Adios 2024: Hindi dubs, horror.coms and sleeper hits, the year gave cinephiles enough reasons to cheer

As we take stock of 2024’s theatrical releases, there are heart-warming realisations, epic disasters and reasons to cheer as well as reflect. Spectacle is the new name of entertainment as films like Kalki 2898 AD proved. As the year saw its first major big-ticket release, Fighter, starring Hrithik Roshan and Deepika Padukone, its reassuring box-office status led us to believe that superstar vehicles can still run, if not fly. However, as the year passed by post-Covid reality and the changing landscape of entertainment hit home. Clearly, superstars by themselves are no guarantee of success. Of course, none of the three Khans had any release this year. Nor did we see any films of the new marquee superstars, Ranbir Kapoor and Ranveer Singh.

Advertisement

Tepid Akshay

Forever in work drive, Akshay Kumar kept his date with the silver screen. Only he grabbed more eyeballs with his cameo in Stree 2 than his major releases! Even fairly decent ones such as Sarfira and Khel Khel Mein drew a blank. Yet another nail in his stardom was driven by the failure of Bade Miyan Chote Miyan. Not only did the film directed by Ali Abbas Zafar and produced by Vashu Bhagnani tank, it also led to a spat between the director and producer.

Shining Rajkummar

Rajkummar Rao had a field day and the fine actor of Newton turned out to be the rajkumar of box-office too! After 10 consecutive flops, he could boast of a hit in Srikanth, a biopic on visually impaired industrialist, and a true-blue blockbuster in Stree 2. The sequel to his successful 2018 film, Stree 2 turned out to be the highest-grossing Hindi film of 2024. His other outing Mr and Mrs Mahi was a moderate hit.

When FTII alumna Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine as Light created history by winning Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival, one thought we had found our film for the Oscars.

On hindsight, as yet another beautiful film Laapataa Ladies, India’s official selection at Oscars, failed to make it to the long-list, perhaps, we can agree with Hansal Mehta that the now Golden Globe-nominated Kapadia film stood a better chance. Sadly, its tryst with box-office too was overshadowed by the tornado of the year—Pushpa 2, which refused to buckle under mixed reviews or its lead superstar Allu Arjun’s dramatic arrest.

Moments to cheer

Jukhega nahi… Hindi dub of Allu’s Pushpa 2 continues to dominate the box-office like a colossus. Other Telugu films, be it the dystopian sci-fi Kalki or NT Rama Rao Jr’s Devara, with Saif Ali Khan as antagonist, too brought cheer in a year that otherwise saw revenues dipping by a solid 18 per cent. As the year ends with upcoming Baby John, produced by Jawaan-maker Atlee, the north-south alchemy is here to stay and further ignite the box-office.

Horror with a message

Horror.coms too set the box-office on fire. With Stree 2 and Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3, both Amar Kaushik and Anees Bazmee proved that it is very much possible to marry entertainment with woke messaging. But yet another master of meaningful and engaging cinema, Neeraj Pandey failed to drum in any dum in his Ajay Devgn and Tabu-starrer Auron Mein Kahan Dum Tha. For once, critics and audiences were on the same page and rejected the love story.

Strangely enough, the implausible love story between a robotics engineer and female robot in Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiya captured the charm of romance and found its way on to the hit list. In a year of many disappointments, like Ajay Devgn’s much-anticipated Maidaan, Dinesh Vijan’s Maddock Films learnt how to navigate its way amidst changing tastes and dwindling attention spans. With Stree 2, Munjya and Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiya, they mastered the formula of making successful films by controlling costs. In 2024, Maddock Films generated Rs 1,300 crore at the box-office.

No propaganda at all

On the face of it, the number of hits, especially sleeper hits like folktale inspired Munjya and Article 370, dismissed by some critics as government’s mouthpiece, ensured Bollywood was still breathing and very much alive. Not all films fired by ruling government’s ideology found its bhakts though. Despite a stellar Pankaj Tripathi, Main Atal Hoon was anything but steadfast. The fate of acclaimed director Shoojit Sircar’s I Want to Talk, never mind the positive reviews, was no different. Then there were films like Kill that may not have made a killing in terms of revenue, but with its breakneck action it truly caught the imagination of niche viewers. Many films like Vasan Bala’s Jigra and Hansal Mehta’s The Buckingham Murders struggled at the box-office. Even Kabir Khan’s inspirational Chandu Champion did not inspire much confidence in the trade circles.

Audience remains keen

The good news is many like those coming from the stable of Dharma productions, be it Vicky Kaushal and Tripti Dimri’s Bad Newz, did think out-of-the-box, and tried to normalise pregnancy out of wedlock and one-night stand with a light touch. And the real good news, though audiences didn’t flock to theatres for every single release, big or small, they didn’t forsake the cine-going experience outright.

The year 2024 was also a requiem for the past, what with many iconic films such as Hum Aapke Hain Koun, Veer-Zaara, and gems like Tummbad and Laila Majnu re-releasing in theatres. But then as someone said, ‘A fresh start isn’t a new place, it’s a new mindset’, tentpole filmmakers will have to shift the thinking goalpost.