Prasoon Joshi says Bollywood needs step out of the 'self-congratulatory' bubble to succeed again

Writer and Censor Board chief Prasoon Joshi on Saturday, talked about the recent spate of box office disappointments the Hindi film industry has produced. He said that the film industry cannot adopt a ‘victim mindset’ and must instead look for ways to get past this slump. He also spoke about why most Bollywood films are flopping.

Speaking at Sahitya Aaaj Tak 2022 on Saturday, Prasoon said this has happened because the industry and the creators there have lost connect with their roots. “There was a time when Bollywood films had stories taken from literature and mythology. These tales were connected to their roots. Then, at some point, Bollywood became self-congratulatory and went into a bubble. There are mainly only people from Mumbai here. Many have never seen a farmer in real life. But then they try to show farmers in films. They are cut off from their roots.” 

The year has been disastrous for big ticket Bollywood films like Laal Singh Chaddha, Shamshera, Samrat Prithviraj, Liger among several others.Recently at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit 2022, Akshay Kumar after seeing a string of flops this year, also echoed similar sentiments as he spoke about Bollywood’s need to reinvent by paying closer attention to the preferences of the audience. At the event, Akshay said, “Things have changed. The audience wants something different. It is our fault that they’re not coming to the theatres. We have to give them something they want. We have to dismantle and rebuild, reinvent everything. We have to start all over again.”