Bollywood as we know it, will cease to exist

Have you heard of ‘RRR’? Chances are, you have probably watched it too. Why would you not? If Bahubali was a sensation, ‘RRR’ has turned out to be a blockbuster hit like no other film. In six days since its release, this film directed by S. S. Rajamouli has earned more than ₹672 crores! That’s right. On its first day, the film managed to earn close to ₹250 crores. South Indian cinema is leaving Bollywood far behind. It is overtaking the Mumbai-centric Hindi film industry at an unprecedented pace. For its delicious collapse, Bollywood has nobody but itself to blame.

Within the Indian cinematic industry, narratives are suddenly changing. Earlier, narratives used to be dominated by the left-liberal ecosystem and it was always the leftist narrative that used to get publicized through the entertainment industry, either blatantly or subtly. However, The Kashmir Files has disrupted the status quo. Despite all the backlash and adverse propaganda that it faced, it managed to penetrate deep into the minds of the audiences.

Now, we are looking at a more evolved audience that doesn’t care much about star casts or big names. It searches for content. Where does that leave Bollywood? If there is one thing that Bollywood lacks, barring a few isolated exceptions, it is content. The Mumbai-based film industry’s primary motive is to earn money. Enthralling the audience with a captivating cinematic experience is not even on the priority list of any big filmmaker.

Bollywood and its Plague

Bollywood excels in mediocrity. That is precisely what Indian audiences are beginning to reject, rather wholeheartedly. What Indian audiences want is good content. OTT platforms are giving a significant number of people such content. It is for this very reason that many filmmakers and their agencies have jumped ship to the likes of Amazon Prime and Netflix.

Bollywood is currently surviving on ventilator support. In the recent past, it has been mired with controversies. Drug rackets, liberal toxicity, sympathy for Islamists and the abominable ‘Woke’ culture are just some of the factors playing a major role in the Mumbai-based film industry’s demise.

To make matters worse, bad screenplay, nepotism, favouritism and an ageing fleet of superstars have begun taking a taxing toll on Bollywood. New entrants to the industry are untalented and are treated like expendables in the face of sons and daughters of established Bollywood big-shots.

So far, RRR alone has earned more than Bollywood’s four biggest releases this year put together. These are: Badhaai Do, GangubaiKathiawadi, Jhund and BachchhanPaandey.

The suicide of Sushant Singh Rajput – which has largely been attributed to Bollywood’s indifference and apathy towards talented ‘outsiders’ – has turned the people of India against the once-monopolistic film industry. Today, it lies on its deathbed.

What’s the Future?

Bollywood was never really a ‘Hindi’ film industry. It was always an Urdu film industry, where Punjabi was massacred as collateral. Indian audiences have grown sick of ‘Urduwood’. Now, they want India’s film industry to speak for and of India. Indians no longer want secular lectures, and neither do they want to see the ‘Aman Ki Asha’ brigade in action.

All they want is good content, and that places Bollywood at a distinct disadvantage because it is incapable of producing the same.

Given how things are panning out, in the next five years or so, Bollywood will cease to exist. Regional film industries will flourish, and independent filmmaking will become the next big thing. Bollywood is hypocritical. It does not practise what it preaches. Indians now know this for a fact, which is why they have begun shunning the substandard film industry.

Given how Bollywood’s fortunes have been sinking, it will most likely go extinct in the next five years. It will cease to exist as a cohesive industry and will be splattered all over the place. Needless to say, when it will cease to exist, nobody will be missing it.