Opinion Piece: Increasing number of 3-hour films are being successful; is the viewer more accepting now?

Movies

Growing leaps and bounds - it is a phrase that can safely be attached to the South film industry and sorry, Mr. S.S. Rajamouli, for categorising it as the 'South' inspite of you asking everyone not to do so. But the sole reason, I do that here is to commemorate what the films from the Southern part of India have done in order to change the very manner in which we categorise all industries based on their languages and regions.

However, if there is one other thing that these mythical movies have done so well is change our perception of NOT being patient or accepting enough for films with longer duration. As more and more films in the recent past clock over 2 and a half hours and some even reaching 3 hours of runtime, this piece is about analysing if we are entirely ready for these 'long' films again or is it just limited to a few exceptions-

Never Entirely Gone Away

The general perception when it comes to these long films has been that 'it is a thing in the 60s, 70s to 90s - however, that is not entirely the case. It is true that the amount of having 3 hour and 3 hour plus films was much more in the past but it hasn't been a factor that entirely diminished moving ahead in time. For instance, you would expect all-time blockbusters like Sangam (1964), Sholay (1975) to run for three hours and more, where the former actually ran for almost four hours - but then you also had cult classics like Hum Aapke Hain Koun (1994) and Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995) also recording over three hours. And if you thought that we have barely had three hour plus films in the 20th century, that ain't true because the biggest blockbusters like Mohobbatein (2000), Lagaan (2001), Kal Ho Na Ho (2003), Jodha Akbar (2008) and others have also been long films. Not to be talking all about the names and numbers here but this name parade is an example of how longer films might not have been constant but have never necessarily gone out entirely.

Changing Times, Lesser Duration

The one thing that cannot be denied is that post the 2010s, the ratio of having longer films to shorter films has gone down considerably - especially in the Hindi film industry. The idea of having shorter films has been the mixture of two primary factors. 1) the assumption that with technological advent, the attention span for viewers have declined. The success of shorter films is miles higher than than some longer films that just didn't do enough to keep the viewer engaged throughout. And this is true. More and more statistics indicate how to keep a normal person's attention to a video, one only has 5 to 10 seconds of time, which has further led to short content being popular 2) and reason number two is the plethora of options and platforms available. The past five years has witnessed a rise in the number of platforms in such a way that more content is being produced and presented than ever! In such times, if your film is too long, it might never get the desired eyeballs as opposed to another film which might be shorter and doing enough to convey the story efficiently.

The South Industry has been consistent

As made clear, these pointers above have only been applicable to the Hindi film industry in general. The South industry and we are factoring the Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam language films - have been consistent always. From the times in the past till even today in 'modern era', they have been dishing out longer films constantly. There is a certain sense of loyalty and belief between the makers and the viewers as to how and when they make these films with their beloved superstars, the last thing they would probably care about it is the film being 'too long.' They focus on telling the story, giving the fans the moments they crave for and ultimately delivering an experience they pay their money for.

But, is the Time & Stride also changing for everyone now?

The point of this piece is to focus on the facts and recent trends that has seen the emergence of these long films being accepted wholeheartedly by one and all. Again, as mentioned, the people down south have being doing it constantly but with the emergence of the idea of 'PAN-India' films, the acceptance is a lot more universal than before. What began with the Baahubali franchise has continued and grown multiple-folds where all these films have been accepted and loved by viewers of all languages. From Pushpa (2021) to RRR (2022) and the recent release, KGF: Chapter 2 (2022) - these films are long but that was never a factor earlier and it isn't today as well for the viewers. The notable thing here though is how Bollywood films like Gangubai Kathiawadi (2021) and The Kashmir Files (2021) have also witnessed tremendous success inspite of being films of longer duration.

Note To the Hindi film industry on learning

It is easy to dish out advise on an industry on its low because that is when everybody looks down upon them. But don't get me wrong, this note to the Hindi film industry is not about how South industry is 'taking over' or so but more about the fact that believing in your stories is a lot more important than worrying about the duration. Yes, the attention span might be lesser but the recent trends have proved that if you deliver and execute what you believe to the perfect entertaining experience for a viewer, duration is probably the last thing to worry about. The only thing that they (hindi industry) can learn from South is how to keep the faith in your viewer and deliver your product organically.

Who knows, with PAN-India factor opening more viewers to these mega South films, Hindi films might also reach more regions in India than ever before, not worrying about the length of a film!