MUMBAI: The Hindi film industry better known as Bollywood is going through a bad financial crisis with several high-budget films flopping one after another.  Producer Director Karan Johar has now opened up on Bollywood’s ongoing discussions about this bleak situation that threatens the very industry's survival. Johar who is one of India's most accomplished filmmakers, weighed in on the subject, asserting that a revamp and a change in the definition of theatrical success is the need of the hour and unrealistic demands by film actors need to be introspected if the projects have to be successful. 

"Firstly, the audiences' tastes have become very definitive. They want a certain kind of cinema. And if you (as a maker) want to do a certain number, then your film has to perform at A, B, and C centres. Multiplexes alone will not suffice," he said during a chat with journalist Faye D’Souza on her YouTube channel.

"Simultaneously, the cost of filmmaking has increased. There has been inflation. There are about 10 viable actors in Hindi cinema, and they are all asking for the sun, moon, and earth. So, you pay them; then you pay for the film, and then the marketing expenditure comes. And then your film doesn't do the numbers. Those movie stars asking for Rs 35 crore are opening to Rs 3.5 crore. How's that math working? How do you manage all these? Yet, you have to keep making movies and creating content because you also have to feed your organization. So there's a lot of drama, and the syntax of our cinema has not found its feet," he added.

"In the case of Hindi cinema, there has been a certain kind of syntax in each decade. Right now, we are like, 'If Jawan and Pathaan worked, should we do only action?' Then everybody's running that way. Then suddenly a love story would work. I feel like we are running around like headless chickens. Conviction has taken a complete beating, and it's all about herd mentality. We haven't realized that there is a certain audience now that wants rooted Indian cinema and, without the pressure of what the critics have to say, pure joy," he noted.

Backed by Karan Johar, the film 'Kill' recently hit the theatres although has received extremely rare and positive reviews from critics, yet the film, directed by Nikhil Nagesh Bhat, had a mediocre opening weekend at the box office for the first weekend. Kill, starring relatively new actors, Raghav Juyal and Lakshya, saw growth at the box office over Saturday and Sunday after a slow start on Friday, July 5. The film grew by over 30 per cent from Saturday to its first Sunday, despite competition from Nag Ashwin's sci-fi drama, Kalki 2898 AD.