| Bollywood zindabad tha, zindabad hai aur zindabad rahega This is a love story. And like any prem kahaani, the grand love affair between us Indians and the movies has seen its shares of ups and downs. With its grandeur, drama, high-running emotions and larger-than-life sets, Bollywood (as the Hindi film industry is contentiously called) has wooed and fascinated Indian audiences for generations. But a worrying shift could be sensed over the last few years — a shift that I realised back in January. When my colleague Rishabh told me he hadn't watched a Hindi film in the theatre in months, it got me thinking — When was the last time I'd gone for one?  If you ask me, to say it was a worrying state of affairs would be an understatement. A section of the audience had started calling Bollywood dead and gone. Barring a few, even films with big stars had stopped working. Telugu, Tamil and Kannada movies were far outpacing Hindi ones. To see cracks in this nearly unshakeable, rock-solid relationship between cinemagoers and Bollywood came as a heavy blow to the film buff in me. A patch-up seemed unthinkable — until August 11, 2023. Trust me, it was the 15th August long weekend saying: Ja Bollywood buff, jee le apni zindagi! Nobody, and I repeat, nobody had expected the storm that unleashed. With the release of four films, the Indian film industry witnessed a triumphant resurgence as the weekend registered the highest recorded collection (₹390 crore) in the history of Indian cinema in the last 100 years. Despite the clash, the two Hindi movies managed to stand out. Sunny Deol's Gadar 2 was always expected to rake in good numbers, but for it to demolish records and get people to queue up outside cinema halls, was unprecedented. Defying all odds and predictions, Akshay Kumar's OMG2 is not only doing well, but has also ended Kumar's dry streak at the box office, proving that the OG Khiladi is back in full form. The previous weekend proved that the record-breaking success of Pathaan — SRK's grand return to films after an achingly long hiatus — wasn't a one-off occurrence. So, where are those naysayers now? As for me, I'd thought my Independence Day plan was sorted — main, popcorn aur Akshay Kumar. But, finding tickets turned out to be a Herculean task. And even though it meant I had to spend the day at home, I couldn't be happier. So much had been said about the Hindi film industry that this felt like a redemption of sorts. All it took was Sunny's 'Hindustan Zindabad' and his legendary handpump. Who would have thought? |
