‘Bollywood is in Bad Shape’: Vivek Agnihotri Takes a Dig at Bholaa And Shehzada’s Box Office Collection

Vivek Agnihotri recently took a dig at Bholaa And Shehzada's box office collection and said that 'Bollywood is in bad shape'.

Vivek Agnihotri Takes a Dig at 2023 Box Office Collection: Vivek Agnihotri never shies away from expressing his opinions on current affairs and pop culture. The filmmaker known for his fearless take on socio-political issues created a milestone with The Kashmir Files (2022). The film based on the tragic massacre of Kashmiri Pandits was not only praised for its social theme but also broke box office records. Vivek now reacted to the recent commercial failure of Bollywood films post Pathaan (2023). He quote tweeted an article about the recent earnings of Bholaa (2023), Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar (2023) and Shehzada (2023). He also took a sly dig on the fees of Bollywood stars.

CHECK OUT VIVEK AGNIHOTRI’S VIRAL TWEET:

Bollywood is in bad shape. Again. Seems as if the entire industry is happy giving unrealistic and exorbitant fees to stars who can’t even guarantee an opening. Most money is wasted in vanity and lifestyle of stars. What’s going wrong? @mid_day pic.twitter.com/iRKQK5142F

— Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri (@vivekagnihotri) April 4, 2023

VIVEK AGNIHOTRI REACTS TO BOLLYWOOD’S BOX OFFICE EARNINGS OF 2023

Vivek captioned his post as “Bollywood is in bad shape. Again. Seems as if the entire industry is happy giving unrealistic and exorbitant fees to stars who can’t even guarantee an opening. Most money is wasted in vanity and lifestyle of stars. What’s going wrong? @mid_day.” He had quoted newspaper article screenshots which stated that SRK’s Pathaan was the only positive side among the theatrical releases in early 2023. Veteran trade analyst Amod Mehra heaped praise on YRF’s spy-thriller and said “‘Its success was encouraging, and made everyone feel like things would change. But subsequent films crashed. So, it is back to square one,’ says Mehra. February saw two big Hindi releases, Kartik Aaryan’s Shehzada, and Akshay Kumar-Emraan Hashmi’s Selfiee. The former came with high expectations — it was Aaryan’s first theatrical release since last year’s surprise hit Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2. Additionally, it was the remake of Allu Arjun’s Telugu movie, Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo (2020).” 

BHOLAA’S BOX OFFICE EARNINGS GO BELOW EXPECTATIONS

Producer and trade expert Girish Johar reacted to Shehzada failure and told Mid-Day “Shehzada was a copy-paste remake with no new elements. Selfiee was completely dated, despite having big names and being backed by a big banner [Dharma Productions]. People rejected it from the word go. The Q1 business was down by 30 per cent compared to the pre-pandemic times.” Johar also soke about Bholaa‘s collection at Rs 44.28 crore (nett) over its four-day weekend as compared to Nani’s Dasara earning Rs 55 Crore. He opined “Dasara is a reasonably budgeted film, while Bholaa, which released in 2D, 3D, and IMAX has a much higher landing cost. Plus, Bholaa, being an adaptation of Tamil film Kaithi (2019), hasn’t got the audience in south India flocking to the theatres.”

VIVEK AGNIHOTRI GEARS UP FOR ‘THE VACCINE WAR’

Vivek’s comments come at a time when films with high expectations fail to deliver. While his film TKF was a massive success despite its serious and hard-hitting theme. The historical drama followed non-linear filmmaking pattern and yet earned more than Rs 300 Crore worldwide. Vivek Agnihotri is currently working on his movie The Vaccine War, based on India’s largest vaccination drive initiative during the Covid-19 pandemic. The film stars Anupam Kher, Nana Patekar, Sapthami Gowda, Pallavi Joshi. He also had The Delhi Files in the pipeline, which completes his trilogy after The Tashkent Files and The Kashmir Files. The Delhi Files is set in the backdrop of 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

The Vaccine War is slated to release on August 15, 2023.

For more updates on Vivek Agnihotri, check out this space at India.com.