MxMIndia

Tag: Shailesh Kapoor

  • Two Types of News Media: A Tale of Two Indias?

    Two Types of News Media: A Tale of Two Indias?

    Shailesh KapoorThe divide between linear TV and digital (OTT/ streaming) in India is well established now. IPL perhaps is the easiest way to explain it. Both in terms of viewership and revenue, linear and digital are in the 40-60% share bracket. This near-equal split aptly tells the story of two media.

    But in examples like the IPL, the story is primarily about audience size and monetisation, but never about the content. Because the content is essentially the same, barring some paraphernalia. This is also true for catch-up television, where digital may be generating 20-30% of audience size, but the content is again the same.

    But there’s one category where the divide is fundamental in nature, and extends to content: News. It’s election season, and news is the genre of the season, apart from the IPL. Till a few weeks ago, this election was being called a no-contest. But no election is, even if many feel the result is a foregone conclusion. Things have heated up, and not always in a good way. We are still another five weeks away from the results, and we can expect more fireworks, to use a mild word.

    If you watch news on TV channels (or their YouTube feeds/ channels), you will see a certain kind of coverage. But if you follow the elections in digital media, including YouTube, you will see something very different. It’s a tale of two Indias, so to speak.

    Last week, PM Modi made a highly controversial speech in Rajasthan, where he specifically singled out a religious community, and quite uncharitably so. The way this story has shaped up in linear TV news channels and digital media is remarkably different. The digital coverage is more analytical and evidence-based in nature, while that on TV is more dramatic and confrontational. Of course, it also means very different political stances on the speech, in the two media.

    And that’s true for all political news, in general, today. It’s not just the content, but even the tone, tenor, and treatment are poles apart. This segmentation of the news genre is compelling, but also tricky, because it means that the nature of the media is deciding the discourse!

    Digital news is nowhere close to linear TV news on monetisation. Almost all of it is free, and YouTube monetisation is hard to come by, unless you have big numbers. Some digital news platforms do not take advertising to make the larger point about free media. Relying on subscriber support can be hard, especially in a category where there are too many options available. But it’s a fundamental stance these platforms have taken.

    Hence, unlike the IPL, the share of viewership or monetisation is not in the 40-60% range, but closer to 20-80% or even 10-90%. If the content was the same, digital news would have been on the fringes, battling irrelevance. But because of the content contrast, it manages to breathe. At least for the moment.

  • In a highly heterogenous Hindi market, what is ‘compelling content’ is a far more complex question than a far more homogenous (and better educated) market like Kerala, writes Shailesh Kapoor

    Shailesh Kapoor: Hindi cinema takes a summer break, even as Malayalam cinema soars

    Shailesh KapoorWe are in the thick of the elections season, and in the middle of a typically exciting IPL. It is set to be a fertile summer for the media and entertainment business in India, but for one sector. The theatrical business in Hindi language will see an unusual lull, lasting at least a couple of months, if not more.

    Two films clashed on Eid this week, and from now till at least early July, all we have is a line-up of low-budget, non-starcast releases. While South cinema continues to have a somewhat busier lineup, Hindi cinema is going to be on a break of sorts. It’s an unprecedented occurrence in my living memory, except when the industry was impacted by extraneous factors like demonetisation or the pandemic.

    2023 was a strong year for the theatrical business, and four Hindi language films (Jawan, Gadar 2, Pathaan and Animal) headlined the post-pandemic recovery of the Indian theatrical business, which touched an all-time high domestic gross of INR 12,226 Crore. The follow-up in 2023 started on a fine note, and the first quarter grossed about 900 Cr, which is only about 10% lower than the same period last year, despite no mega film like Pathaan (Jan 2023 release). But the second quarter could struggle to be even close to half of the first quarter’s number, and one will have to wait for the second half of the year for catch-up.

    This uneven release cycle is reflective of the general lack of confidence in the Hindi film industry on viability of mid-range films at the box office. With the arrival of streaming, such films have struggled at the box office, even as the bigger films have gotten bigger with time (see this analysis). This has led to several projects being revisited as OTT films, or being shelved altogether.  Theatres in the Hindi markets simply won’t have enough viable software to play over the next three months.

