How often do we find ourselves complaining about rising nepotism in Bollywood? Almost every time, right?
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With films like Naadaniya, Loveyapa, and Azaad releasing this year, and Archies in 2023, audiences have constantly criticized Bollywood for launching star kids and promoting nepotism.
However, when an outsider-led film finally arrives, the same audience seems to ignore it.
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Take Superboys of Malegaon, for instance – a film featuring an all-outsider cast.
Inspired by Faiza Ahmed Khan’s documentary, the film stars Adarsh Gourav, Shashank Arora, Vineet Kumar Singh, Muskkaan Jaferi, Riddhi Kumar, and Saqib Ayub, none of whom come from film families.
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Despite offering a fresh and unique story, far from Bollywood’s usual formulaic films, its theatrical response has been abysmal.
The critically acclaimed film was released on 28th February and has earned only ₹2.2 crores in six days, with an opening weekend collection of just over ₹1.5 crores making it the lowest opening weekend of 2025.
Audiences often demand fresh stories and new faces, yet when Bollywood delivers exactly that, they shy away from watching such films in theatres.
Superboys of Malegaon suffered from a lack of promotion due to its absence of star power, but neglecting it purely for that reason is hypocritical.
It is because of this neglect of the audience that such amazing actors, like those in Superboys of Malegaon and other films, are stuck being a sidekick to the main character.
This pattern has been repeating for a very long time where audiences have been neglecting good cinema and opting for the same style of masala films. And when something new does come their way, they are straight up ignoring it.
It is up to the audience to break the cycle and let good cinema thrive in the formulaic world of Bollywood films.
