Is Bollywood indeed less rooted in recent years?

I have often heard BW is declining due to being too urban or films made solely for NRIs or foreigners or metros.

And that Bollywood films are less rooted, hard to relate to as per Indian culture.

Is it true?

I personally never felt connected to any star after Hrithik. And never liked any actress after Vidya.

I find films based on middle class also very caricaturish and less genuine like say, Basu Chatterjee or Hrishikesh Mukherjee films of past.

I am fed up of umpteen films based on manchild or child woman dealing with break ups.

I dislike inability of today's actors to speak Hindi or any language properly.

Too plastic and too much of gym bodies and too many remakes or remixes.

I am seeing renewed love for regional cinema in audience of older age or small towns or tier 2 cities and interiors.

Do you also feel Bollywood is disconnected from masses? Rana Daggubatti said so in a podcast recently that regional cinema reflect more of culture and Bollywood is too modern or urban.

I do not think regional cinema reflects too much of culture either given how they also have own share of cuss words, vulgar scenes etc. But regional cinema is perhaps less westernized? IDK.

What do you think? You feel less able to connect to BW films in recent years?

Well I as a member of lower middle class felt more connected to urban and westernised movies of 2000's like DCH, Salaam Namaste, KHNH than today's regional movies. Though the movies that had the most impact were RDB, 3 idiots, Black, Chak de....all of them relatable at one level or another.

It feels like filmmakers have just stopped putting in any efforts in their works and blindly copying and pasting what works at the time. There's no soul in BW movies today. They are either trying to be too hard hitting and hell bent on proving a point in society or just mindless remakes of one another and that's how I feel about the current actors and music.

Originally posted by: SrikantTiwari

Well I as a member of lower middle class felt more connected to urban and westernised movies of 2000's like DCH, Salaam Namaste, KHNH than today's regional movies. Though the movies that had the most impact were RDB, 3 idiots, Black, Chak de....all of them relatable at one level or another.

It feels like filmmakers have just stopped putting in any efforts in their works and blindly copying and pasting what works at the time. There's no soul in BW movies today. They are either trying to be too hard hitting and hell bent on proving a point in society or just mindless remakes of one another and that's how I feel about the current actors and music.

@bold - that was just what i was about to write. I cannot connect with bollywood movies of current time. I feel most are too superficial. All show & glamour but lacking soul. From music to screenplay to acting, everything has degraded. The only improvement is in vfx by Bollywood standards, I'd say

That's why I rarely watch bw movies now. Hindi tv serials have become even more nonsensical... So don't watch those either. 😕

The main reason for the decline of Bollywood is internet. Internet bought in access to the content directly which earlier Bollywood used to plagiarise. Also people these days have short attention span and also the stars have become very accessible so there is too much familiarity and no enigma about them. The only thing that could have still kept them sustained was music and companies like T-Series managed to kill the allure of Bollywood music too..so there are no songs that can boast longevity anymore. Earlier even flop movies had great memorable songs. I cannot remember the lyrics of even one song in recent times. All this put together is slowly killing the Bollywood market.

They still make lots of films for or about small towns

Well said. It has been ages since I last saw a TV show or film. I gave up on TV after 2010.

I gave up on films after Dangal.

There is no connect and nothing draws you in as a viewer nor holds your attention.

The actors and stories just do not cut ice with me.

I did not like anything except Bahubali series, Kaala, Kabali, Dangal in recent years. Kaala and Kabali were not great either but I watched it for Rajinikanth who has great charisma till date.

I sometimes think actors lack connect and gravitas too.

For eg, Thappad made me feel some other actress except Taapsee may have suited that role better. I missed a more expressive and seasoned actor in such films like Pink, Mulk, Thappad etc.

I agree 3 Idiots and DCH do not look old at all and seem still relevant.

IDK. I haven't quantified or observed it.

I just like mainly action high octane sequence movies with the stars I like to see. I try not to think too much .

Well said . I feel no connection with Bollywood anymore. Haven’t watched a movie in a long time except Pathaan. That was great but nothing before or after it.