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Bollywood is back, and how! 2023 has proved to be an exceptionally wonderful year for the Hindi film industry as the box office collections for the first time surpassed the Rs 11,000 crore mark, making 2019's collection the second-best year for Indian cinema.
Hindi film industry's resurgence is attributed to the fact that there have been four movies that hit a domestic box-office collection of over Rs 500 crore, including Shah Rukh Khan starrer Jawan, Pathaan, Sunny Deol starrer Gadar 2, and Ranbir Kapoor's Animal.
2023: The resurgence year
The year began on a solid note, with Shah Rukh Khan starrer Pathaan minting Rs 543 crore at the domestic box office and the worldwide collection crossing the Rs 1,000 crore mark. The film set a strong tone for the rest of the year, which witnessed a lot of successful films, helping the film fraternity to bounce back from Covid-19 blues. Films like Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar, Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahani, Jawan, Gadar 2, and Animal helped producers make a remarkable recovery and smash previous records. Ranbir Kapoor starrer Animal is the latest movie to join the Rs 500 crore club. The Sandeep Reddy Vanga directorial ruled the box office for three weeks and has grossed over Rs 800 crore worldwide.
2023 was the highest-grossing year ever in terms of box office collections for the Indian film industry, but for Bollywood, this year is truly a redemption, with experts pointing out that the Hindi film industry is one of the last sectors to bounce back from the jolts of Covid 19 pandemic. According to a report by Ormax Media, Hindi films raked in 41 per cent of the money in 2023 between January and November; the collections saw an increase of seven per cent over the same period last year.
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Talking about the factors that led to the massive growth this year, Sanket Kulkarni, head of Business Development (Theatrical), Ormax Media, said, "Bollywood has delivered on ability to provide theatrical experiences which are worth paying for and post-pandemic, we have seen this very important factor that the reason why to watch this film in the theatre has become even more important. So, for a Jawan or a Pathaan, it would be the spectacle, the action or return of SRK in an action avatar, or for Gadar 2, it would also be about getting the same nostalgia that I got when I saw the first film. So, Bollywood's ability to give this theatre-worthy experience is something we have delivered on. The second reason is Bollywood's ability to create products for which people would want to pay more ticket prices. The third one is that some of the makers in the Hindi cinema have managed to find a sweet spot, where you are using the equity of a Bollywood star and combining that equity with the 'massy' storytelling of a South Indian director."
2022: Close call
According to an Ormax Media report, 2022 became the second year to cross the Rs 10,000-crore-collection mark. Despite theatres being shut in many parts of the country in January 2022, the year was only about Rs 300 crore behind 2019, which was the best-grossing year at the box office. The year also witnessed KGF Chapter 2 being the only movie that entered the Rs 500 crore club, while many Hindi language films struggled to even cross the Rs 300-crore mark. This included Alia Bhatt starrer Gangubai Kathiawadi (Rs 152 crore), Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 (Rs 217 crore), Brahmastra (Rs 273 crore), Drishyam 2 (Rs 285 crore), and The Kashmir Files (Rs 292 crore).
2020- 2021: Steering through the pandemic blues
After witnessing a year of record box office collections, what followed next was a nearly two-year period of silence owing to the shutting down of the theatres after the central and state governments imposed various lockdowns. The film industry suffered a loss of more than Rs 15,000 crore. An Ormax Media report states that the cumulative collections from these two years stood at Rs 5,757 crore. 2020 saw an 81 per cent drop in box office collections over 2019. Aided by the last quarter (Oct-Dec), 2021 registered a recovery and closed at Rs 3,701 cr, against just Rs 2,056 cr in 2020.
2019: The milestone year
With a total gross collection standing at Rs 10,948 crore, the Indian film industry, for the first time in 2019, breached the Rs 10,000 crore mark, witnessing an 11 per cent uptick from 2018. While the Hindi film industry ruled the language-wise share of the gross domestic box office collections (44 per cent), Hollywood was at number 2 and contributed 15 per cent to the domestic collections, followed by Tamil and Telugu at 13 per cent each.
With a domestic collection of Rs 340 crore, Hrithik Roshan's War was among the top films of the year, which was followed by Kabir Singh (Rs 321 crore), Uri (Rs 283 crore), Housefull 4 (Rs 239 crore), and Good Newwz (Rs 230 crore).
2024: Will the dream run continue?
As Shah Rukh Khan starrer Dunki finally makes it to the big screen, industry experts shed light on the 2024 outlook. Film trade analyst Komal Nahta believes that to continue the dream run of 2023, the industry has to make sure to work hard on the scripts. "Mediocrity doesn't sell now. People have become very smart and they have got options in the form of OTT. So, OTT is a very formidable opposition that we have to live with now, the industry can't wish it away, so, because the audience in India is exposed to world cinema, it now has to compete with world cinema. So, writers and filmmakers all have to pull up their socks; if they don't pull up their socks, they will become dinosaurs, and they will be left behind in the race. The biggest learning is you keep re-inventing yourself and give content which matches international standards now, he said."
Nahta further added, "If you can't compete with them (international cinema) technically, at least give compelling content. Our Indian audience is very undemanding, if you give them great content, they don't mind technical shortcomings. But, if there is no great content, then they want the film to at least be technologically sound. So, either work too hard on technicalities or too hard on content. If you work hard on both, like in Jawan, then there is no stopping the film. "
