It might be half a decade since the pandemic hit, but the repercussions are still deeply felt in the Indian film industry and the stories it tries to tell.
Smaller actors who once portrayed small-town characters and relatable stories are now chasing bigger, massier titles, and that is concerning.
Actors like Rajkummar Rao and Ayushmann Khurrana, both of whom built their careers on niche films with strong social messages such as Bala, Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui, Srikanth, and Badhaai Do, have now shifted towards larger, more commercial projects.
While Rajkummar Rao will be seen playing a gangster in Maalik, releasing in July, Ayushmann Khurrana will star in Thama, a horror-comedy and a genre that’s currently in trend following the success of Stree 2 and Bhool Bhulaiyaa.
According to trade experts, this shift is happening because actors are recognizing the need to improve footfall in single-screen cinemas and small-town theatres. The urban, multiplex-going audience is oversaturated with entertainment options, especially with OTT platforms dominating the space.
To tap into smaller towns and mass circuits, these actors are gravitating towards mass-market directors and subjects.
The younger generation of actors has yet to make their mark as “heroic” or larger-than-life leads like those from the 1990s. That space is now being filled by South Indian cinema, with rags-to-riches, hero-centric films like Pushpa and KGF. Bollywood, however, lacks this heroic appeal at present.
Actors like Rao and Khurrana are also learning from past box-office failures. Their niche, experimental films such as Bheed (₹2.03 crore), An Action Hero (₹10.89 crore), HIT: The First Case (₹9.29 crore), and Anek (₹8.15 crore), all released post-COVID, underperformed significantly.
While Rao’s horror-comedy Stree 2 crossed the ₹600-crore mark, trade analysts argue this had more to do with the genre’s appeal than with segmented audiences.
This shift towards commercial cinema seems inevitable, but it leaves a few lingering questions.
Where will the common man’s portrayal in cinema go?
If every actor chases massy, big-budget titles, what happens to the small- and mid-budget films? Will a new wave of actors emerge to fill that gap and offer us more grounded, relatable characters?
For now, only time will tell.
