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. However, there are five steps that Bollywood must follow if it wants to survive.
Stop promoting nepotistic products
To mock the common people, Bollywood has very craftily created the term ‘Outsider’ for people who are out of this Chain system as if they are coming from some Unknown ‘Outside’ realms. However, the debate on nepotism in Bollywood started with actress Kangana Ranaut’s comment on Karan Johar’s chat show in 2017.
While ordinary yet brilliant actors struggled to make a living, influential, powerful, and well-connected star kids were given whatever roles they desired on a silver platter, despite the mediocrity of their acting.
Read more: As Bollywood remained in the awe of star kids, OTT brought forth real actors
However, OTT understood the importance of recognising talent and thus stopped promoting products of nepotism. As a consequence, the entertainment industry is now blessed with the actors like Pratik Gandhi, Jaideep Ahlawat and many others.
Bollywood needs to learn from OTT platforms and should prioritise talent. If it kept promoting nepotism, it would cease to exist in the next few years.
Stop making propaganda movies
Bollywood is making money because of propaganda itself. However, the propaganda was less visible in the film and more in its promotions. Directed by Meghna Gulzar, ‘Chhapaak’ centred around the struggles of Malti, based on acid attack survivor cum woman’s rights activist Laxmi Agarwal. The film wasn’t bad on the surface. But this was destroyed by Deepika Padukone’s unceremonious visit to JNU, where she indirectly supported the hooligans actually accused of orchestrating the on-campus violence and were playing the victim card whenever they faced retaliation.
Read more: The seasonal patriotism of Bollywood is blossoming again
Moreover, in the recently released 83, Gangubai Kathiawadi and many others displayed the propaganda of so-called ‘secularism’.
Since the audience is now beginning to awaken and doesn’t want to consume such propaganda-based movies, Bollywood needs to refurbish its approach and stop making such movies.
Stop ‘woke’ agendas
It was only a matter of time before the super-intellectual celebrities of Bollywood came out with their own version of #BlackLivesMatter and tarnish a campaign that started over 8,000 miles away in America to end racism. The hypocritical celebs of Bollywood who are money chasers at best and clout-chasers at their worst have started trending the hashtag in the obvious coordinated fashion that has become customary of the entire brigade.
The PR agencies of Bollywood have devised their own strategy with the obvious backing of left liberals to unleash the propaganda in India now. They have included Dalits, Muslims, women, and migrants, all in the same campaign which makes absolutely no sense.
Be it the LGBTQ issue or pseudo-feminism, Bollywood tends to follow the ‘woke’ ideology to toe the line with the west.
However, the audience is fed up with these ‘woke’ agendas and craves authentic content.
Fulfil the need for nationalism
Earlier as reported by TFI in 2020, superstars like Shah Rukh Khan have close relations with known anti-India activists Tony Ashai, Aneel Mussarat and Rehan Siddiqui.
Ashai, who claims to be a pro-Kashmir activist dedicated to the people of Kashmir, has close links with the Pakistani military establishment, and if pictures doing the rounds on social media are anything to go by, the man also shares rather warm relations with Pakistan’s now-former Prime Minister – Imran Khan.
While a Kashmiri separatist working towards breaking sovereign Indian territory from the comforts of foreign soil is not new, what is shocking is the visibly warm relations that the likes of Shah Rukh Khan and other ‘stars’ share with anti-India elements abroad.
Shah Rukh Khan and other big Bollywood stars who have been caught having relations with anti-India elements must now speak up and tell Indians why they have been sharing cosy friendships with individuals who are clearly inclined to break India.
Time and again, reports have emerged that stated that the Bollywood celebs helped Pakistan in the time of crisis despite knowing that the neighbouring country provides funds to terrorists to conspire against India.
Bollywood, instead of favouring those who are against the nation, should raise their voice against the country that sponsors terrorism.
It needs to get rid of ‘Urduism’
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. Regional film industries will flourish, and independent filmmaking will become the next big thing. Tollywood is becoming what Bollywood could have become. The recently released Pushpa, RRR and KGF 2 are the proof that Indian audience is evolving and wants good content. If Bollywood manages to rectify the issues, the resurrection of Bollywood would be unstoppable.