Bollywood is facing one of its worst periods. With most of the movies failing gross even average box office collection, the industry is not even able to ride the momentum on a few blockbusters that have raked in big bucks.

Movies that have done more than INR 100 crore like Stree 2 or Chhaava are among few of the movies that are barely sustaining the Hindi box office.

Recently, Javed Akhtar and Aamir Khan spoke about the downfall of Bollywood and why South films are doing well in North India. Here’s what they said:

Javed Akhtar on the rise of South films

At the launch of Aamir Khan: Cinema Ka Jadugar, a special film festival by PVR INOX, legendary screenwriter and lyricist, Javed Akhtar spoke about why Bollywood films are failing and South films are doing well in the North market.

Javed Akhtar said, “The films have lost all connectivity with the audience. Dubbed South Indian films, featuring stars who are unknown to audiences here in North India, are releasing and doing Rs 600-700 crore business. Even the few of our films that end up working are also directed by people from the South. What happened to our people?”

“Not a North vs South problem”: Aamir Khan

Aamir Khan responded to Javed Akhtar’s views by saying that the main issue does not lie in North vs South movies. He sensibly pointed towards Bollywood’s recent flawed business model in which newly-released movies unavoidably release on OTT platforms within four or eight weeks.

According to Aamir Khan, this could be one of the biggest demotivators for people from coming into cinema halls. He rightly pointed out that audiences are willing to wait a month to watch a movie on OTT rather than paying an amount equal to an OTT subscription on which they can watch thousands of movies. He added that this is a flawed business model of the Hindi film industry and it has significantly affected footfalls in cinema halls.

Aamir argued, “The problem we are facing is something different.”

“Ours is the only industry that goes around requesting people, ‘Please come and consume our product (film). If you don’t, we’ll come and drop it off at your doorstep in eight weeks (through OTT platforms). This is our business model. After eight weeks, you will get to watch my movie for which you had already paid (through a subscription). I don’t know how to sell the same product twice,” said Aamir.

“Earlier, I used to watch movies because I had no option. Now, I go to theatres for the fancy of it. Since we can watch movies anywhere, there’s no absolute need to go to theatres. So we’ve killed our own business model,” he added.

Social and lead images credits: Viral Bhayani

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