    In sharp contrast is Malayalam cinema, which is on a dream run in 2024. Manjummel Boys, which released in February, is the highest-grossing Malayalam film of all-time, having grossed about 160 cr in India, and still going strong. It has been supported by a slew of compelling Malayalam films, and the share of Malayalam cinema stands at the box-office currently stands at about 18%, which is a staggering three times its share in 2022 and 2023.

    Malayalam cinema is high on content (theme, concept, story, etc.), and relies far lesser on stars than its Telugu, Tamil and Hindi counterparts. As on date, Malayalam cinema has grossed 80% more than Tamil cinema this year, a unimaginable finding, given that Tamil theatrical audience in India in 2023 were 2.5 times that of Malayalam, and Tamil footfalls were three times those of Malayalam.

    In 2024, this could be the emerging theme at the Indian box office: Mega blockbusters will gross big numbers, but compelling content will drive growth and consistency. But in a highly heterogenous Hindi market, what is ‘compelling content’ is a far more complex question than a far more homogenous (and better educated) market like Kerala. But that’s another story, for another day!

  • Bias by Exclusion: News in the Times of Elections

    Bias by Exclusion: News in the Times of Elections

    Shailesh KapoorWe are exactly three weeks away from the first phase of polls in the General Elections. Expectedly, elections are dominating news coverage, and the action is only going to heat up over the next two months, leading up to the results on June 4.

    Historically, pre-elections and elections coverage on television news has been about programming ideas and access to the top politicians. The psephology part stopped being a differentiator a while ago, with opinion polls and exit polls being commoditised over time. Channels that could create engaging formats, have more feet on ground, and connect their viewers to the biggest names on the ballot, performed better than their competitors.

    Early indicators suggest that programming formats may not be the differentiating factor this year. Channels have maintained their typical debating formats, focusing on election-related topics, but barely breaking the template in the process. Yes, there is ground coverage, and it will pick up as we get closer to actual polling, but a lot of that is restricted to specific timeslots, often outside the primetime.

    What is striking is that channels have well-defined narratives, and are engineering their programming around it. In an election where most experts believe the outcome is a foregone conclusion, the narrative is easier to script. Yet, it is difficult to miss the political agenda behind these set narratives.

    For example, the electoral bonds data released by SBI a few weeks ago was arguably the biggest political story of March, till the arrest of the Delhi CM. But it was hard to find a debate on the electoral bonds on mainline news channels. Even as YouTube news channels covered the story in considerable detail, TV channels chose to turn a blind eye, barring a token story or two.

    Story selection is the most potent instrument of bias with a news channel today. Because if you choose to not show something, that’s the end of that anyway. One could argue that certain stories, like Manipur riots in 2023, do not generate ratings, and hence, are not commercially viable on mass television. That is a contentious argument anyway, given that principles of sound journalism would demand a separation between editorial and business. But with electoral bonds coverage, or the lack of it, even that argument doesn’t hold.

    It will be a pleasant surprise to see one of the mainline TV news channels stand out in the election clutter with an original and thought-provoking programming approach. Thankfully, there’s online news to fall back on!

  • The Rise & Rise of the IPL

    The Rise & Rise of the IPL

    Source: www.iplt20.com

     

    Shailesh KapoorThe 17th edition of the Indian Premier League kicks off tonight. To say that it’s the biggest media event in India by some margin will be stating the obvious. The gap between IPL and other big-ticket properties has only grown wider over the last decade.

    The stature of IPL is reflected in our new report, titled The Ormax Sports Audience Report: 2024. The sampling of IPL in the 612 million audience base of cricket in India is higher than that of the ICC World Cup, by a good six percentage points. The list of most-recalled sporting franchises in India (across sports) sees a clean sweep, with the 10 IPL teams taking the top 10 positions, ahead of Manchester United and Patna Pirates, which are the most-recalled leagues in football and kabaddi respectively.

    In its first few years, IPL faced its share of controversies. But in its second phase, the league has been able to put cricket first, and that has helped it move away from the erstwhile imagery of a flippant brand, towards building credibility as a talent platform. This shift is fundamental in nature, and has held IPL in good stead.

    IPL is now a way of life for those in the media industry. Till not too many years ago, there was a lot of chatter about how GECs should dodge the IPL googly. Now, everyone has a playbook of sorts, and it’s not a topic to lose sleep over, anymore.

