It's Time for Action

The prevalence of OTTs means Bollywood has to work harder to sustain collections beyond the opening weekend

- Vidya S.

A Lacklustre 2022 has shown Bollywood that it needs to go that extra mile to draw in the crowds again. With star power and the opening weekend rush failing to carry a movie beyond the first Sunday in the face of the strong content found on OTTs, the theatre game is not the same anymore.

The year—where even big names such as Aamir Khan and Akshay Kumar, among others, failed to draw in cinemagoers—has seen a string of films from the South, especially Telugu and Kannada, give Bollywood a run for its money. The two recent successes in Hindi cinema—Drishyam 2, remade from Malayalam, and Kantara, dubbed into Hindi from Kannada—has further driven home the point. Drishyam 2 crossed ₹200 crore in net collections, while