The films that Bollywood’s legendary male stars — Akshay Kumar, Ranveer Singh, Ajay Devgn, and Amitabh Bachchan — have released in the first five months of this year have either bombed or fared considerably below expectations at the box office.
Instead, regional language films from South India dubbed in Hindi and starring local actors are increasingly dominating the Hindi box office.
Only two South Indian films dubbed in Hindi have grossed Rs 683 crore in the Hindi domestic box office so far this year. The first is RRR, starring N T Rama Rao Jr and Ram Charan, as well as Ajay Devgn and Alia Bhatt. The other is KGF2, which stars Yash, a well-known Kannada actor.
In comparison, four Bollywood films — Bachchhan Paandey (Akshay Kumar), Runway 34 (Ajay Devgn and Amitabh Bachchan), Gangubai Kathiawadi (Alia Bhatt and Ajay Devgn), and Heropanti 2 (Alia Bhatt and Ajay Devgn) — earned a total of Rs 230 crore at the box office (Tiger Shroff). Ranveer Singh’s Jayeshbhai Jordaar, which had a budget of Rs 90 crore and was released last Friday, appears to have tanked at the box office, with first-day receipts of Rs 3.5-Rs 4 crore, sending shockwaves through the industry. It had risen to Rs 7-8 crore by Saturday.
This does not bode well for Singh, whose last film, 83, which portrayed the tale of Kapil Dev’s Indian cricket team winning the World Cup, was likewise a disappointment.
Most theatre owners expected 83, which premiered at the end of December 2021, to be a hit that would turn the tide for their company by bringing spectators back to the screen following the pandemic’s interruptions. Despite critical praise, the film’s domestic box office gross was just Rs 109 crore, despite a budget of Rs 200 crore.
When Bachchhan Paandey faltered this year, Akshay Kumar’s reputation for generating hits took a knock as well. The film, which cost Rs 105 crore to make, failed to recoup even half of its budget at the domestic box office.
“Larger-than-life films like RRR or KGF2, which are language-agnostic and only available on a huge screen, are performing exceptionally well in India.” Consumers prefer to wait for other movies to come on an OTT channel, especially because they can only be aired four weeks following their theatrical debut until June.”
Exhibitors claim that because dubbed films are performing well, they now have a bigger selection of films to pick from.
“While it is true that dubbed films have performed better than Bollywood films, the truth remains that fans are returning in droves, and we now have more content to select from,” said Kamal Gianchandani, CEO of PVR Pictures.