    This year’s IPL will be held amid the political fervor around the General Elections. News-wise, IPL will play second fiddle. But in terms of monetisation and viewership, it will continue to stay at the top. The stronger franchises are profitable now, and BCCI continues to get richer with each edition. Yet, there’s ample room for growth, as fan bases are continuing to build, especially for franchises that have made late entries, or taken their time to get going.

    This year’s IPL will also see younger captains across most teams. The average age of the 10 captains this year is 30 years, which is three years younger than the 33 years average age in IPL 2023. The old guard is passing the baton to the new, and that’s always a good thing, especially in a talent platform like IPL.

    Amid all the excitement, the biggest highlight of this IPL is going to be the return of Rishabh Pant. The actor survived a near-fatal road accident in December 2022, and his incredible recovery over the last 14 months has been a miraculous one. How National Cricket Academy has helped Pant get back to match readiness against all odds is perhaps the best example of BCCI money being put to great use.

    Pant is leading the Delhi Capitals side, and their first match is scheduled for tomorrow afternoon, at Mohali. We can expect a roaring reception to a special talent, who first got noticed via the IPL itself, before making it big at the international stage. I won’t be surprised if he makes this IPL his very own, to announce a comeback we have all been waiting for. Game on!

  • Content Innovation: AI and Beyond

    Content Innovation: AI and Beyond

    Shailesh KapoorIt’s hard to have a business discussion these days without a mention of AI very early into the conversation. Since the emergence of ChatGPT, artificial intelligence has been a buzzword that everyone wants to use. And not for the wrong reasons entirely. In the digital age, the role technology can play in businesses across the spectrum, including media and entertainment, is undeniable. And we have not seen it all. Not just as yet, anyway.

    Innovation is at the heart of many businesses, often featuring in core values of many companies, including some of the most traditional, brick-and-mortar ones. Technology is at the center of this innovation, and AI is expected to lead the way towards innovative creation and transformation of businesses.

    But there’s an irony in this idea too. I asked ChatGPT to define innovation in a business context. I got: “Innovation in the context of business refers to the process of creating new ideas, products, services, processes, or business models that add value to customers, improve efficiency, drive growth, or create competitive advantage. It involves transforming creative ideas into tangible outcomes that meet market needs or solve existing problems in new and better ways”.

    If we look at the keywords in this suitably verbose definition, the creative abilities of the human mind seem central to many of them. The deep linkage of innovation with technology can, hence, be a limiting thought. Especially because it can make those in “innovator” roles think only in one way. Yes, that’s the irony, right there.

    Tech-led innovation is great, but it will be heartbreaking if innovation begins to lose the human touch. In technology companies, this is a non-issue, because the innovators are also the technology guys. But if we look at something like entertainment, innovators are essentially writers, producers, directors, actors, marketers, salespersons, etc. The nature of the product relies on giving the audiences something compelling yet fresh. Self-learning technologies could simply be at cross-purposes with this idea.

    Suggestions that Generative AI can be used to write movie scripts is preposterous, for example. Think of the three most memorable movie dialogue lines of all time, across any language, and ask yourself: Can a “human-like” bot create the same human-like magic? We all know the answer.

    It is therefore crucial that entertainment businesses carefully craft the dos and don’ts of how to use technology for innovation. Technology, and AI within it, can be a content creator and distributor’s best friend. But like with all friendships, expectations must be set right. And the entertainment business worldwide runs the risk of erring on the wrong side here.

  • A Tale of Two Mergers, and the Future that Beckons

    A Tale of Two Mergers, and the Future that Beckons

    Shailesh KapoorIt was in December 2021 that we first heard an official announcement of the Sony-Zee merger. It took a little more than two years for that merger to be finally called off, unless we have another surprise in the offing. Since last year, there has been buzz about the Reliance-Disney deal. Earlier this week, there has been a formal announcement, leading to the creation of an Indian media behemoth, if there ever was one.

    Whenever someone has asked me this week what I think of the merger, my first response is that I’m glad it’s finally done. For more than two years, the news on these mergers have dominated attention, and now, we can move on. To more interesting things like content, marketing, technology, monetisation, the works.

