The year 2024 was full of disappointments and will go down as one of the worst years for the Bollywood industry, but let’s hope the curse ends soon. Ever since the COVID-19 pandemic hit the world, the Indian film industry has been struggling to bounce back, with several blockbusters hitting their stride last year. However, this year has been a complete disaster in terms of box office takings and the quality of films releasing in 2024.

Things started on an average note with Siddharth Anand-Hrithik Roshan-Deepika Padukone aerial action thriller The Fighter but things didn’t pan out as expected. Considering that Sidharth was coming off the success of Pathaan, the film was expected to do well at the box office with such ensemble, but it was an average entertainer at the box office in terms of collections. The year ended with a crap like Baby John, which flopped on its second day. As of 2023, the Hindi film industry has four films – Pathaan, Jawan, Gadar 2 and Animal – that have grossed over Rs 500 crore at the box office. There was hope that directors and producers would invest more in the industry, with big projects like Bade Miyan Chote Miyan, Maidaan and Singham Again in the pipeline. It has only been a disappointment. Interestingly, many hit films like Munjya, Shaitaan, Stree 2 and Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 had horror as a common bond. Commercial expert Atul Mohan said, “Horror hasn’t always done well in our industry and it’s always been a trial and error thing. These films changed the landscape because three of them had comedy as a central element.”

The main topic discussed throughout the year was the increase in production costs and actor salaries and why cuts are necessary at this time. In fact, Munjya was a dark horse considering it was made on a budget of Rs 300 crore and grossed more than three times what it cost to make.With all films made on controlled budgets doing extremely well, it won’t be wrong to say that 2024 was also the year of small and mid-size budget films like Yami Gautam’s Article 370. Telugu dubbed film HanuMan directed by Prasanth Varma impressed everyone with its visuals and the entire budget of the film was around ₹25 crore. Other films with low production costs like Lapata Ladies, Madgaon Express, Kill without big stars were able to atleast recover their costs and were also appreciated by the audience. Bollywood Economics is now slowly changing and both makers and stars need to accept it if they want the industry to survive.

Akshay Kumar once again fails with remakes and mindless sequels. Despite being good films like ‘Sarfira’ and ‘Khel Khel Main’, these remakes did not catch on as Akshay Kumar’s films have become too popular over the years. Despite a string of flops in the last 3-4 years, the actor still manages to release 3-4 films every year. Sequels are like a coin toss. While sequels like Bhool Bhulaiya and Stree did well at the box office, sequels that tried to sell franchises like Bade Miyaan Chote Miyaan, Singham failed miserably.

Nostalgia has always been and will continue to be a powerful factor in drawing audiences to films. A film that did not receive due appreciation when it was first released is now getting mass appreciation. Laila Majnu starrer Avinash Tiwari-Tripti Dimri premiered in Kashmir cinemas and the craze has since spread across the country. Similarly, the underrated horror-thriller “Tumbbad” grossed five times more than it did when it was first released. Many other films like Rakesh-Roshan-Karan-Arjun and Yash Raj Mohabatien tried to jump on the bandwagon but these films failed to take off.

“Pushpa Mania” has created havoc in the industry. A wave of “non-Hindi” films has swept all of Bollywood with their Hindi dubbed versions breaking all Bollywood box office records. There is large lull after the strom. Bollywood trade pundits, the makers, producers are chuckling their heads to understand How and Why the masala movie has such much hysteria in the Hindi speaking north Indian belt. The Hindi dubbed version of Pushpa grossed much more than the original Telugu version. Since Baahubali, the South has been keeping a close eye on Bollywood. Films like KGF, Kantara and Pushpa 1 have further strengthened its position and now Pushpa 2 has completely silenced Hindi actors and makers.

In general, from a quality point of view, nothing new was presented this year in Bollywood. Even a handful of films that have been shot in certain profits were nothing more than mediocre from the point of view of art, history and cinema together. The growing influence of South Indian films dubbed in Bollywood is becoming a bigger threat to Bollywood. 2024 will be a wake-up call for Bollywood.