Bollywood releases | It's raining thrillers

Bollywood has been feeling the heat this summer. Halfway into 2024 and it's been a sluggish showing at the ticket windows so far, especially compared to the record-breaking last year, when not one but three films—Pathaan, Gadar 2 and Jawan—set a new benchmark, crossing the Rs 500 crore mark nationally. So sorry was the Hindi cinema output in April-May that low footfalls compelled cinema operators to cancel shows choosing instead to screen cricket matches or re-releasing older films (Rockstar, Lakshya, Swades) instead. "What we are witnessing right now in the Hindi film industry is not just a lack of box office success, but the lack of confidence in our own content," says Akshaye Rathi, director, Aashirwad Theatres, citing the Lok Sabha election and IPL as factors contributing to the dry spell in revenues. "It's not the audience that has failed us, it is some really mediocre content the industry has put out. It's not been worthy of the time, money and effort they put in when they come to theatre."

The highest earner of 2024 thus far, Fighter, collected Rs 200 crore in India, an underperformance given its budget (Rs 250 crore). Director Siddharth Anand's aerial action thriller had fuelled considerable hype for being India's very own star-studded (Deepika Padukone, Hrithik Roshan) Top Gun. The audience though thought little of it. Instead, the moneyspinners came from least expected quarters. Shaitaan, a home invasion horror centred around black magic starring Ajay Devgn and R. Madhavan, emerged as this year's surprise hit along with promising runs for women-fronted starrers such as Article 370, Laapataa Ladies andCrew. Honour for the biggest sleeper hit though belonged to Munjya, a horror comedy with no star in its cast and a CGI-created titular character, having minted Rs 85 crore so far. As the tentpoles fail to deliver, exhibitors like Rathi are hoping that more such "mid-segment films" emerge to beat the box office blues. "It's a matter of time before the one or two big-ticket films click to set the momentum not just in the content-producing fraternity but also the audience to turn up in cinemas," he added. "What's exciting is to wait for the films that come out of the blue and do well."

A whole new world

The monsoon slate is diverse but no film is likely to be bigger in 2024 than Kalki 2898 AD (June 27), the dystopian sci-fi action drama budgeted at an estimated Rs 600 crore and with a mammoth run time of three hours. The cast, too, is star-heavy, from thespian stalwarts Amitabh Bachchan and Kamal Haasan to popular actors in Prabhas and Deepika Padukone, who were sold on the ambitious vision of Nag Ashwin, the Telugu filmmaker best known for Mahanati. At a recent media event in Mumbai, Bachchan, who plays Ashwathama, praised the young writer-director for conceiving a project "that's so futuristic and so possible". "It's a great honour to be a part of it... to have worked in a set-up where they have actually gone beyond thinking what most of us have been doing all our lives in the film industry," he added.

With its landscape reminiscent of Dune and the Mad Max films, Ashwin sets his film in a time when Kaasi a.k.a. Varanasi is the last surviving city in the world and the river Ganga has dried up. Ashwin gave a glimpse of his ambition when he showed the three different ecosystems he's imagined for Kalki 2898 AD. There's the 'Complex', "an inverted pyramid that soars into the sky" and one he equates with the land of the privileged since it has the resources; Kaasi, whose occupants dream of being a part of the Complex, and the mystical land of Shambala, which is a "massive refugee camp" that rebels against the Complex. Padukone, who plays Sumathi, a pregnant lady carrying what's believed to be a gifted child, amplified the hype, calling Kalki 2898 AD "unlike anything we have experienced or seen before".

Last action hero

Interestingly, that's what the makers of Kill too are claiming to offer audiences albeit in a more brutal and bloody film as well as also a shorter one at 100 minutes. Produced by Karan Johar's Dharma Productions and Guneet Monga's Sikhya Entertainment, Kill (July 5) predominantly unfolds in a train and boasts a body count of at least 40, explaining its short but effective title. At the film's trailer launch in Mumbai, Johar described the action film as "a manic bloodbath" and also "an ambitious one" given that it is perched on the shoulders of a newcomer, Lakshya. "I've heard a lot [on nepotism] and endured for so many years," he said at the launch. "I felt we must take this leap because we'd love it if the industry got one potential movie star."