    It’s largely speculative to predict how a merger of the nature of the Reliance-Disney one will impact the future of the industry. From the consumer side, there is unlikely to be any impact in the short term. Audiences eventually respond to content, marketing, and pricing, and it’s not currently clear how any of that is likely to be impacted. The first impact is felt at the level of the teams, as restructuring exercises are a natural outcome. Implementation of product and brand strategies can take their time, sometimes years.

    The Indian television industry is in the middle of a tough period. From single-digit percentage growth scenarios, it is now looking at potential degrowth in the coming year or two, however notional, in both revenues and subscribers. Of course, all the talk of young people not watching TV at all is highly exaggerated, and comes from a place of privilege. But there is no escaping the fact that linear television is no longer the first-choice destination of a section of audiences in India.

    But it’s not as if streaming is thriving. We are well past the pandemic-induced honeymoon period, and the reality that the Indian consumer is not willing to shell out the bucks for paid subscriptions is now upon us.

    The leadership team at Reliance-Disney has its task cut out, as do other major players in the category, including Sony and Zee. The next two-three years are going to see potential trend creation, across domains, ranging from streaming to linear TV to theatrical to news to sports. New rules will be written, and technology could play a decisive role. How exactly though? No one knows for sure. Technology giants Google and Meta are going to be very much at the centre of it all, enabling and influencing content and monetization decisions more than ever before.

    Successfully or not, the mergers are done with. The real excitement starts now.

  • WPL: The Big Opportunity for Women’s Sports

    WPL: The Big Opportunity for Women’s Sports

    Shailesh KapoorThe second edition of WPL, or Women’s Premier League, starts tonight. It took BCCI a bit longer than expected (perhaps the pandemic delayed their plans) to launch the ‘IPL of women’s cricket’, but they finally did so last year. BCCI is by far the richest cricketing body globally, and is in pole position to drive growth of women’s cricket, in India and worldwide.

    Of course, WPL is a welcome step, and one hopes the second edition continues to expand interest in the sport, especially among young women audiences. After all, the idea of gender inclusivity has been an elusive one in Indian sport, over many years now. It’s ironical, because some of India’s best individual achievement in sports over the last four decades have come from sportswomen, starting with PT Usha in the 1980s, followed by the likes of Mary Kom, Sania Mirza, Saina Nehwal, PV Sindhu, the Phogat sisters, Sakshi Malik, etc. In the Tokyo Olympics (2021), three of India’s seven medals came from sportswomen: Mirabai Chanu (Weightlifting), Lovlina Borgohain (Boxing) and PV Sindhu (Badminton).

    Yet, in a cricket-dominated sport, female sportspersons have operated on the fringes. It doesn’t help that football and kabaddi, the next two most popular sports in India, are male-dominated too. In our monthly popularity track Ormax Sports Stars, we ask audiences to name their favourite sportsperson, irrespective of their sport or nationality. On an average, only 4% audiences name a sportswoman as their favourite. Even among female audiences, this percentage is in single digits every month, without exception. While it’s understood that sport is male-dominated worldwide, 96:4 is an embarrassing ratio.

    Even as more and more Indian sportswomen are managing to break new barriers globally, they are fighting decades of gender bias, stereotyping, and conditioning embedded in our socio-cultural fabric.

    Sports is an expensive category, and sustainable sport at the top level has to be advertiser-funded. Sportswomen continue to struggle to get endorsement deals, even from brands that otherwise champion projects focusing on gender equality and women empowerment. Till the audiences (including women) begin to watch more women’s sport, it’s going to be an uphill task. The medals may come, but the deals won’t.

    Hence, WPL has a lot riding on it. It can become that one property that creates demand for women’s sports in India. It may take some time, perhaps 3-5 years. But the opportunity does exist.

    With great power comes great responsibility, Spider-Man famously said. That saying perfectly captures BCCI’s role regarding the growth of women’s sports in India.

  • Television in 2024: A Story of Two Half-Years

    Television in 2024: A Story of Two Half-Years

    Shailesh KapoorIt’s that time of the year, when the General Elections are round the corner. While the dates are not out yet, we may be less than 75 days away from the first round of polling. Even if the outcome seems somewhat like a foregone conclusion, the next three-four months will be full of political and media frenzy.

