Box Office: 5 reasons why Hindi movies are performing in EXTREMES theatrically; Decoding the reasons

Films are working in a one dimensional mode in Bollywood now. Only a handful of films work whereas others fail miserably. Read on.

Written by Seema Sinha , Entertainment Journalist

Published on Mar 01, 2025 | 09:58 PM IST | 9.1K

Chhaava worked very well in Box Office, but overall the scenario is not welcoming at Bollywood.

Bollywood regained its glory with multiple blockbusters in 2023. Regardless of these biggies, Bollywood hasn’t really cracked the success formulae for mid size and small budget films. In fact, most of the movies are finding it tough to make a respectable total at the Boxoffice. Shockingly, a few Superstar films are not finding any takers at the Boxoffice and those occasional blockbusters are certainly not helping the case of Bollywood. There are several reasons owing to their poor performance at the Boxoffice.

Promotional Strategies
One reason could be the lack of planned ground level promotion for the films. The makers are finding it difficult to reach to their target audience and generate an interest among the cine goers. As a result, several films go unnoticed upon release and they tank miserably at the Boxoffice. If we take a look at the number of releases every week, it is highly evident that most of the films are not even known by the public. The makers need to reinforce their promotional strategies and adhere to aggressive promotion of the film. The promotional assets should be carefully deployed at the right time to reach maximum audience. The content is obviously the prominent factor but proper promotional strategies can help to draw audience initially to theatres. Another important thing is using the right kind of promotional materials which do not misrepresent the genre of the film. There are several films that had fallen at boxoffice due to distorted promotional assets, that gives a wrong idea about the film.

Nepotism
Another reason could be the audience’s new found perception about star kids. There is a new wave of dislike towards nepotism, which seemingly earned more grip after Sushant Singh Rajput incident. The audience feels that the star kids are not talented enough and are blocking the way of outsiders. The audience are also not connected to the kind of PR and promotions the star kids are involved in. This is one reason that they turn to regional language films. Our Cinema Industry is still star driven and most of the young actors need to be familiar with the audience. This would have been easier with star kids but yet they are not able to make a mark due to the kind of content they deliver.

Economics of the film
Again, the films are made on huge budget that is unlikely to be recovered from its theatrical run. This is a big issue that the makers need to address. This is the main reason why mid budget films are not seeing the light of day. Bollywood has a plethora of talented artists, yet they are unable to churn out the content with the right budget. These actors are immensely talented, yet their films are not promoted properly in the mainstream area and no effort is made on budget planning.

OTT Window
Another issue could be the 30-day OTT window for several films, which is really impacting their boxoffice performance. The post covid period has led people to watch films on OTT. This preference is still alive among the audience and they are ready to wait before the film starts streaming on OTT platforms. Also, there are several direct OTT releases along with the theatrical releases. People find these theatrical films similar to an OTT content, which is something the makers need to address while promoting their films.

Single Screen films
Another million dollar problem arises when Bollywood films disregard the mass audience. The regional films are still tapping this section of audience. Bollywood still are not ready to take risk by producing rural films. Even the mid size and small budgeted films are made in view of the multiplex audience on a heavy budget.

While we look deep into it we can see many underlying issues in Bollywood. Hope they crack it soon for all sorts of films very soon.