office collections of the year include three non-Hindi films and the Hindi ones rank only in the last two slots. Of those two, only one can be labelled as a Bollywood film. The Kashmir Files, which ranks fourth among top five, is a small budget film that surprised audiences as well as trade pundits with its box office performance. It does not have the usual Bollywood stars to pull audience to theatres either. Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 is the only film that really saved the grace for Bollywood. KGF Chapter 2, RRR, Pushpa The Rise, The Kashmir Files and Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 are the top five grossers for the first half of 2022 in India, in that order.

Unrealistic cinema is here for good

All the discussions of unrealistic cinema losing its charm since the pandemic outbreak, were shattered as mere chatter when India saw films such as KGF Chapter 2 and Pushpa The Rise scoring the biggest numbers at the ticket windows. The films had textbook concepts of entertainment in populist cinema and used the most cliched twists and character arcs. Yet, the audience flocked to theatres to watch them.

Elaborating on what clicked with the audience when KGF Chapter 2 crossed all language barriers to become a nationwide superhit, producer Ritesh Sidhwani from Excel entertainment says, “I guess what worked for the film was clearly the set up in part one. A certain promise was made and KGF part two delivered that promise. The credit for that goes to the writing and the story – a very simple but larger than life, entertaining story. And I think that character of Rocky (protagonist, essayed by Yash) became very endearing – for a simple promise to his mom, he takes on everything and everyone.” Excel Entertainment presented the film. The movie that has grossed nearly $55 million, also starred Raveena Tandon and Sanjay Dutt in important roles.

SS Rajamouli’s RRR also totaled $34 million. It starred Ram Charan, Jr NTR, Ajay Devgn and Alia Bhatt in important roles and was widely praised for the typical Rajamouli stature of production and film. Pushpa The Rise, starring Allu Arjun in the titular role, made $32 million.

What gets the audience to theatres?

There really is no formula to this, as most of our filmmakers often say. However, a close study of films doing well in recent times spell out one fact – a balanced combination of conscience and entertainment will work, irrespective of the genre. A case in point can be a comparison between Samrat Prithviraj and The Kashmir Files. Both the films were based on real life events from history and the narrative had a pro-Hindu perspective. While The Kashmir Files worked well, Samrat Prithivraj could not break even at the box office.

The Kashmir Files, directed by Vivek Agnihotri, and featuring his wife Pallavi Joshi alongside veteran actor Anupam Kher, dealt with the genocide of Kashmiri Pundits from the Kashmir in the 90s. The film was not only praised by those who aligned with its political agenda – others also praised it for a being a balanced and well-made film. A taut story powered by good acting made it a deal worth going for. All the elements were smoothly woven together in The Kashmir Files.

Made on an estimated budget of $2 million, The Kashmir Files earned around $31 million at the box office. Director Agnihotri says, “I think the honesty and truth of the film worked. There is a truth of Kashmir genocide which everyone knew exists and everyone wanted to know more about it but nobody dared put it together. We dared to bring it out. People had seen our struggle and hard work. So there was credibility. Nobody could say that this had not happened. And the truth was so gut-wrenching that it connected everyone in pain. After a long time people felt real empathy towards another human being and this created an unprecedented word of mouth.”

He adds, “Everyone was skeptical of the theme. Everyone thought such an intense theme may not work, immediately after pandemic. ‘How will a film with so much pain work with the masses?’ Another apprehension was, whether people will come to theatres after the latest wave of the pandemic.”

On the other hand, Samrat Prithviraj, featuring Akshay Kumar in the titular role of an Indian king, could not attract similar responses. The film did not even bag an opening expected from a usual big-budget film headlined by Kumar. It did not even cross $6.5 million in the opening weekend. The film was widely criticized for the usage of inaccurate language and architecture, and several other issues.

The similarity between the two films was that they could both be bracketed as films promoting the agenda of exclusivity. Agnihotri’s film managed to do it with a deft hand in the art of cinema and succeeded in reaching the masses, without much efforts on the publicity.

Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 emerged as the film that was the perfect entertainer in the first half of 2022. Kartik Aaryan’s comic timing, and brilliant performance – especially in scenes where he is supposed to be possessed by a spirit, did wonders for the film. Tabu, who essayed double role in the movie added grace to the narrative. Filmmaker Anees Bazmee added the right dose of comedy, at the right place and his efforts were backed by actors Rajpal Yadav, Sanjay Mishra, Ashwini Kalsekar and Rajesh Sharma. The narrative of the film also presented an all-inclusive entertainment for the family audience in India, making it collect nearly $25 million in India alone.

Founder of the communication agency SPICE Prabhat Choudhary says, “Entertainment landscape has dramatically changed post-pandemic. Each film has to make disproportionate amount of noise to get noticed as the space has gotten cluttered and consumer attention spans have gotten shorter. Each film has a fertile geography and it needs to meticulously cover those. The incremental challenge that we now face is that each film needs to qualify itself as a theatrical experience. Why should the audience not watch the film on OTT in few weeks? The promotional strategy needs to answer this question.” SPICE promoted KGF 2, RRR and Kashmir Files.

Quite a few Hindi films, headlined by A-listers, released in the first six months of 2022 but proved to be a disappointment at the ticket windows. These include Bachchhan Paandey, Jersey, Dhaakad and Jayeshbhai Jordaar.