Trendspotting In Hindi Films!

It has happened so often that key themes, plots or storylines of a successful movie has been suitably incorporated in subsequent movies to mirror the box office performance of the first one. What is even more intriguing is the repeat success of the above method on many occasions attaining the status of a formula at times.

Back in the 70s, Megastar Amitabh Bachchan’s “angry young man” image in the initial days was started by the super-hit run of Zanjeer (1973) which ran all the way till vigilante film Shahenshah in 1988. The action blended with drama in movies in the 1970s had ‘deteriorated’ to violence in late 1980s thus keeping the family audience away from theaters at the height of home video and film piracy. This is evident from the box office results of that era which had peaked at 15 crores (Sholay) in 1975 itself but remained stagnant for the coming two decades with some of the biggest movies of the 80s like Kranti, Naseeb and Coolie grossing a below par figure of 10 crores. Towards the turn of the decade Maine Pyar Kiya (1989) came close to Sholay but the trend changed for good only in the 1990s.

The family audience starting returning to cinema halls and they came out in big numbers. It was Salman Khan starrer ‘Hum Aapke Hain Kaun’ which pioneered in family dramas with wedding angles and chartbuster music. This was followed up by Shah Rukh Khan’s ‘Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge’ which had never-before-seen European locations mixed in a family drama about a guy wanting to marry a girl he loves with the parent’s approval. While DDLJ worked at big cities, smaller centres had a parallel dish served in Raja Hindustani which was a romance marked with rich v/s poor and class conflict. HAHK (~70 crores), DDLJ (~60 crores), Raja Hindustani (~48 crores) and Kuch Kuch Hota Hain (~45 crores) contributed to a multifold increase in cinema attendance and all of them had common ingredients in their script- wedding dramas with enhanced production values for that time making it a big screen experience backed by popular music.

The family dramas catering to the NRI and aspirational NRI audience began losing their steam in the mid 2000s when there was a flurry of such films and every actor dabbled in the genre be it Salman (Yeh Hain Jalwa, Shaadi Karke Phas Gaya Yaar, Lucky: No time for love), Hrithik Roshan (Main Prem Ki Diwani Hoon, Yaadein, Mujhse Dosti Karoge), Abhishek Bachchan (Om Jai Jagdish, Shararat, Jhoom Barabar Jhoom) and Saif Ali Khan (Hum Tum, Salaam Namaste, Tara Rum Pum). What is interesting is that an overdose of drama films with little or no action component led to a phase of downfall for Salman Khan for many years when only a select few of his movies did well. Highest grossers of the year like Koi Mil Gya (2003), Veer Zaara (2004) and No Entry (2005) made a cume of around 35-45 crores with only ‘Gadar’ being able to touch the benchmark set by HAHK more than a decade back. This paved way for the action movies.

However, the action movies came back with a twist i.e. most of them were south remakes and those which were not had a major action part and a southern treatment, look and feel. Aamir Khan started the trend with Ghajini (remake of Tamil film of same name) which had become the first movie in India to do net business of more than 100 crores creating a box office club.

This time Salman Khan immediately followed it up next year with Wanted (~65 crores) and he never had to look back again till date. A prolonged sluggish career got revived and scaled new heights with all his films becoming back to back blockbusters. Ajay Devgn entered the big league with his ‘Singham’ franchise and ‘Son of Sardaar’. Rohit Shetty (who began directing movies with the dismal Zameen) made movies out of popular south entertainers according to his filmmaking sensibilities and coupled with the favourable season for south remakes, it resulted in magic at the box office. Rowdy Rathore which remains Akshay Kumar’s best film theatrical performance-wise, an unbeaten 135 crores, was a remake of a Telugu film back in 2012. Interestingly, those actors and filmmakers who did not keep up with the trend (or by now should we say pre-estimate of choices of the paying public) had their careers running on a low trajectory. Shah Rukh Khan did not do a single south remake during this whole time and barring Chennai Express none of his movies were able to sustain well after their opening weekend. Chennai Express, again, had a very southern look and feel that bordered on parody of south films as a requirement of the plot. A similar conclusion could be drawn for Hrithik Roshan movies as well which, after a career high in 2006 (when both his movies took top two spots in highest grossers of that year), could not keep up with the increased box office earnings of his superstar peers post 2010.

