If you think the state of Hindi films today isn’t up to the mark, you’re not the only one. R Balki, acclaimed filmmaker behind hits like Paa and Pad Man, said in a recent chat with MIT World Peace University, that a few Bollywood blockbusters in the last four to five years have been “damn boring.” (Also Read – R Balki says Ghoomer was ‘smashed’ at box office by Gadar 2 craze: This kind of tsunami was not expected)
What Balki said
“A few blockbusters that have happened in the last four or five years, or whatever, have actually been the worst films,” he said. “Not only from an intellectual or artistic point of view but also from the old entertainment, ‘masala, paisa vasool’ kind of a feel. Also, they’re damn boring. The fun has completely gone from our blockbusters,” said Balki.
He compared today’s blockbusters with those of the 1970s by Manmohan Desai. He recalled watching the late filmmaker’s Amar Akbar Anthony (1977) and Naseeb (1981) during an Amitabh Bachchan retrospective film festival around the actor’s 80th birthday in 2022, and having lots of fun.
“It’s become like a project. There’s an economics associated with that stuff. They want to recover this, they’re putting this money, they’re pumping the marketing out. It’s marketing, basically. It’s just driving people towards believing something is good. By the time people believe it’s bad, the film has made its money,” Balki added.
About Balki’s filmography
Balki made his Bollywood debut with the 2007 romantic comedy Cheeni Kum, starring Amitabh and Tabu. He followed it up with Paa (2009) with Amitabh, Abhishek Bachchan and Vidya Balan; Shamitabh (2015) with Amitabh and Dhanush; Ki & Ka (2016) with Kareena Kapoor and Arjun Kapoor, Pad Man (2018) with Akshay Kumar, Chup: Revenge of the Artist (2022) with Dulquer Salmaan; and most recently, Ghoomer with Saiyami Kher and Abhishek Bachchan.
When Ghoomer didn’t work at the box office, Balki blamed it on the mammoth competition from Anil Sharma’s action drama Gadar 2, starring Balki’s Chup collaborator Sunny Deol. “It didn’t get sandwiched, it got smashed! We had no other date, had we come along with Gadar 2, we may have been better off. Because Gadar 2 did better in the second week. Nobody expected this kind of a thing. We thought everyone will do well and we can have the second week. This kind of tsunami was not expected,” Balki had told The Indian Express.
