By Shailesh Kapoor
The Indian box-office is minting money. After an extended lull that stretched 3.5 years, punctuated by an odd film here and there, like RRR, K.G.F: Chapter and Pathaan, there is an unmistakable buzz at the ticket windows. The weekend of August 11-13 grossed nearly Rs 400 crore at the domestic box-office. To put this number in perspective, films releasing across the entire month of February 2023 grossed a similar amount (Rs 396 cr). August 2023 is in the reckoning to become the first-ever month ever to achieve the Rs 2,000 crore gross mark. It’s a long shot, but not out of bounds as of today.
The boom has been ably supported by Rajinikanth’s Jailer, and the franchise social comedy OMG 2. But it’s Gadar 2, a sequel to the blockbuster 2001 film Gadar: Ek Prem Katha, that is headlining the windfall. The film is on its way to challenging Pathaan, released just earlier this year, to become the highest-grossing Hindi film of all time at the domestic box office.
In September, Shah Rukh Khan will have a shot at breaking his own record, and Gadar 2’s, with Jawan. Later that month, Prabhas’ pan-India film Salaar – Part 1: The Ceasefire releases, and is expected to gross 100+ cr all India on its first day itself. 2023 is now well on course to become the highest-grossing year of all time, at the Indian box-office.
It’s a narrative Indian cinema needed desperately. Knives have been out, targeting the cinema medium and its relevance in today’s streaming-centric entertainment ecosystem, since the pandemic set in, in the first half of 2020. Lack of solid films from the Hindi film industry, barring the odd one every 4-5 months, have not helped matters. But all that is a thing of the past, with Gadar 2, OMG 2, and Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani delivering within two weeks of each other, after the Hollywood-led boost in the Barbenheimer week.
Outdoor entertainment options are scant in India, and movie-going remains the only inclusive one. It takes a film like Gadar 2 for the inclusivity to realise its true potential. The contrast between the urban, multiplex-centric audience profile of Oppenheimer and Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani, and the wide, all-in audience profile of Gadar 2 is a healthy sign for the medium, and its robust growth in the coming years.
The success of Gadar 2 is also a validation that the star system has been re-imagined. In Pathaan or Jailer, we see conventional stardom at work, in its full glory. In Oppenheimer, it’s a director’s fan base at work. In Gadar 2, it’s the enormous equity of the original film and its characters, rather than that of its lead star, who hasn’t exactly been active or successful in recent years. This multiplicity of factors that can take audiences to the theatre allow for different types of content models to co-exist, and for the cinema medium to prosper.
For all the naysayers of the cinema medium, who were eager to record its obituary in 2020/21, it’s time to wake up and smell the popcorn.