With Kill, Johar and Monga want audiences to know there's art in mayhem too. Citing films like Train to Busan and the John Wick series, which have elevated action as a genre, Johar said the attempt wasn't to endorse violence but to "show India a choreographed action film... that action is nothing short of a form of art". Writer-director Nikhil Nagesh Bhat called on the expertise of ace stunts director, SeaYoung Oh (Snowpiercer, War) to infuse vigour into his script, one that already detailed a lot of the action. The aim, Bhat told Monga, was to "make an emotional action film". Unlike the visual effects-heavy Kalki 2898 AD, the biggest effects deployed in Kill are the 150 litres of fake blood to evoke reaction to the action.

Flying solo

Where Kill rests on the shoulder of a young actor, Sarfira (July 12) has the industry's most prolific actor Akshay Kumar stepping into the big shoes of Suriya, the actor who won a National Award for the role in the Tamil original Soorarai Pottru. Inspired by the life of Captain G.R. Gopinath who started the low-cost airline Air Deccan against all odds, Sarfira is directed by Sudha Kongara, who also directed the Tamil original (she also won a National Award for its script). "Soorarai Pottru reached a large audience thanks to OTT platforms, but I always wanted to see it on the big screen, and making it in Hindi was the opportunity for it," says Kongara, even though comparisons with the original, which won five National Awards, are inevitable. "I hope Sarfira is an anthem for the youth," she told India Today.

Sarfira comes with a change in geographical setting, from Tamil Nadu to Maharashtra. "I believe each film will have something unique to offer because of the talent involved and the varied cultural milieu," says Kongara. "We have also given special importance to the entrepreneurial journey and dreamers' spirit in the remake." It remains to be seen whether Sarfira becomes the film that turns around what's been a fraught year or so for Kumar with his films failing to take off at the box office. For Kongara, though, there was no better fit than him to be the inspiring hero. "He takes it in a different direction with a different emotional sensibility, a different individuality," she says.

Blast from the past

Kumar's Sarfira, though, will have to contend with the Kamal Haasan-starrer Hindustani: Zero Tolerance (July 12), which marks the return of freedom fighter-turned-vigilante Senapati (Haasan) after 28 years. Directed by Shankar, the sequel will see the angry old hero launch an intense battle against corruption yet again, although this time in the social media era. During an interaction with the media in Mumbai, Haasan, who has forayed into politics in the past few years, said voting is the best way to act against corrupt politicians. "Films like ours are just reminders of how corrupt we have become," he said. "Everything will change only with collective conscience." Haasan spent three-four hours in the make-up chair to play the rebel with a cause, who defies age when it comes to performing stunts. "He has zero tolerance for those not committed to their art," said actor Siddharth, who is working with the veteran actor for the first time.

For Shankar, revisiting the 1996 film was always at the back of his mind until he cracked the idea after 2.0 (2018). "It took a lot of time to decide what not to do," he says. The original was set in one state, but the scale gets bigger in part II with an event that has ripples across the country and which necessitated Shankar breaking the film in two parts. With production having started before the COVID-19 pandemic and after much delay, some necessitated by on-set accidents, the film finally arrives in cinemas with the expectation that it becomes a pan-India phenomenon, much like the makers ofKalki 2898 AD are aiming for.

Small surprises

If 2024 has proved anything so far, it's that success can come from the least expected titles. A spate of mid-budget films like Bad Newz (July 19), a comedy with Vicky Kaushal, Ammy Virk and Triptii Dimri; Ulajh (August 2), a spy drama featuring Janhvi Kapoor in a lead role; and the Vikrant Massey-led Sabarmati Report (also Aug. 2), which looks poised to be the controversial political drama much like The Kashmir Files and Kerala Story, will vie for eyeballs. Another certainty this monsoon is that part II of Stree, which kicked off a whole horror comedy boom after its splendid showing in cinemas in 2018, is likely to be a safe Bollywood bet. Releasing on what will be a packed Independence Day slate with Vedaa (John Abraham) and Khel Khel Mein (Akshay Kumar again), audiences will be assured of freedom from boredom.