Compromising On Quality To Drive Theatrical Numbers

The Kerala Story is clinching some of the best box-office numbers this year, despite being subjected to rave reviews by critics and well-established YouTubers. Political parties have either lauded the movie, made it tax-free in some cases, or have outright been critical of it and banned the screening.

Amidst these escalating conflicts surrounding this movie; one critical aspect that strikes out the most - the aspect of filmmaking.

Filmmakers, especially in the Hindi belt, are so eager to clock in numbers because the truth remains that a film's success is benchmarked upon its performance at the box office. Nobody in this case is interested in discussing the sheer lack of the main character's ability to pick the diction, the sheer conflict of data, the problematic background score, and amongst other things.

OTT Success Remains a Mystery

Since the pandemic, every Hindi movie that releases on OTT directly or even a movie which happens to get dismissed by theatrical audiences, claims to be the 'most-watched' movie on OTT platforms. For example, Laal Singh Chaddha, Badhai Do, An Action Hero, and more, didn't get the theatre numbers going but claimed to have received a lot of love on digital platforms. However, nothing beats the gratification of a good theatrical run - and that is the hard business truth.

Last year, RRR, Kashmir Files, Gangubai Kathiawadi, and Bhool Bhulaiya 2 were successful in pulling audiences to the theatres. Tik Tok-styled comedy and Kartik Aryan's massive fanfare are credited to the success of BB2, however when something similar was tried this year with Shehzada - the later failed miserably. Kashmir Files got a thumbs up from political wings, which went on to become a massive success story just like Uri - The Surgical Strike. But the difference here remains, that both these films had good performances, aesthetics, unlike the recent string of films that are solely banking on the political green light rather than working on other aspects of filmmaking. The Kerala Story has created more noise with its controversies around the facts surrounding it but has also been criticized for poor acting - however, its success will only push people to ignore these factors and enforce other prerogatives which aren't related to filmmaking.

Copy - Paste Model doesn't Survive

Akshay Kumar, who has witnessed a string of flops recently, is widely-known for making movies that are inclined towards a certain establishment. His films recently, have clearly failed to pass the filmmaking tests and have been criticised for twisting facts, terrible VFX and bad performances by him and other actors. A well-acted, well-directed film like Mission Mangal does not even come close to the recent set of films like Samrat Prithviraj and Ram Sethu. Mission Mangal, Toilet -Ek Prem Katha boasted of having a better-supporting cast, real locations and decent cinematography unlike his recent bank of movies wherein the supporting casts are merely placeholders. Kumar put his might in promoting the films amidst political circuits and received state-level concessions too. Despite all this, his films have not been accepted by the audiences recently and have gone unnoticed. It clearly goes to show that becoming complacent, relying on political favours, won't help the films sail.

Gimmicky dialogues, Pathetic VFX

Similarly tried and tested formulas, that once worked might not work the second time. SRK's Pathaan brought laurels for Bollywood - comes across as a masala entertainer, reversed the political bad-mouthing it got for Deepika's orange outfit and people made it their sole mission to go and watch the movie. The film is no master piece and has its own share of bad VFX, cringe dialogues - but still worked. In the coming months, one can expect a series of films to be made keeping the concept of Pathaan in mind aimlessly without thinking about quality, aesthetics and the pulse of the audience.

Indians are Moving on

India's digital audiences from across the country are consuming global content - breaking barriers of language, familiarity and demography. Consumption of English language content has outpaced other languages, indicative of the fact that people are willing to let-go of language inhibitions and experiment with content. Jio Cinema strategic tie-up up with HBO to bring global content to Indian audiences where there is an already growing fanbase for shows like Succession.

Therefore, Indian filmmakers need to come up with 'creative solutions' to convey their messaging, explore real locations and opt for better quality VFX; rather than only depending on the political pulse of the nation. Ability to creatively weave commerce, talent and content comes from talent and experience and some exemplary examples come from regional cinema, OTT shows like Qala, Bulbul, Arya, RRR, Jubilee and more recently Dahaad. These are beautifully crafted and have stayed with the audience.

Content today is dismissed as well as accepted within a couple of swipes due to staggering attention spans and a growing palette of choices. Content creators big, small or even miniscule-budgeted cannot compromise on quality over any phenomena that is short-lived. Understand and never- underestimating the intelligence of the audience is a key. Filmmakers might take a cue from the recent crowds that gathered to watch old movies at the theatres - this includes Bachchan's classics, Jab We Met and others. These were movies that have lived and continue to make memories...