Akshay Kumar's latest film, Sarfira, was a no-show at the box office. This is possibly his 11th film to fail so badly in a row. Sarfira was the remake of the superhit Tamil film Soorarai Pottru, based on the life of Captain G.R. Gopinath, who founded Air Deccan. Even though the filmmaker behind the original version, Sudha Kongara, directed the Hindi remake too, the film has managed to collect just around Rs 22 crore since its release on July 12. While one may say that Akshay Kumar needs to relook his career, there's another popular opinion lately: the Hindi film industry's obsession with remakes needs to stop.
A Look At Some 'Big' Films
Vikram Vedha, Bholaa, Selfiee, Jersey, Bachchan Pandey, Shehzaada, Mili, Katputli, Laxmii, Lal Singh Chaddha, The Girl on the Train - what do all these films have in common? They are all remakes of films from other languages, including English, and all failed miserably at the box office. Take a look at Indian box office hits in 2022 - the top 10 films were RRR, KGF: Chapter 2, Brahmastra Part One: Shiva, Vikram, Ponniyin Selvan: Part 1, Kantara, Drishyam 2 (Hindi), The Kashmir Files, Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2, and Beast. There are only three original Hindi films in the list, the rest are all South Indian flicks.
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Cut to 2023, and its top 10 films - Jawan, Pathaan, Animal, Gadar 2, Salaar Part 1, Leo, Jailer, Tiger 3, Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani and Adipurush. Of these, seven were Hindi films and none was a remake, while two Hindi films had South directors. In 2024, so far, Munjya, Hanu-Man (Hindi), Kalki 2898 AD, Shaitaan, Article 370 and Kill have been declared hits. While Shaitaan was a remake of Vash, a Gujarati film, Munjya, Article 370 and Kill were original screenplays. In fact, Kill is now set to be remade in Hollywood.
What this quick analysis clearly underlines is that the Indian audience wants original content. Remakes - especially badly made ones - are something nobody is willing to waste precious money and time on.
What Went Wrong With Bollywood?
Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam films have been remade in Hindi consistently over the years, and now, Hollywood and Korean films are part of this mix too. But the audience seems to have reached a point of fatigue. With the rise of OTT, original content is easily available online - and this is one of the biggest factors why many remakes don't work any more. Post-Covid-19, global content has become available to viewers readily, and at a fraction of the money a person usually spends watching a film in theatres. By the time a remake comes out, most have either already watched the original work online, or the thrill of seeing the film wanes. To add to that, if the remake is bad, it bombs all the more heavily at the box office.
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The string of recent flops begs the question, what's stopping the Hindi film industry from focusing on original content, and why is it instead choosing to rely on stale concepts? The plethora of successful web series on streaming platforms has already shown that there is no dearth of good writers in the Hindi film industry. Why then producers willing to bet on original content are few and far between, especially in the theatrical space?
Bet On Original Content
Indigenous stories and stories that are culturally rooted have always resonated with Indian audiences, and that is evident right from a blockbuster like RRR to smaller movies like Munjya. Kalki 2898 AD, a sci-fi film based on the Mahabharata, was a hit, and so was the relatively low-scale Hanu-Man, based on the Hindu God, Hanuman. Both films come from the Telugu industry.
The Hindi film industry is the largest film industry in India, and yet, it continues to suffer from an identity crisis, which has only worsened over the last decade or two. From creating original content, the Hindi film industry moved to Westernisation of Hindi plots, and then remakes. It lost its USP in this process. In December 2022, Bollywood filmmaker Karan Johar said in an interview, "I think the core issue is that we come from a mainstream industry in Hindi cinema, and that includes myself, which does not have one very strong quality that every other cinema on this panel has. That is conviction. We kind of always go with the flow. We had such an original voice in Salim-Javed in the 70s. We created a certain character and the concept of that angsty, angry hero was derived from other cinemas. Then, in the 80s, suddenly something happened and there came a host of remakes. That's where the conviction loss started. We started remaking every film popular in Tamil and Telugu."
Conviction And Spine
Bollywood continues to produce some of the best films in India, but these are not enough to keep the industry thriving. Trade pundits say it's a matter of demand and supply, and with umpteen options before them, viewers are now demanding quality, original content that is entertaining as well. Given the multifront competition Bollywood today faces from regional cinema and Hollywood alike, filmmakers in B-Town must start putting their money into original stories if they want to strike gold at the box office.
"We actually lack - and I say this more for myself than anyone else - we lack the spine and conviction. That's what we need to get from all the other industries," Johar said in the same interview. The time to acknowledge that is now.
(The author is a senior entertainment journalist and film critic)
Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author