The trend of action oriented south masala remakes did not last long and again Salman Khan led from the front, probably after seeing early signs of box office saturation in his movies Jai Ho (112 crores) and Kick (233 crores) which could not grow its business much from Ek Tha Tiger (198 crores). While some actors shifted gears after their films took a drubbing at the box office like Akshay after Boss and Gabbar is Back, Ajay post Action Jackson and Arjun Kapoor after Tevar. Rohit Shetty is back to Golmaal Again after an underwhelming Dilwale!

Star-driven south remakes have made way for story-driven narratives with a penchant for realism in contrast to the outlandish treatment given to films couple of years back. Situational songs have replaced item numbers. Bajrangi Bhaijaan is the most glaring example of it as it did not look like a Salman Khan vehicle, a first.

The result: hordes of neutral audience turned up to watch it besides his fan-base powering it beyond 300 crores. His movies which had struggled to go past USD 10 million mark in overseas territories exceeded those of SRK’s (who has a stronghold overseas) with both Bajrangi and Sultan clocking above USD 20 million.

Another noticeable element is that the films, unless they require otherwise, are increasingly being rooted in heartland India, a significant departure from the craze for foreign locations which had little or no nexus to the script in 1990s and 2000s. Most recent instances are the two wrestling dramas i.e. Sultan and Dangal which were based in villages in the interiors of Haryana. Keeping the above fundamental features intact, some actors made strides at the box office by incorporating female empowerment (Queen, Mary Kom, NH-10, Pink) while some others by patriotism (Baby, Airlift, Neerja, Bhaag Milkha Bhaag).

There is also a minor trend of taking specific plot points to service the screenplay in more ways than one. Aamir starrer Dhoom 3 spawned the concept of using double roles to take the story forward whereas earlier double roles were meant for humour such as Judwaa. This has been subsequently spotted in Happy New Year (Abhishek Bachchan), Prem Ratan Dhan Payo (Salman), Action Jackson (Ajay) and Fan (SRK).

It is all about one movie striking gold at the box office and others repeating its success by applying the formula. Things get murky when one cannot ascertain whether a trend is being followed or created. Ideal way to go would be to spot it in order to have a perennial understanding of the kind of movies working at the box office which, as underlined in the article, becomes crucial for superstars or actors trying to establish themselves as such.

The humongous success of Baahubali 2 could well be the beginning of a new era and a new trend. Will actors from the Hindi industry share screen space with stars from the South, like a Robot 2.0? Or will the future be about bi-lingual films that unite the South and the North – something that Prabhas will be experimenting with when he releases his next film Saaho?

Article by Mohit Maheshwari, a corporate lawyer working in Mumbai. He sent the article as a ‘Guest Post’ and said “I am an avid reader of the website and I wish to submit an article authored by me as a guest post on Indicine. I request you to consider the same for publication and any feedback would be highly appreciated”

NOTE: The views expressed in the article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of Indicine.

Advertisements

38 Comments

  • Aamir is the only trendsetter in the industry. He is trying something new in every movie. Whereas every other actor will keep repeating if something works until they fail at it.

  • Enjoyed the article! Well written. But would have loved it more, if it had a more clear “conclusion” in the end. Good work, would be nice to read more articles on different topics.

  • I’m not a fan of srk but he has not done any remake of south film even in his bad phase
    today Bollywood should not remake any south film if they want Bollywood as a big film industry of India
    if they will remake south film than how they think south audience will watch Hindi films
    see the collection of bajrangi bhaijaan dangal sultan
    always original films do good buiseness than remake

