R Madhavan has reacted to the below average box office performance of Aamir Khan’s Laal Singh Chaddha and talked about the reasons behind Bollywood films not doing well.
Aamir Khan’s most recent film Laal Singh Chaddha has not performed very well at the movie office. In its first six days of release, the expensive movie—which also stars Kareena Kapoor, Mona Singh, and Naga Chaitanya—failed to gross more than 50 crore rupees. The movie is the most recent in a long line of Bollywood productions that have recently performed poorly at the box office. Actor R Madhavan discussed this tendency and the comparative success of films from the south on Wednesday.
In 2022, several big-budget Hindi films like Samrat Prithviraj and Shamshera have failed at the box office. On the other hand, south films like RRR, KGF: Chapter 2, Vikram, and Vikrant Rona have minted money in the same duration. The Hindi-dubbed versions of the first two even outperformed Bollywood films.
At the teaser launch of his upcoming film Dhokha – Round D Corner in Mumbai on Wed, actor R Madhavan was asked to comment on the underwhelming performance of the recent big-ticket Hindi films, including Laal Singh Chaddha. “If we knew (why Laal Singh Chaddha didn’t work), we would all be making hit films. Nobody starts off thinking that we’re making a wrong film. The intent, hard work behind it is just as intense as with every film that an actor works on or doesn’t. So, all the big films that have been released… the intent was to make a good film and make it work,” Madhavan told reporters.
He further stated that just a small number of south Indian films have outperformed Hindi films, contradicting the assumption that they are doing so. It cannot be referred to as a pattern, the actor claimed. “As far as south Indian movies go, only Baahubali 1, Baahubali 2, RRR, Pushpa, KGF: Chapter 1 and KGF: Chapter 2 have performed better than films starring Hindi cinema actors. Since there have been only six films, we cannot say that a pattern has emerged.
The movies will succeed if they are good.
The actor said that he believed if good content was given to audiences, they will go and watch films in theatres, regardless of the language. He attributed the failure of Hindi films to changed preferences of audience in the post-pandemic era. “Post COVID-19, people’s liking and preferences have changed… So if we make the kind of films that people will watch, with the kind of films that are coming today, we’ll have to become a little bit more progressive,” he said.
Madhavan will be next seen in Kookie Gulati-directorial Dhokha – Round D Corner. The film also stars Darshan Kumaar, Aparshakti Khurana and Khushalii Kumar. The T-Series production will be released in theatres on September 23.
