There are two kinds of movies. Mass movies and Niche movies
A niche movie needs to have some original content be it thriller comedy or drama. If it’s not original then it needs to be adapted into a completely new format. The content must deliver the premise otherwise it will not work
Dhrishyam2 is supposed to be a brain twisting drama. It delivers that.
Bhool Bhulaiya is supposed to be a horror comedy it does that too
Kashmir files has to bring out the horror of a genocide, it did that
Brahmastra was promoted be a fantasy action. It kind of delivered with a fantasy romance but then people did expect Ranbir and Alia movie to have romance instead of action even if the promotions said otherwise
LSC for those who had already seen Forrest Gump was a rehash with nothing original to offer and those who hadn’t seen it (which is majority of theatre going audience in India) it seemed like Taare Zameen Par adult version remixed with PK.
Vikram Vedha again missed it as it was niche movie which didn’t bring anything new for those who had seen original and didn’t have enough new interesting action for the rest who hadn’t seen it
so as long as what is promised is delivered a movie will work
Mass movies on the other hand work purely on the screen presence and swag of the lead hero. Pushpa KGF etc are working on the basis of Swagger of Allu Arjun and Yash.
SRK had that swag in Don 1. Salman had that swag in the first Dabang Movie. Hrithik had it in war. SRK and Salman have lost it and Hrithik is losing it fast
Unfortunately none of the new actors in Bollywood have that swag at all to be able to take a crap dialogue and say it with so much swag that audience whistles instead of cringeing on it or do an oft repeated illogical action sequence of one guy against 20 and get whistles instead of laughter
Karthik Aryan is going to try Allu Arjun in Shehzada let’s see.. my bet he won’t be able to
Movies and Audience have always been like this they haven’t changed but sadly our current crop of Bollywood heroes aren’t able to deliver without solid content like they could do in the past
Anupamaa
5