  • I am the first who observed thia in my previous comment

    Actually bollywood after 2010 revolving around south industry istead of setting example that how can we grow in making movie. All are busy to making money by short cut. For example Aamir came with gajhani south remake which was already made in 8 languages if you see rest of 8 movie you find from hair style to expression every thing almost same in that movie. And when it earn huge even over the other blockbuster of that year RBDJ which was original scripted movie. Than that times bollywood got shortcut to success and result is there was start a havoc to make south remake without changing a single scene some stars who is struggling in last decade cash this short cut recipe to review their career for example salman who made back to back 5-6 south remake in a row on a particular edx date. You can easily see that time almost 5 movies came with police uniform hero and all became superhit even still till date akki’s rowdy rathod (remake), and ajay’s singham (remake) remain their Carrier highest grosser. So for these movies what bollywood find new ??? Nothing only stars making money by using shorcut method because they had not to do much in these movies bcoz “ring ringa” became dhink chika and from location to fight sequence and even facial expression every thing were copy from south and in the name of creativity we got a big zero they do this bcoz movies completed in less time some time for money some star made movies less than 2hr duration ex. Dabaang2 for getting more show and earn huge so how can this types of mentalities can help to grow industry??

    But due to these south obsession slowly slowly south industries enter in hindi film industry. And even after these remakes every movies channel show south hindi dubbed movies in their primetime slot now south industry became a big threat for bollywood bcoz imagine if a movie like bahubali want to came on eid 2017 with tubelight than ???? The problem will creat only for other movie because hindi highest first day is 40cr which is only divided between both but what’s about south marekt where no one can challenge south movies so wake up bollywood do some great work instead of booking edx and using short cut…..

  • 90-1999 – Era of Family Drama Movies like Ddlj, Raja Hindustani
    2000-05 – Era of Romantic Movies with foreign Locations Like K3g, Knph, Veer Zara
    2006-2012 – ACTION MOVIES or masala movies like Dhoom 2, Gajini, dabang, wanted, Rowdy etc
    2013 – 2016 – Earthy Movies based Human Emotions and Social Message like Bajrangi, Dangal, Airlift, Etc
    Let’s see what happens now….

    What Missing in Bollywood is Movie with Big Screen Experience, Grand Movies and when they make big Scale Movies, they don’t care about Script…

  • But a Good Movie did business irrespective of in which era it’s coming
    3IDIOTS (2009) came in an era of Action Masala Movies but it set Records which were broken in 2013

  • Bollywood filmmakers think that one film is hit than they kepp making same types of films again and again
    I think romcom biopic genre should ban in Bollywood or make only one or two films
    Bollywood actors should bring the talented south directors and script writer in Bollywood

  • Nice article by Mohit. But he had not mention the Gaddar. @indicine nice that aprreaciat the article but you have add little bit which is missing.

  • Nice article @indicine.. But it would have been much better if you would have added who dominated that trend nicely.. For example..

    Trensetter Amitabh Bachchan for angry young man= dominated by Amitabh Bachchan..

    2) HAHK romance trend (Madhuri Salman) = dominated by SRK

    3) Ghajini south remake trend (Aamir Khan) = dominated by Salman Khan..

    Hope so it will help u.. Thank you keep doing good work

  • 1990 to 2000 4 massive family movie
    with all times Blockbuster
    HAHK DDL RH KKHH
    its means Shahrukh Khan 2 all times
    blockbuster while Salman lol 1
    Aamir 1 and Salman fans barking

  • Very well written article… Convey my regards to the writer please… Appreciate his study of the cinema trends.

  • So basically you mean that SRK and Hritik’s downfall came as they didnt do “South remakes”?
    Well till now I was thinking it happened because SRK rejected 3 idiots, Ek tha tiger and ROBOT and HR rejected Baahubali.

  • Movies which made genres box office friendly
    Rom com- Maine Pyaar Kiya
    Family-HAHK
    Thriller-Darr
    Sports-Chak de India(Lagaan wasnt a sport film)
    Comedy-No Entry

  • no better formula to get bo success than making a ‘good’ film. stop categorising films in terms of genre & urban/mass appeal. any good film will work nowadays & any bad film even belonging to so called ‘successful genre’ example biopics can fail ( azhar,sarbjit )

    stop overlooking the obvious. no bigger bo draw than a film with a good script.

