When Hindi mainstream cinema strays or, otherwise, disappoints, people seek alternatives. Of course, OTT streaming is one alternative, but that is recent.
OTT content cannot cater to all tastes and, especially, the generations of Indians brought up on films. It will be a long time before OTT content is accepted as a replacement for cinema, if at all.
When Hindi filmmakers stray, as in, take their audience for granted, regional film industries come alive. Besides South, the only regional industry that has maintained continuity is Bengali cinema.
Marathi, Gujarati, Bhojpuri and Punjabi are regular film industries, but they go dormant at times. The usual culprit is oversupply.
If one Punjabi film is a success, the market is flooded with more films. Most prefer to cast the same stars. This glut weighs heavy and investors shy away.
There came a phase when Hindi filmmakers thought it was cool to base the film's story in a foreign country, the trend being to shoot in the US. Along with that craze to shoot abroad, there was little attention to the story, which in most cases was hackneyed.
Audiences in states such as UP, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh found them hard to accept. Take for example this film titled 'Anjaana Anjaani'. Actors Ranbir Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra meet on a river bridge. Both have come there to commit suicide! Don’t remember who convinced who, but the suicide is put aside as they go on to paint the town red!
Then we had 'Dostana'. John Abraham and Abhshek Bachchan pretend to be a gay couple. Rest of the story is incidental. But, in this county of closet gay men, it was an odd story.
Who will accept this story where a man, Salman Khan, and his woman, Preity Zinta, are separated following a misunderstanding? And then, what does the husband do? He encourages his old mate, Akshay Kumar, to court his wife and goes out of his way to help him!
Strangest stories were concocted. In 'Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna', Rani Mukerji is married to Abhishek Bachchan with Amitabh Bachchan playing the father-in-law. Abhishek is an exemplary husband. So what happens?
Rani walks out on him and pairs up with Shah Rukh Khan, who she always loved! That is not all, even while living with his son and daughter-in-law, Amitabh Bachchan is prone to inviting sex workers at home!
This may be okay in the US where you shoot such films, but your audience is still Indian. And these films were far from what the industry made earlier, films with universal appeal!
This what one would describe as producers straying from what is generally acceptable to our audience! The cinemas in the Hindi belt were suffering as such films did not enjoy any longevity at the cinemas. Some even decided to get into production in the local language with films suited to their state and people.
Marathi, Punjabi, Bhojpuri and Gujarati film industries, as a result, were resurrected. The films need not be crude anymore; with filmmaking going digital, it was easier to give finesse to films.
When people could not identify with such films, wanting something they could enjoy with the family, they turned to regional films.
This time again, the field has opened up for regional films to fill the gap as the supply of mainstream Hindi films is dwindling. People and the cinemas, both can't be starved of films. Where there used to be a film or two every Friday, we have just about ten films for the rest of this year, which translates to about two films a month.
Just one film is lined up for July -- 'Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani' (July 28); three more for August, 'OMG 2' and 'Gadar 2' (both on August 11) and 'Dream Girl 2' on (August 25) followed by 'Jawan' ((September 7), 'Ganpath' (October 20), 'Tiger 3' (November 10), 'Emergency' (November 24),' Animal' (December 1) and 'Dunki' (December 22).
The next big release, 'Fighter', is a month away, on January 25.
These are huge gaps between releases that will directly affect the exhibition trade while also depriving people of their favourite pastime -- viewing movies. Of course, there is this newly developed fancy for OTT content. But not all OTT content is fun and in most cases not the kind one can watch with the family.
How much of OTT streaming can one watch and not that the content is going away anywhere, it can be watched anytime, anywhere. People also want an outing and the usual weekend outing is going to cinema, among other things. As such, films have to be made, they are a part of our lives.
Hindi films, though, are going to be in short supply, so the dependence will be on dubbed South Indian films and Hollywood films, which are also in short supply. Is this, however, what people want?
The fact is, not all dubbed South Indian films are a 'Baahubali' or an 'RRR' or 'Pushpa'. And, Hollywood films are a change that only the urban audience opts for.
Regional films are the ones that will work. They have always existed parallelly. When filmmakers follow trends alien to Indian film lovers, they turn to films they identify with -- that is, their own films with local and Indian flavour. And, what better than regional films to provide that?
This time it is happening because Hindi films are going to be few and far in between. Thankfully, regional films are making a comeback.
The latest Punjabi release, 'Carry On Jatta', has become a huge success. The Gujarati industry has also given a couple of hits in 'BuShirt T-Shirt' and 'Vash' (being remade in Hindi by Ajay Devgn).
Marathi films are back in the reckoning, too, with three recent films, 'Ved', 'Jhimma', 'Vaalvi'. and, the latest, a woman-dominated and -oriented film, 'Baipan Bhaari Deva' proving to be hits.
Then, there is also the Chhattisgarhi industry making its presence felt with very economically made films doing business of a few crores.
All that the regional films need now is a decent playtime in cinemas.