    One of the direct impacts will be felt on the IPL. The dates have not been announced yet, pending the announcement of election dates. In the past, IPL has moved to outside India during the election years. But it is unlikely to be the case this year, and that could complicate the international cricketing calendar more than just a wee bit.

    It’s a golden period for news channels, who are having a windfall year, which started with the mega Ram Mandir event, before the elections programming takes over. June will feature theT20 World Cup in US and West Indies, a summer bonanza for news media, despite the odd match timings.

    Going by how things have been, there isn’t much new one can expect from our news channels in the coverage of these elections. Innovation in Indian elections coverage came to a standstill about a decade-and-a-half ago, and since then, news channels have focused on speed rather than engagement as the primary target, creating a sense of sameness across platforms, as they battle each other to be first to report new information. Legacy brands like Aaj Tak will continue to hold the advantage, when the content across platforms is differentiated per se.

    Neutrality is, of course, a thing of the past, and not even on the table right now. And a potentially one-sided contest allows news channels to legitimise their bias, as the “voice of the nation”, even if the idea is in direct conflict with core tenets of good journalism.

    It will be more exciting to see how digital news brands manage to cover elections. They do not have the luxury of big budgets that the TV channels have, but seem to have more intent to drive innovation and engagement, which can lead to a few compelling shows.

    Television seems to have become a medium where events, whose existence is outside the television ecosystem (politics, sports, etc.) are driving the buzz, even as content native to the medium (GECs, movies, etc.) remain inert and unexciting.

    The first half of 2024 will do well for television. But it’s from July that the real challenge will begin, of being able to sustain interest in the medium, and the revenue it earns, when the big-ticket events are all over. I’m afraid that we may soon be entering the trickiest phase of Indian television in July this year. More on it when we get there.

  • Lame & Lazy: News Media’s Poonam Pandey Coverage

    Lame & Lazy: News Media’s Poonam Pandey Coverage

    Shailesh KapoorLast Friday saw the bizarre publicity stunt, whereby Poonam Pandey, along with a media portal (Hauterrfly) and a digital agency (Schbang) staged the news of her death, with cervical cancer being the stated cause. The stunt ended the next day, when Pandey posted a video message on social media.

    Rather than creating any significant awareness for cervical cancer, the incident has served as a comment on the state of our news media today. Every single news platform carried the news of her ‘death’, made tribute videos (often like showreels of her  pictures from her social media handle), spoke to ‘fans’, and generally behaved very concerned about the whole thing. These videos and articles, still available on social media, are a testimony to the sorry state of affairs in our news business.

    Even if one grants the benefit of the doubt to news platforms, that the incident was so bizarre that one wouldn’t expect any ‘foul play’ in it, that benefit of doubt would last an hour or two at best. Principles of sound journalism would suggest follow-up coverage that’s more investigative in nature. Here, a celebrity death was being reported for an entire day, but with no trace of the body or the place of death.

    Social media users came up with conspiracy theories that should have been no rocket science for a seasoned investigative journalist, such as Pandey posting very normal pictures on her Instagram just a couple of days earlier. Digital news platforms could have (somewhat) valid budget constraints. But for our leading news channels to report on the story from the desk, taking a text-based Instagram post, from a celebrity known for courting controversy, on face value, is a sign of how low the standards have fallen.

    If one were to think of staging a stunt like this, they will simply be deterred by the audacity of the idea. After all, you would expect it to be called out within a few hours, if not minutes. That a celebrity and two companies had the confidence of being able to pull this off is itself a telling statement. It’s like a live social experiment, in which our journalists were the social groups being tested.

    Disappointing it may be, but not surprising. If editors who get paid handsome salaries sit in the studios night after night and do armchair politics, staging debates with foregone conclusion, laziness is bound to seep into the culture of popular journalism, especially on the television side. Chasing a story seems to be now the job of the minions, and a desk job can be seen as a promotion!

    In any case, the art of interviewing has been long forgotten, and only a few veteran journalists from the 90s (or earlier) are keeping it alive. Political reporting has lacked nuance, and reporting on the economy has lacked domain literacy. And now, celebrity reporting, which one would imagine to be the easiest of them all, also seems sub-standard.

