Entertainment Desk:

Bollywood filmmaker Karan Johar weighed in on the dire circumstances that Bollywood is facing as a result of the difficult time the industry has been going through since the start of the year. He claimed that the notion of theatrical success needs to be updated and changed immediately.

During a conversation with journalist Faye D’Souza on her YouTube channel, Karan Johar shared, “Firstly, the audiences’ tastes have become very definitive.

They want a certain kind of cinema. And if you (as a maker) want to do a certain number, then your film has to perform at A, B, and C centres. Multiplexes alone will not suffice.”

Karan further continued by stating that the cost of filmmaking has risen, with inflation being a contributing factor. In the Hindi cinema industry, there are approximately 10 reputable actors who demand high fees. Consequently, filmmakers must allocate funds for actor salaries, production costs, and marketing expenses. Unfortunately, there is no guarantee that the film will generate sufficient revenue to cover these expenditures. He further emphasized on the fact that the movie stars are asking for Rs 35 crore but their films are opening at very low numbers at the box office.

Karan said, “Those movie stars asking for Rs 35 crore are opening to Rs 3.5 crore. How’s that math working? How do you manage all these? Yet, you have to keep making movies and creating content because you also have to feed your organisation. So there’s a lot of drama, and the syntax of our cinema has not found its feet,” he added.

“In the case of Hindi cinema, there has been a certain kind of syntax in each decade. Right now, we are like, ‘If Jawan and Pathaan worked, should we do only action?’ Then everybody’s running that way. Then suddenly a love story would work. I feel like we are running around like headless chickens. Conviction has taken a complete beating, and it’s all about herd mentality. We haven’t realized that there is a certain audience now that wants rooted Indian cinema and, without the pressure of what the critics have to say, pure joy.”