‘Slash Prices’: Akshay Kumar Shares Formula Of Success For Bollywood’s Struggles

During the 20th Hindustan Times Leadership Summit, actors Akshay Kumar and Ram Charan shared the formula of success for Bollywood after the industry saw numerous box office flops following cinema halls opening after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Akshay Kumar’s recent films – Bachchhan Pandey, Raksha Bandhan and Samrat Prithviraj – have not fared well at the box office. Kumar went on to say that the film industry needs to reinvent itself. Despite Ram Charan’s immensely successful RRR, he agreed with Kumar on this.

The effect of the pandemic has worn off, yet the audience has chosen to watch films on OTT. They refuse to come back to the theatres because of which many movies that looked like superhits, have failed miserably at the box office post-release.

Audience wants something different

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Akshay Kumar said that things have changed now and the audience wants something different. “It is our fault that they’re not coming to the theatres. We have to give them something they want.”

He emphasised on the fact that the film industry has a dire need to reinvent itself. Being in the entertainment industry for more than 30 years, Kumar said that the taste of the audience is changing.

Both actors agreed that the film industry needs to work around their audience’s changing taste and viewing habits. From a preference for OTT platforms to larger-than-life movies, the audience’s taste has changed.

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Solutions to success

Kumar noted that the film industry needs to dismantle, rebuild, and reinvent everything. “We have to start all over again.” Both actors, Kumar and Charan agreed that the answer to the film industry’s success lies in reinvention.

They further said that the film industry needs to remove the differences between regional cinema, wherein people distinguish Bollywood and South movies. Moreover, the film industry needs to come together to improve the quality of Indian cinema.

“This whole thing of Telugu cinema, Tamil cinema, Hindi cinema, Gujarati cinema – why can’t we just call it Indian cinema? I would prefer it like that,” said Kumar to the audience.

Ram Charan concurred and said that earlier only Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan ji travelled across and did very well, but today they have become one unit, the Indian cinema unit.

In recent years, the Southern film industry has achieved national success. RRR collected over ₹1,200 crore at the box office and is the latest film in the string of successes.

Slash prices

At the summit, Kumar said that the cost of producing a movie and the ticketing prices should be reduced by at least 30% to 40%.

He stressed that actors need to charge less money, prices of tickets need to decrease and the overall budget required to make a film needs to be reduced so that cinema goers return to the theatres.

If a recent report is to be believed, Kumar demanded ₹90 crore for Hera Pheri 3, and walked out of the project when his demands weren’t met. This is why Kartik Aaryan (who was okay with ₹30 crore) has been roped in, in Kumar’s stead.

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Multicast ensemble

Taking the example of Marvel movies, Kumar said that any movie will reach the “epic standard” only when it is multicast. “Look at Hollywood…it is Marvel movies where everyone comes together and people want to see that. They want to experience and enjoy (themselves).”

He said that the audience wants a story and much more. They don’t want to only give their money, but want a value for it. “We need to all get together and do big cinema.”

On similar lines, Ram Charan said that they have to rethink and restructure the whole game moving forward, everything from the script to the making to the exhibitor. “Everyone has to pitch in. Eventually, a good subject and script cannot be stopped. People will come to the theatre,” he said.

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