Manoj Bajpayee in Ram Gopal Varma’s film Satya. (File Photo)
New DelhiJan 24, 2025 12:13 IST First published on: Jan 24, 2025 at 12:12 IST
After 26 years, last week, Satya was released at the box office again. Yet, the two moments of the film’s release could not be more different. One of the biggest hits of 1998, this cult classic heralded the possibility of telling new kinds of stories for niche urban audiences in the multiplex moment. Many young filmmakers who wanted to make films in genres outside the popular family sagas without the typical song and dance found a voice in the next decade. Satya became the foghorn that announced it was possible to make another kind of cinema and release it on the big screen.
Two decades later, the big screen is competing with the mobile phone. Urban audiences can entertain themselves with diverse content at the click of a finger for free. The combined impact of the pandemic and a fast-changing media ecosystem has meant Hindi cinema has to rethink how to get audiences to the theatres. The Hindi film industry is going through one of its toughest times. Multiple projects have been delayed or shelved. Many creative minds have been without work for months. Stars no longer pull audiences into the theatres. The challenge is to find a new formula which will inspire you to buy a film ticket, drive through traffic with your family on a weekend, pay for the parking and then sit in the theatre for three hours as opposed to the choice of watching it 15 days later in the comfort of your home.
Any industry re-evaluates its strategies and minimises risk when faced with constant change and volatility. Thus, it’s not a surprise that Hindi cinema will see the release of more than 50 sequels in the next two years. From Don 3, War 2 to Hera Pheri 3, the list is long. It seems the investors want to put their money on a tested product. Action films starring established male stars outnumber any other genre in these sequels as the industry tries to play safe. The space for innovative storytelling with women protagonists has shrunk even more. Essentially, branding is replacing new concepts and fresh scripts. Meanwhile, many of the offbeat stories are getting a quiet OTT release today. While the presence of the OTT platforms ensures the small budget independent film gets funding and an audience, it effectively also means that many fresh stories are squeezed off the box office and lose their chance to become runaway hits.
Notably, at this moment, it might be useful to remember that many of these sequels were original scripts with modest beginnings. They are evidence of the fact that investment in an original script pays off, and no one can ever predict the box office. The comedy horror, Stree, was initially a small budget film with no big stars. Based on a Kannada folklore, Stree’s power was its fresh script. Today, this standalone film has led to a huge horror comedy franchise worth Rs 1,200 crore with multiple films and sequels planned till the year 2028. None of this would have been possible without the original script. Similarly, who would have thought the family comedy, Shubh Mangal Saavdhaan, would become a money-making franchise. The managers sitting in posh glass offices need to step back and trust the storytellers. That’s how creative industries grow.
Adapting to change is not something new for the industry. Hindi cinema has a robust history of successfully navigating major shifts in its long history of over 100 years. Be it the move towards talkies in the 30s or the entry of television in our bedrooms in the 80s, it has weathered it all and thrived. As the industry navigates this difficult time, it needs to remember its own history of maverick experiments, adventure and passion for cinematic storytelling. It needs to remember that K Asif’s creative madness gave us Mughal-e-Azam. Perhaps, it needs to remember that Satya’s sequel bombed at the box office.
Yadav is an academic, writer and filmmaker
