Back in Summer 2017, Bollywood was jolted with back to back failures of high profile films like Tubelight, Jab Harry Met Sejal and Jagga Jasoos, to name a few. While this was the state of affairs for big films, situation was even terrible countless other small to medium budget films, many of them boasting of popular/notable names as well, many of which were failing like ninepins at the Box Office. The situation was that of despair as Bollywood was going through one of its worst phases of not just 2017 but the current decade.
Things changes for a better though with Toilet - Ek Prem Katha
Yes, these films boasted of saleable superstars <Akshay Kumar, Varun Dhawan, Ajay Devgn> as well which helped the cause. However, soon came Ayushmann Khurrana with a couple of good successes <Bareilly Ki Barfi, Shubh Mangal Savdhan> while Rajkummar Rao <Newton> and Vidya Balan <Tumhari Sulu> too delivered decent successes, hence resuming audiences interest (and trust) in Hindi cinema.
Alas, successes like these, both big and small, have turned out to be really rare in the second half of the year as well as there are more flops and disasters than what one would have bargained for.
Just look at the state of affairs in the recent times. Chef
What makes the situation further depressing is the fact that while Tiger Zinda Hai would still bring in audiences, that is two weeks away. In the midst of this the only silver-lining appears to be Fukrey Returns, though that too is a film which would rely mainly on word of mouth.
One can rue the fact that Padmavati could have made the situation better in theaters. However, the Sanjay Leela Bhansali directed film is just one entity (and there too one waits to see how the final product actually looks like). How does one explain though about rest of the films and their makers? Are audiences been totally ignored when it comes to creating entertaining content for them?
A lot for Bollywood to ponder as one can just hope that this terribly dull phase doesn't seep into 2018 and it is the last that one has seen of it so far.