Twitter was abuzz with comparisons with Singham Again and Pushpa 2 – The Rule after the release of the latter two weeks ago. Many complained that Ajay Devgn didn’t have sufficient mass elevation scenes and that Rohit Shetty should have gone the Sukumar way and showcased Singham as a true blue mass hero.
“Bandra-to-Versova films are DEAD!”: Trade experts blame Bollywood’s ‘delicate heroes’ after Pushpa 2’s MASSIVE success
Trade experts felt that just highlighting Singham Again is unfair and that Bollywood, on the whole, needs to learn a lot from Pushpa 2 – The Rule’s blockbuster success. Trade veteran Taran Adarsh began by saying, “Everything pales (in front of Pushpa 2). Abhi feeka lagta hai because of the kind of action we saw. I’ll call Animal (2023) a game-changer as it showed brutal action. It’ll be replicated in many films. But now when I see Pushpa 2, there’s a rawness that has come with it. The film is soaked in desi entertainment.”
He thundered, “Most of our audience loves desi food. But we were serving them Chinese, Italian and Spanish dishes. That’s why a large chunk of the audience stayed away. This is the reason a South Indian film is being accepted big time in certain territories as those filmmakers continue to make masala films. On the other hand, we started making metro-centric films. Arre bhai, Bandra-to-Versova waali films ko jeb mein daalo. If you want to make them, do so for your home viewing. Don’t expect the audience to spend money on them. The audience is not interested in that crap!”
Trade analyst Atul Mohan explained, “We have moved away from mass cinema. Actors don’t have the confidence to do such films or even multi-starrers. Films like KGF, Pushpa, etc, are a cocktail of various films written by Salim-Javed. Their presentation is different.”
He proved his point by observing, “In both Pushpa and Trishul, the protagonists are illegitimate sons. Amitabh in Trishul has a soft corner for his step-sister, played by Poonam Dhillon while in Pushpa, the protagonist is close to his step-niece. But Sukumar packaged it well to suit the modern sensibilities. Pushpa is Deewaar plus Trishul. RRR is made in a typical Manmohan Desai style. Sadly, we left this cinema while South filmmakers embraced it and took it further.”
Distributor and exhibitor Raj Bansal explained, “Sanjay Dutt and I always discuss this that hum hero ki heroism dikha hi nahin rahen hai. Masses want to see a single hero bashing dozens of goons single-handedly. Our filmmakers are making realistic films. They don’t understand commercial cinema.”
He continued, “My father told me that an action film should have a larger-than-life villain for it to work. The villain should be such that viewers should wonder, ‘Hero isko kaise harayega?’. He also said that the other formula is that the film should talk about social issues connected with real India. Such films will never fail.”
Girish Johar, producer and film business analyst, agreed that “we have a lot to learn” but also pointed out that the vast Hindi-speaking market consists of varying audience tastes and hence, catering to them all is a task. He noted, “It’s not doing as well as expected in Mumbai city and Delhi city. Nevertheless, it is doing exceedingly well in 85-90% of the markets. It shows that there’s a large audience, which we need to cater to. Promoting the film in Patna was like a nail on the head. Allu Arjun is now a common name in the Hindi heartland.”
However, the consensus among trade experts is that a well-made mass cinema can work across the country and they complain that our industry fails to understand. Taran Adarsh revealed, “A producer narrated a very fascinating episode. A well-known director approached an actor and offered him a film with loads of entertainment and masala. The actor replied that he’d get back soon. A few days later, the actor called the director, producer and writer for a meeting. When asked for feedback on the script, the actor replied, ‘It is so Bollywood-ish. Aisi masala filmein dekhta kaun hai?’! The producer argued that this is what the audience wants to watch. The actor hit back by saying, ‘Yeh film dekhne multiplex mein kaun aayega?’! The actor ended up declining the film.”
The trade veteran continued, “Aise logon ki raaton ki neend ud gayi hai, thanks to Pushpa 2. Its success has taught them a very big lesson.”
Atul Mohan added, “We are trying to impress a small section of the audience. Our heroes are now delicate. Look at our older heroes like Dharmendra, Vinod Khanna, Amitabh Bachchan, etc. They had a strong aura and their aura, machismo, swag, etc, and were different from one another. The heroes nowadays are focusing on bodybuilding; they don’t have variation or variety.”
He further said, “For Bollywood, it’ll be a tough journey if they try to go back to basics as the South have hammered the fact that ‘aisi films toh bas hum bana sakte hai’.”
On Singham-Pushpa comparisons, Girish Johar exulted, “Singham was a rustic Maharashtrian character but in Singham Again, Rohit Shetty made him very urban. That is not the core of Singham. In that regard, he missed out on critical elements which the audience desired from the character.”
He added, “The definition of commercial cinema has changed a lot after the pandemic and after the OTT wave. There’s an affinity to the Southern style of filmmaking, which the Hindi directors are not able to. Rohit Shetty is the closest. Siddharth Anand is a big screen director though he’s upmarket and suave. He’s yet to display his histrionics with a rustic mass entertainer.”
Atul Mohan, meanwhile, opined, “Yes, Rohit could have done so much (in Singham Again). But a lot of factors are to blame. There’s a loss of trust among the Bollywood audience; they don’t take our films seriously.”
An alternate point of view
Popular director-producer Sanjay Gupta, however, said, “Pushpa 2 is one of those films that happens. No filmmaker in his right mind and no big star is going to say ‘Let’s make a good-looking guy look ugly, make him wear dirty clothes, no hairstyle’. So, everything you wouldn’t want to do, they did. And then they went two steps ahead in the sequel with his clothes, dialogue delivery, etc. It’s the character that has struck a chord. And people love characters. That’s why Sholay remains one of the greatest films as in that film, you love every character.”
He also observed, “The last 45 minutes have nothing to do with the rest of the story! With Fahadh Faasil’s exit, kahani khatam ho jaati hai. Also, the opening 15-minute scene turns out to be a dream sequence.”
Sanjay Gupta continued, “There are no lessons to be learned and it’s not like we start making movies that only cater to the frontbenchers. I guess there has been a paradigm shift in characters, movie and movie making in Hindi cinema post the pandemic. All of us are currently struggling to find the line and length – kya banayein, kaise banayein.”
More Pages: Pushpa 2 – The Rule Box Office Collection , Pushpa 2 – The Rule Movie Review
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