Bollywood Q1 review: ‘Stale’ remakes send shockwaves, Shah Rukh Khan’s Pathaan emerges as sole savior

The biggest blockbuster of the first quarter remains Pathaan, the lavishly mounted spy actor from Yash Raj Films. Pathaan, also starring Deepika Padukone and John Abraham, had the clout to revive the industry, which was supposedly losing a battle of perception when it came to box office magic. When director Siddharth Anand exited, it opened at a historic Rs 57 cr on a working Wednesday. In its India-wide run, Pathaan recorded Rs 543 cr and ended its global gross run at an unprecedented Rs 1050 cr.

But everything else after that was either rejected outright or accepted, but in moderation. The only two films that were able to reach the hit tag were Ranbir Kapoor-Shraddha Kapoor starrer Tu Jhoothi ​​Main Makkaar and the Rani Mukerjee-directed drama Mrs Chatterjee Vs Norway – a small-scale film.

Among those films that really shocked were Akshay Kumar’s star Selfiee, which had an abysmal opening of Rs2.55 cr and ended its run at Rs 16 cr, and Kartik Aaryan’s attempt at a mass-action comedy Shehzada, which fizzled at the box office at Rs 32. cr.

“I would describe Bollywood’s first quarter as kabhi khushi kabhie gham, maybe thodi khushi zyada gham,” business analyst Taran Adarsh ​​told indianexpress.com. Girish Johar, producer and film business expert, said it was largely a box office no-show for Hindi films. “The first quarter was not up to par. The Hindi movies didn’t do too well… If Pathaan hadn’t been there, it would have been a very dismal first term. Q2 is looking good, we have a big lineup coming up in April and June so I’m looking forward to it,” Johar told indianexpress.com.

Adarsh ​​said the year started with Kuttey, which failed at the box office. It wasn’t a big movie, but it had big names, actors Tabu, Arjun Kapoor, with filmmaker Vishal Bhardwaj as producer. Things turned around with Pathaan, but again got so bad with Selfiee, that Adarsh ​​said people were “still in shock”.

“Pathaan rewrote box office records, became the highest grossing Hindi film of all time. Pathaan completely changed the mood of the industry, it was just euphoric. We were jumping for joy that the industry was back, the public returned to cinemas, everything is booming. Then came Shehzada. For Kartik Aaryan, going from an opening of Rs 14 cr for Bhool Bhulaiyaa Rs 2 to Rs 6 cr with the much larger film Shehzada was a complete failure.

“The biggest setback of 2023 so far has been selfie. It was a shock. He opened up to dire numbers, sent shockwaves throughout the industry, people are still in shock. These two films, which followed one another in February, were like speed breakers. They have lowered morale. With the exception of Pathaan and to some extent Tu Jhoothi ​​Main Makkaar and still to some extent on the lower side Bholaa, the major films have failed at the box office,” Adarsh ​​added. .

According to Adarsh, Tu Jhoothi ​​Main Makkaar has found its strength in metropolitan centers which has helped it record good numbers and strong trend. The romantic comedy Luv Ranjan, largely helped by the soundtrack of Pritam and the new couple of Ranbir and Shraddha, was released during Holi in March and has so far grossed Rs 141 cr.

“Ranbir’s stardom was intact and he proved once again that he had a certain appeal to young people, which is evident when you look at the numbers in the film. It worked well, but not as well as expected, in terms of franchise Pyaar Ka Punchnama or Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety. Much was expected from the director, Luv Ranjan and his pairing with Ranbir Kapoor. But it worked well, it’s a plus movie, a hit movie for sure “said Adarsh.

Another film that found its groove and audience was Mrs Chatterjee Vs Norway, which was a “low budget” film that managed to do “well at the box office”. The Emmay Entertainment-backed Ashima Chibber film had a worldwide gross of Rs 34 cr. “Ms. Chatterjee’s good run against Norway gives me hope because it clearly shows that the public is always there for nuanced films, good storytelling, not just larger than life storytelling,” added Johar.

The latest March release was Ajay Devgn’s actor Bholaa. “Surprisingly, the movie didn’t do well in mass pockets as expected. It actually should have given it’s Ajay Devgn, but somewhere down the line maybe the emotions were lacking, there was too much action. All in all, it wasn’t a good first quarter as such, but Pathaan saved the day. He was definitely a savior,” added Adarsh .

A closer look at Q1 reveals two glaring trends for the industry: remakes aren’t being accepted, and a good movie, even if it’s not a spectacle like Pathaan, will find its audience. Shehzada was a remake of Allu Arjun star Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo, while the 2019 Malayalam film Driving License found its Hindi voice in Selfiee. Bholaa was also a remake of Tamil film Kaithi.

“Remakes are definitely one of the things these movies don’t work for,” Adarsh ​​said. “There are producers who will say, ‘But Drishyam 2 worked!’ This was an exception, and even there they added a very strong parallel track from Akshaye Khanna, which was superb. I meet people, who aren’t even remotely connected to the industry, and they say, ‘Bollywood is just copying and pasting.’ It’s the feeling in the streets, which brings something new, at least Pathaan was original. People watch a lot of Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam movies on OTT apart from international movies. Why can’t we make original films then? I think the remake culture is going to stop now; people realized that,” he added.

Johar echoed a similar sentiment and said that in the age of OTT, remaking movies makes little sense. “Audiences have shrunk the windows for remakes. They’ve already seen the content, OTT gives them the ability to watch it at the push of a button. While they are already watching highly rated content there and also at the box office (they won’t be showing up as a remake). That’s why remakes don’t do well,” Johar said.

The three months also shows the industry that if it puts together even a medium-sized film, it will land well at the box office. Tu Jhoothi ​​Main Makkaar and Ms Chatterjee Vs Norway challenged the rhetoric that on the big screen only actors will work.

“All three hits in varying degrees, Pathaan, Tu Jhoothi ​​Main Makkaar and Mrs Chatterjee Vs Norway, were original stories. At least they tried something different. You can’t say that only stars or big heroes will work because there was also a Rani Mukerjee who brought the audience in. It had a limited and very small version, but it worked well over the weeks. There’s an audience for good movies, they want to watch it, but if you serve them the same stale food, they won’t come. The public expects animators on the big screen, on the condition of giving them some. This is a lesson for Bollywood filmmakers, a wake-up call,” Adarsh ​​added.

According to Johar, Tu Jhoothi ​​Main Makkaar cemented Ranbir as a huge star who is successful at the box office. “The fact that it has these kinds of box office numbers is yet another sign that we are back to pre-pandemic levels in terms of content. But we also need to be updated in terms of quality consumption. Right now, movies from all over the world are available on OTT, so we really need to pull our socks up as an industry. I really hope that great films, rich in content and quality, will arrive on the big screens. It’s critical.

Adarsh ​​thinks next term will be ‘fantastic’ as biggies like Salman Khan’s Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan, Shah Rukh Khan’s Jawan, star Prabhas Adipurush, Ajay Devgn’s sports drama Maidaan line up for the exit. We cannot say that only great films work. A low-cost film can also work very well, which was evident last year also with The Kashmir Files, which beat out Radhe Shyam, Bachchhan Paandey, RRR, and did a lot of work. Even this year there’s Ms. Chatterjee vs. Norway, proving that if people love your original content, there’s no stopping them,” Adarsh ​​added.