Bollywood was going through a really bad spell at the Box office prior to the release of Ayan Mukerji’s Brahmastra. Whether it was Aamir Khan’s Laal Singh Chaddha, Akshay Kumar’s Raksha Bandhan or Ranveer Singh’s aspirational biopic 83, all of them were met with the same fate as they failed to attract the audience to the theatres.
The three films that managed to earn some bucks were Alia Bhatt’s Gangubai Kathiawadi, Kartik Aaryan’s Bhool Bhulaiya 2 and Vivek Agnihotri’s The Kashmir Files. This led to speculations by trade analysts and Bollywood pundits that perhaps Bollywood was getting overshadowed by South Cinema and that it has lost its charm. Now R Balki has come forward to share his thoughts on this.
While speaking with Indian Express, the Paa director explained that all the buzz about Bollywood cinema declining is nothing but rubbish. He said, “It is rubbish! It is a lovely theory to have, few films flopped, and people love to write, fill columns and feed. It is entertainment and failures are also entertainment. When success happen, they will have entertainment again and say, ‘The rise and rise of Bollywood’, which will happen very soon.”
Backing his argument, R Balki cited Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt starrer fantasy film Brahmastra that has managed to rake in some moolah. Ayan Mukerji’s magnum opus has already collected Rs 150 crore in India. Not only that, Brahmastra made Rs 36 crore at the box office on its opening day, making it the biggest opener of this year. In the first three days, Brahmastra managed to earn Rs 120.75 crore domestically.
The Ki and Ka director shared, “Films flop, films don’t do well, it is a phase. That happens due to various reasons, but this won’t last for too long. As you are already seeing, people are storming the theatres (for Brahmastra). So it will change. This is just another show.”
R.Balki is gearing up to present his film Chup:Revenge of an Artist. The romantic psychological thriller stars Sunny Deol, Dulquer Salmaan, Shreya Dhanwanthary and Pooja Bhatt. It is scheduled to be released on 23 September 2022
