Bollywood is finished!
The film industry in the south is leaving Bollywood far behind. Regional cinema has a longer runtime. National cinema is currently supplanting regional film. is this the end of Bollywood. today let’s understand why Bollywood rejected southern films and their actors? how Bollywood copied them. and how they became National sensations?
The fall of Bollywood
Firstly, let me tell you. Bollywood is not real. there is an actual place called Hollywood in Los Angeles. there are many film studios in Hollywood. i don’t think we have a similar space in Mumbai. in fact, slowly Mumbai’s out of Mumbai. Bollywood is not a place, Bollywood is a status quo.
How did Mumbai become film capital?
because of power, when the whole country faced electricity issues. then Mumbai promised reliable electricity connections. Bengal at that time had a similar situation. that’s why earlier, films were made in Mumbai and Kolkata. but today, the power of uninterrupted electricity and the power of films is also spreading nationwide. before Epidemic, India used to make 1500 – 200 per years. Just 20 years back half of those films used to be in Hindi. the reason was simple. the film producers who had money, Hindi will have a mass appeal more people means more shows and more shows means more money.
How should the actors be?
fair skinned with perfect Hindi.
How should the stories be?
Stories that take place in big cities in India. The actor or story that did not fit into this formula, they was rejected by Bollywood. but this formula would get old at some point or the other. the audience wanted something fresh. by the year 2000, the story of rejection changed to imitation. South India movies started getting remade in Hindi. the risk in there experiments was quite low, because all they had to do was copy tried and tested stories. the stories which already had the audience’s stamp of approval, the stories that were already a hit. only those stories had to be copied into Hindi films. many popular Hindi movies which have big stars, were actually remakes of hit regional cinema. some experiments were accepted very well. but many times, because the actors and directors were different these experiments failed. Sairat is the highest grossing Marathi film till date, people completely rejected the Hindi remake of this film. because it was obvious the film would be compared to the original. Sairat was an important film, this movie proved something that had not been done before. a new director, a new cast and a different language. all of which was accepted by the audience. the movie was accepted so well, a song from this movie became a superhit. Sairat, a film that was made with a budget of Rs. 4 crore. earned Rs. 110 crore in the box office.
how can we forget India’s biggest film Franchise?
Baahubali, broke all the financial records. it also broke something else, that was the language barrier. Did you know? Bahubali was released in 10 languages! along with many Indian languages this includes Japanese, Chinese, Taiwanese, French, German and Spanish. Bahubali The Beginning has earned Rs 650 crores and Bahubali The Conclusion has earned Rs 1800 crores. Bahubali was an instant hit. because south Indian films have always been technically superior. the south Indian film industry is known for its discipline, now matter how big the star is. from the spot boy to the director. everyone has to follow a fixed schedule. in 2017, Bahubali a Telugu film, for the first time became the highest grossing film in India. and this run of regional cinema domination didn’t stop. in 2018, Tamil film 2.0 was the highest grossing film, Pushpa in 2021 and in 2022 RRR and KGF Chapter 2 which is the third highest grossing Indian film worldwide. they already on the top of box office. i feel the stories are innovative, slice of life and more real.
Content is king
Raise your hand, if in the last years, you saw a film or a series. which was not available in Hindu or English. we watch K-Dramas, we watch anime and we watch Malayalam films on the same day. for today’s generation, language is not a barrier. in today’s world language is no longer a barrier. it is a bridge, where earlier 44% of the box office was ruled by Hindi cinema. that number has Fallen to 27% today. south Indian films are not just films, they are an experience. there’s a different feeling to watching there films in a theatre. when a Korean film Parasite won the Oscar in 2020. the director said a very important line “Once you overcome the one inch tall barrier of subtitles, you will be introduced to so many more amazing films” to the cinematic revolution happening in India. Regional cinema is fast becoming national cinema. cinema is not just cinema. cinema is a mirror to the society. it is not necessary that cinema represents only one part of society. the cinema that was once rejected Bollywood, then copied. Bollywood is watching the same Cinema overtaking it. this change is inevitable and necessary. when i say Bollywood is over, i don’t mean to say Hindi cinema is over. but i definitely do want to say this a formula all of us are very tired of, that formula is finished. it is time for a change, because all types of stories should reach the people. regardless of the language they are made in.