'Salman's bad phase is going on for the last five-six years.'
There is no respite for the Hindi film industry as Salman Khan's biggie Sikandar flopped miserably, adding to the flops piling up at the box office.
Chhaava is the only big hit of 2025 so far.
Is Bollywood in trouble?
"For a film like Sikandar, a distributor has to shell out Rs 30 crore (Rs 300 million) for the Mumbai territory, which is huge money," explains movie trade guru Amod Mehra.
"If Sikandar does not work, the money goes down the drain," Mehra tells Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.
Only one hit so far, Chhaava. Even Salman Khan's Sikandar could not revive the box office.
Salman's bad phase is going on for the last five-six years. It's not that you're seeing his films flop all of a sudden.
But is he not a big brand name?
Yes, he is. Brand Salman is a different story but as a star, he has been fading for quite some time.
After COVID, his films like Radhe, Race 3 and Kisi Ka Bhai, Kisi Ki Jaan did not work at the box office the way they should have.
Sikandar just sealed his fate.
What is Salman's future?
He is 60 years old, and has had a very good innings. He will play the brother's or father's role.
Amitabh Bachchan (who is 82) is still acting and doing well. Even he had to retire (as a hero) at 60.
He reinvented himself in Mohabattein (by playing Aishwarya Rai's father).
The career of an actor does not die but the career of a star dies. Stars fade away but an actor always will be an actor.
In the past, Dharmendra did a movie called Yaadon Ki Baraat where he played an elder brother.
The same holds true for Aamir Khan who has been doing character roles for the last 10 years. He has not played a romantic role in all this time.
Does this happen to every star?
This is the law of nature. Everything that goes up comes down.
Superstars fade away with age.
The sooner they do it gracefully, the better it is for them.
So what happens to say, Brand Aamir Khan?
He is producing two films, Lahore and Sitare Zameen Par.
In both movies, he plays character roles.
Is it not very disappointing that only Chhaava has worked at the box office in 2025 so far? Is there a sense of disillusionment in the film industry?
Yes, because people are not going to theatres.
Take Sunny Deol's Jaat. It's said that Rs 9.5 crore (Rs 95 million) was collected on the first day but that is not the case.
It has not collected more than Rs 3.5 crore (Rs 35 million) on the first day.
People did not turn up to watch the movie in theatres.
Why?
The film has no story.
There is only action, meaningless action.
The villains are saying sorry for no reason.
At the end of the day, it was the public who said sorry to Sunny and did not go to the theatres to watch the film.
Are we making losses because there are no good scripts?
We are not making good cinema. We are not putting any heart and soul into making cinema.
The stakes are very high, so people are making films based on mathematics rather than from their hearts.
They are seeing their (account) books first and then making a movie.
Earlier, producers would mortgage their homes to make a film. They had passion.
Now, there is no passion in a Bollywood producer, as he only thinks about economics.
So are producers failing the film industry?
There are various reasons.
Besides producers, there are the film distributors. (Distributors buy films from producers and distribute them in territories across India).
Distributors are distributing films based on commission now, so that they don't lose anything.
Earlier, a man like Raj Kapoor, who would produce films, had his own set of distributors. They would give him suggestions on what would work and what would not.
Producers took them very seriously. But today, that system is broken.
There are only chamchas who buy films on commission and do 'wah wah', thus keeping the reality away from producers. So they have no idea what works on ground.
How does a distributor make money? Can you please explain?
A film gets distributed in say, five territories. The Mumbai territory gets a 30 percent margin.
So a distributor from Mumbai has to pay 30 percent to the producer for releasing his film.
If the film does well, the distributor can earn up to 50 to 60 percent.
Even if the film does not do well, it will make 25 percent in the Mumbai territory for sure.
The loss of 5 percent he would make up in the producer's next film.
But today, the costs have ballooned so much that it is difficult to be a distributor.
For a film like Sikandar, a distributor has to shell out Rs 30 crore (Rs 300 million) for the Mumbai territory, which is huge money.
If Sikandar does not work, the money goes down the drain.
Today, the stakes are very high and distributors cannot survive by purchasing a movie.
How does the commission system work these days for distributors?
Now, they don't have to give any money to the producer. He will release the film and ask for 2 to 3 percent commission if the film makes money.
So the distributor is not risking his money.
If the film is in a loss, the distributors will not get any commission.
This has resulted in the business model where film producers are slowly dying.
So who is producing films today?
Corporates. But they are bleeding and Jio Studios is the biggest loser.
Mukesh Ambani has lost between Rs 500 crore to Rs 1,000 crore (Rs 5 billion to Rs 10 billion).
Which films?
There are many. The latest that I can recall is Varun Dhawan's Baby John.
Other corporates like Eros and 20th Century Fox have folded up.
Dharma Productions sold 50 percent stake to Adar Poonawalla.
Producer Kumar Mangat has gone to the stock market to raise money.
Is that why films are re-releasing in theatres?
Re-releases are also not making huge money.
About 50 people watch them in theatres, but it does not even recover the cost of the air conditioning.
How do you bring the passion back to the film industry?
Producers have disappeared from Bollywood, what will you do with a script writer or an actor?
Earlier, there were producers like Venus, TIPS and Time.
Even Yash Raj is not announcing many new films. At present, there are only two: Alia Bhatt's Alpha and War 2.
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