    The Poonam Pandey story would be forgotten soon. But the lazy media that reported it is here to stay. And we have little choice but to suffer.

  • It's for days like this (Monay, January 22) that you feel the term 'moment marketing' was coined, writes Shailesh Kapoor

    Moment Marketing: The Mega Mandir Monday

     

     

    By Shailesh Kapoor

     

    Shailesh KapoorThe big day is knocking on the door, on the other side of this weekend. Monday, January 22, is the day of the ‘Pran Pratishtha’ at the Ram Mandir at Ayodhya. But far from being just a religious event, it’s shaped up to be the mega marketing event of the year. We are only in January, but it is safe to say that anything else this year will struggle to match this event on its hype and buzz. Not even the election results this summer, I’d say.

     

    Traditionally, brands avoid being associated with religion. It’s a sensitive topic, and more brand playbooks are not designed to handle religion as a domain, especially in a plural and complex country like India. But that rule (“don’t touch religion even with a bargepole”) will take a backseat this Monday, when brands queue up to cash in on the moment. It’s for days like this that you feel the term ‘moment marketing’ was coined!

     

    The event itself is certain to have huge celebrity presence, from all walks of life. Of course, the Prime Minister will be the face of it, but there is wide spectrum of eminent personalities from non-political fields attending the event too. Travel, fashion, food… nothing will be off-topic on the day. It’s a news event, but there the strong pop culture significance is hard to miss.

     

    The mass inclusion of religion in India’s pop culture has been a slow and steady process over the last decade. The song ‘Mere Bharat ka bachcha-bachcha, Jai Sri Ram bolega’ seemed controversial till a few years ago. But it’s now an omnipresent celebration song, playing at cricket stadia, Navratri functions, weddings, new year parties, the works. It’s now an unofficial anthem that doesn’t need any formal recognition. It’s also a song that will play through the day this Monday.

     

    The challenge for news channels on a day of this nature is to differentiate. Live feed is largely the same across networks, and it is only natural that viewers will watch the channel their daily-habit channel on the day. What can the second line of channels do to make their presence felt? Monday may give us some answers, including some rather comical attempts to break the clutter.

     

    The event would also mark the unofficial start to an election campaign, which will then go on for 3-4 months, depending on the poll dates. Even as winters begin to ease up just a bit in North India, political temperatures will continue to rise.

     

  • One of the offshoots of the PM's media coverage is that it has made news more inclusive for female audiences and the youth, writes Shailesh Kapoor

    It’s never too much in the Modi Era

     

     

    By Shailesh Kapoor

     

    Shailesh KapoorIf you haven’t realised it by now, the first half of 2024 is the perfect time to do so. That there is no such thing as ‘Too much Modi’. We are into the second week of the new year, and the Prime Minister has been in the news every single day.

     

    It started off with his Lakshadweep snorkeling adventure, which stirred up an unexpected, somewhat silly, controversy. Maldives found itself at the receiving end, though they have their own politicians to blame for saying the wrong things, and choosing the worst possible timing to say them too!

     

    This week, the Prime Minister is on a development tour of sorts. After a well-marketed Gujarat tour, where Mukesh Ambani showered praises on the Prime Minister, Modi is in Mumbai today to inaugurate the Atal Setu, India’s longest sea bridge.

     

    Next week, the focus will shift to the mega event on January 22 in Ayodhya, where the Ram Mandir will be inaugurated. The guest list (or the absence of names from it) has been making headlines anyway, and we can expect Mon, Jan 22 to be one of the biggest news days in modern Indian history.

     

    We are already in the pre-election season, and post Ayodhya, the campaign trails and the rhetoric will gain momentum, and we can expect another 4-5 months of headlines dominated by politics, and indeed by its favorite face.

     

    That Prime Minister Modi has been the mass media’s favorite is well-known by now. But in recent weeks, even the digital media platforms, which have often been critical of the Modi government, have found it hard to resist covering him on almost a daily basis.

     

    One of the offshoots of the Prime Minister’s media coverage is that it has made news more inclusive for female audiences and the youth. For many years, older men (30+ years) were seen as the core TG of political news in India. However, PM Modi brings with him a ‘fan base’, much like a film or a series franchise would. ‘What did Modi say today?’ is often a topic of discussion in recent years between housewives in small-town India. No surprise, then, that our ratings-hungry news channels cannot stop talking about him.