  • A big thank you to You Indicine for this Top Notch article….
    BAHUBALI2 ‘s BO performance is making Bollywood dig into it’s POTENTIALITY, it’s good thing ….
    .
    We Hope we can Watch and Enjoy more Universal Films in future in Bollywood….

  • I wish TUBELIGHT appeal to all sections of society and turned out to be film as better as BB and take BO by storm by collecting 400 Crores plus
    ATBB AWAITED …
    8 HOURS TO GO FOR TEASER.

  • Brilliant article . Good job Mahesh Maheshwari . It is good to see changing trends in Indian Cinema in the last 4 decades . Bahubali 2 will encourage filmmakers to make films which are massive and visually appealing . I personally feel all kinds of films should be made – Masala, Comedy, Action, Romance, Drama, Horror, Period, Biopic, Musical and Thrillers . We should not expect Anurag Kashyap to make a film like Bahubali 2 and we should not expect SS Rajamouli to make a film like GOW . Different filmmakers have their own style and they should try to make films which are entertaining, high on content and successful at the Box Office . Actors should also try to do something new and constantly reinvent themselves . Producers should also invest money if they feel a particular film has a potential to be record breaker . In case of Bahubali franchise apart from the entire cast and crew the producers also deserve a standing ovation for backing such kind of movie and understanding the vision of SSR . Because no film can be made without money . I am fed up with the current trend of ROM COMS and I hope this streak stops for some time . In the last 7 months we have seen ADHM, Tum Bin 2, Befikre, Ok Jaanu, Badrinath Ki Dulhania, Meri Pyari Bindu, Half Girlfriend and Behen Hogi Teri .

  • A very detailed and analysed article. Highly appreciate the points. I feel there is still audience for action films, it’s just that the right film isn’t happening. Take a look at the excellent trend of Baaghi. That was the only good action film I saw since Kick.

    I was surprised to see no mention of the comedy films.

    The genre was doing good during 1990-2010. In 90’s Dawid Dhawan comedies were a huge hit. It was all about Comedy+Action+Family Drama and Emotions+Romantic Angle+Heroism+Hit songs. And there were these mega hits like Aankhen, Raja Babu, Judwaa, etc. A straight comedy film with no family emotions, heroism and action like Andaz Apna Apna was rejected with those days. Even Hera Pheri was an average grosser. But then started the Priyadarshan era with hits like Hungama, Hulchul, Garam Masala and Bhagam Bhag. Only comedy without any of those other elements. Akshay had taken the best advantage of the genre during 2005-12. MSK and Garam Masala were his game changers.

    The problem is that the industry isn’t making good comedy or action films. Housefull 3, for example, had the potential for a 20-25 cr opening and a major 150-200 cr grosser. But the dull trailer, promos and below average WOM failed to achieve it. Even Welcome Back, Singh is Bling had potential for good hits if they were well made films. The last good comedy film from Bollywood was Chennai Express nearly 4 years ago. Same reflects for action films.

    If Bollywood makes one good commercial film today with a dose action, comedy, emotions, heroism and chartbuster songs. Then it might restart a trend. A really want Akshay to do the Kaththi remake. It has all the commercial ingredients for a blockbuster. The industry is underestimating the power of a pan-Indian film. One big star should try a film like Kaththi response would be in the range of Dabangg and Rowdy Rathore.

  • If the views of the author are his own indicine..wt is ur responsibility of wordings of ur articles..lol shame and pity on u indicine..

  • So you are saying srk and hr downfall because they didn’t do south remake? How absurd!!!
    Do you really believe this?

  • Rajesh khanna ruled the whole world from 1969 to 1986. BBC in 1973 made a movie on rajesh khanna so much was his charisma….now it is confirmed indicine is a kid .this site has no knowledge about rajesh khanna …it has been paid heavily by lambu…rajesh khanna has more hits than lambu tat too solo hits..lambu brought vulgarity and cheapness in movies and ended innocence of movies…indicine why have u not mentioned tat golden phase of rajesh khanna was started in 1969 with aradhana and ended in 1990 with swarg. …such bias Ness against kaka…rajesh khanna is million times better and bigger than lambu..

Leave a Comment