Aamir Khan and Javed Akhtar recently came together at the launch of Aamir Khan: Cinema Ka Jadugar, a special film festival to honor the superstar on his 60th birthday. Sharing the stage at PVR INOX, the two icons talked about the challenges plaguing the Hindi film industry and the valuable lessons it can take from southern cinema.
“We’re not focusing on the broader strokes like anger, love and revenge. We should make films on conviction (like the South does). South films are what we used to call single-screen films — very mass, very rooted. Maybe Bollywood is focusing more on multiplex films,” stated Aamir.
The Dangal star added that Bollywood has “killed [its] own business model” due to the presence of OTT. He explained that the consumers have the option of skipping the movies in theatre, because they can watch it, eight weeks later, on OTT platforms that too for free because they have already paid for it.
In response, the veteran lyricist emphasized for larger gaps of at least three to four months between theatrical and streaming releases. He noted that even a hit film is available on OTT in just four weeks.
However, despite the concerns, both the stars seemed pretty optimistic about the industry’s revival. “It’s like a cycle. You make mistakes and then course correct,” Aamir said, to which Javed added, “Hum jaldi samajh jaye toh achha hai. Nahi toh humari cycle hi bik jaegi.