     

    Many political experts believe that barring a last-minute surprise, PM Modi is all set to come back for a third term. Modern India hasn’t seen a national leader of such longevity. There has been no Prime Minister to hold the office for 15 years at a stretch since Jawaharlal Nehru (1947-1964). Not even Indira Gandhi.

     

    We are already in the ‘Modi era’, and a win later this year will extend it by at least another five years. An era that’s defined by a personality, and also by the media’s whole-hearted endorsement of it.

     

  • Shailesh Kapoor presents his five most significant landmarks of the year that has just passed us

    From SRK to Animal: Success Stories of 2023

     

     

    By Shailesh Kapoor

     

    Shailesh KapoorThe year 2023 had its fair share of success stories, across cinema and OTT at least. Here’s my pick of the five most significant landmarks of the year (in chronological order), which could, in turn, shape how Indian entertainment pans out in the next half decade at least.

     

    The return of SRK, and the old guard in general

    January saw Shah Rukh Khan mark a box-office comeback with Pathaan. It had been a decade since he had a bona fide hit (Chennai Express). But with Pathaan, he announced his return, in an innings that’s already seeming a lot of fun. Pathaan was followed in September by Jawan, which went on to become an even bigger success. SRK’s December release Dunki has received mixed response, and significantly lower collections. But with SRK, and with Sunny Deol in Gadar 2, it seems like we are back in the ’90s. Superstars from that era are showing the young guys how it’s done!

     

    Farzi: The Real Thing

    In what was not the best year for OTT (curtailed subscriber growth, very few breakout properties), one show stood out as an outright blockbuster: Raj-DK’s Farzi, on Prime Video, starring Shahid Kapoor and Vijay Sethupathi, became the most-watched Indian SVOD show of all time, with an estimated 37 Million (Ormax Media estimates) Indians having watched at least one episode. Coming after the immensely successful and appreciated The Family Man, Farzi established Raj-DK as one of the most powerful names in the Indian streaming space. Their next venture Guns & Gulaabs (Netflix) fell short of achieving the same heights. But Farzi’s success confirmed that mass entertainers, rather than urban-centric understated content, is likely to be the way ahead for web-series in India.

     

    JioCinema: A ‘free’ ride

    The arrival of JioCinema, with an IPL edition that was free to stream, brought in a sea change in the Indian OTT landscape in March 2023. The platform made some of the global giants relook at their India strategy. Disney+ Hotstar offered the Cricket World Cup free later in the year. JioCinema backed the IPL season with a plethora of launches, most notably Asur 2 and Taali. But over the last four-five months, they have gone easy on things, and relied more on non-fiction properties, especially Bigg Boss. Perhaps IPL 2024 is when we will see more activity around the platform.

     

    Barbenheimer

    Who would have thought that a Hollywood film clash will make headlines in India? The Barbie vs. Oppenheimer weekend in August 2023 brought in about Rs. 100 Cr (gross) worth of box office in India, which was also one of the few countries where Oppenheimer was ahead of Barbie at the box office. Hollywood has not had its best year in India, with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Hollywood’s mainstay in the Indian market, being on some sort of a downtrend. But with Oppenheimer, we saw audiences flocking theatres in the service of a director urban India has come to love: Christopher Nolan.

     

    Animal instincts

    December 2023 saw the release of director Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s Animal, a film that polarised critics, but was largely embraced by the audiences, going on to become one of the most significant success stories of the year, especially because it’s headlined by a younger star (not from the ‘old guard’). After Atlee’s Jawan, Vanga’s Animal established the firm hold directors from South India are beginning to have on Hindi audience’s imagination, through their distinctive style of storytelling. Everything about Animal, right from its trailer to the choreography and background music of its action set-pieces, broke conventional rules of mass Indian cinema. And it was very heartening that another film (12th Fail) that came just a month before Animal, and broke a few rules of cinema too, also got immense audience love, especially for its scale, cast and budget. That Animal and 12th Fail can co-exist augurs well for Hindi cinema, which had its best-ever year by some margin.