Bollywood shocks with non-existent united response to boycott calls

“It all started when a strange virus forced people to stay locked in and stop worshipping gods with feet of clay.” This could make for a suitable epitaph about the bustling Hindi film industry in a few years’ time. This is a phase in India’s lived history when Hindi film folk are facing rejection from audiences, losing the battle of public perception; and a raucous war on Twitter. Yet, as it’s secure structures crumble all around it with bangs and bluster, the industry still doesn’t have a coherent, unified response to public criticism. Not only have those people that hold control and make films for a living come together, they are also surprisingly unbothered over what the future might hold.

The latest ‘big budget’ failure is Liger, from the stable of Dharma Productions. In the Hindi film territories, the film hasn’t done well and has earned negative reviews. Unfortunately, for him, Liger star Vijay Devakoranda faced boycott calls for speaking up against targeting Hindi films and their stars online.

The sheer lack of response of the Hindi film industry, even as it faces its worst crisis, is baffling. Arjun Kapoor got hauled over coals on social media for speaking up for his fraternity, about how it’s dignified silence is being misused by vested interests. But at least, he spoke up. As did Alia Bhatt, making rational remarks.  Every other star is content sharing un-real life moments on social media and collecting brand endorsements.  Arjun’s response also got called out because not all silence from his fraternity is ‘dignified’, a lot of it is just indifferent.

This head in the clouds, lack of a reality check aspect of Hindi cinema is not new. It’s just how it is. A chunk of people that work in Hindi cinema live in posh upmarket high rises, eat at expensive fad driven restaurants, shop and chill at overpriced retail outlets, and often take the first flight out to an exotic foreign land for a break. Sure, acting and professions in cinema or TV are relentless demanding professions, where exhaustion sets in. Actors also need to inhabit mind spaces and character traits when working on a film or project which can drain a person. It is only natural that respite, from hectic Mumbai and relentless Indian cities, is sought.

But there comes a time in any industry or sector when a reckoning of sorts sets in. This is also the time when people in power and people with experience tend to come together and rally forth, speaking up for themselves, and their work. They have to exercise social responsibility beyond writing a cheque. That Hindi cinema has no such forum in place speaks volumes for their glass palace like existence. For, the rejection that it is facing is NOT of it’s films alone but of who they are being made by or who acts in them.

Laal Singh Chaddha’s failure indicates a clear trend- India’s cinema going audience is definitely influenced by criticism about the film’s star Aamir Khan ‘s political choices. Many people didn’t bother to buy a ticket. Similar rejection is visible in the recent dry spell that Akshay Kumar, uncrowned king of box office, faced. Despite being pro government Kumar is not selling tickets well. The same happened to did Ranveer Singh and Ranbir Kapoor, next generations superstars. Not one was able to entice people to buy tickets right from the word go; despite their supposed huge fan following. Is the content disappointing? Most times it is.  Is a star’s value overestimated? Probably. But the fact that these films don’t even open well anymore indicates the rejection of these movie stars, right from the moment of a film’s release. It’s almost personal.

When questions of why this non-stop string of failures has come about, no answers or considerations from leading producers, directors or production houses are visible.  Superstars are mostly silent. Akshay Kumar can only deflect blame, pointing out how a boycott hurts an industry. It has fallen upon an R Madhavan, not even a Hindi film hero, to speak about what’s going wrong. And the experienced Boman Irani, in a print interview, sagely encapsulated the current state of affairs in cinema when he said, “Nobody knows anything,” paraphrasing the screenplay writer William Golden.

While the damage to film business is evident, more disturbing is the manner in which Hindi film producers and makers avoid looking the tiger in the eye- people don’t like you or what you make anymore. In fact they don’t like what you do.  So much of your life is so over exposed. In the constant non-stop, prolonged trolling that ‘Bollywood’ has faced since the tragic death of Sushant Singh Rajput in 2020, a large chunk of public opinion has rejected the Bollywood way of life. In bad taste, vitriol is spilling over to personal lives and families of producers, directors, actors even writers.

While some negativity is purely hype driven, film folk must take responsibility for a lot of this damage to their collective public image. When a pandemic impoverished many people and created huge unemployment, movie stars escaped to Maldives. When people walked to their villages in hunger and poverty, other than a rare few voices like Ayushmann Khurrana, none spoke up for the plight of common folk. Instead they populated social media with nonsensical pictures of work outs and super posh lifestyle choices. If that weren’t pushing it, ridiculous reels on Instagram of movie stars dramatically doing dishes in their homes showed up. Does everything require a photo for social media? How much is too much?

When a country’s people are dying of hunger and disease, perhaps they should have backed off from such blatant display of their ‘first world’ problems? But expecting most within the comfy, cushy zones of Hindi cinema to get real, still looks like a bridge too far. Switch on the television on any news or entertainment channel. The carousel of products that hit you only features Bollywood actors- right from bathroom fittings, to pipes, to innerwear, to junk food. Not one star probably uses any of these products. Yet they still make tons of money endorsing this stuff. This is not a fact lost on people anymore. Reality was bound to hit the consumer and viewer. There’s too much in the hands of too few at multiple levels here, and an adverse reaction is bound to happen. Escapism coupled with rank wealth seeking and profit motive has never made for good optics or PR.

The Hindi film industry must organize troops and work towards a coherent strategy of public response. They must have heard of spin doctors, and lobbyists. They have to seek solutions beyond confines of showbiz. This fraternity tends to live under a satin lined, diet controlled rock. It has to frame a methodical, heartfelt sustained social media and public relations response. And it must get creative with its ideas on how to actually connect with the very people that it sets out to entertain.

Archita Kashyap is an experienced journalist and writer on film, music, and pop culture. She has handled entertainment content for broadcast news and digital platforms over 15 years. 

Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.