Sequels and re-releases, like that of ‘Satya’, speak of Bollywood’s inability to navigate a new ecosystem

Any manufacture re-evaluates its strategies and minimises hazard erstwhile faced with changeless alteration and volatility. Thus, it’s not a astonishment that Hindi cinema volition spot the merchandise of much than 50 sequels successful the adjacent 2 years. From Don 3, War 2 to Hera Pheri 3, the database is long. It seems the investors privation to enactment their wealth connected a tested product. Action films starring established antheral stars outnumber immoderate different genre successful these sequels arsenic the manufacture tries to play safe. The abstraction for innovative storytelling with women protagonists has shrunk adjacent more. Essentially, branding is replacing caller concepts and caller scripts. Meanwhile, galore of the offbeat stories are getting a quiescent OTT merchandise today. While the beingness of the OTT platforms ensures the tiny budget autarkic movie gets backing and an audience, it efficaciously besides means that galore caller stories are squeezed disconnected the container bureau and suffer their accidental to go runaway hits.

Notably, astatine this moment, it mightiness beryllium utile to retrieve that galore of these sequels were archetypal scripts with humble beginnings. They are grounds of the information that concern successful an archetypal publication pays off, and nary 1 tin ever foretell the container office. The drama horror, Stree, was initially a tiny fund movie with nary large stars. Based connected a Kannada folklore, Stree’s powerfulness was its caller script. Today, this standalone movie has led to a immense fearfulness drama franchise worthy Rs 1,200 crore with aggregate films and sequels planned till the twelvemonth 2028. None of this would person been imaginable without the archetypal script. Similarly, who would person thought the household comedy, Shubh Mangal Saavdhaan, would go a money-making franchise. The managers sitting successful posh solid offices request to measurement backmost and spot the storytellers. That’s however originative industries grow.

Adapting to alteration is not thing caller for the industry. Hindi cinema has a robust past of successfully navigating large shifts successful its agelong past of implicit 100 years. Be it the determination towards talkies successful the 30s oregon the introduction of tv successful our bedrooms successful the 80s, it has weathered it each and thrived. As the manufacture navigates this hard time, it needs to retrieve its ain past of maverick experiments, escapade and passionateness for cinematic storytelling. It needs to retrieve that K Asif’s originative madness gave america Mughal-e-Azam. Perhaps, it needs to retrieve that Satya’s sequel bombed astatine the container office.

Yadav is an academic, writer and filmmaker