The box office trajectory of Hindi films hasn’t been as encouraging as one would anticipate especially when it comes to the big-ticket films and big stars in 2024. The marginal success of Fighter and the PAN-world success of Kalki 2898 AD have been the only differentiators in what’s been an otherwise dull ride for the big guns. However, the audience’s expectations are clear – they want to be invested and entertained.
A propelling myth of how ‘smaller’ films aren’t working anymore that gained some mileage in the times of the pandemic has been thwarted by how phenomenally these smaller films have performed in 2024. This year has been another reminder that as long as your content is entertaining and there is something new to offer, that’s all that people expect out of a film anyway.
But what’s also been another encouraging factor is how fresh faces have gained limelight and importance this year, which in turn is incredibly reassuring considering how last year was a star-domination exercise. These new faces might not necessarily be debutants but having been newer on the block, that one project has managed to make an impact they would have loved them to be. The outcome is simple – people want to watch pristine talents and when it is coupled with an immersive and entertaining story, it is sone pe suhaaga.
The Success Stories
As mentioned above, 2024 has been a year filled with that in the Hindi belt and there couldn’t have been a more unique beginning to it than that of HanuMan. Even though people keep talking about how this Telugu-dubbed-to-Hindi film did eye-ball-popping numbers because of the content, it’s true. But to see Teja Sajja, a name no one knew before the film fight great odds just made it so much more relatable.
A fresh face having an entertaining underdog story – is a recipe for success. Following that, we witnessed a great March which saw further assurance for the filmmakers. A tiny film like Laapataa Ladies arrived with incredible critical acclaim and immense love thus becoming an instant conversation point. While the box office was decent, it was the film’s domination on Netflix that pleasantly surprised everyone. Another case of relatively fresh faces exhibiting their acting prowess and making a splash.
Then came the hilarious ride of Madgaon Express and even though one might debate that this isn’t entirely about having new faces rule proceedings where the likes of Divvyendu and Pratik Gandhi already enjoyed popularity, even then to see a unique trifecta of these two and Avinash Tiwary going absolutely bonkers and making you laugh while Kunal Khemu showing his excellence as a director, it was just the right breath of fresh air that was needed.
More Success and More Freshness
The last month and a half have been mind-bending for trade analysts and even filmmakers as they continue to marvel at the curious case of Munjya. Perhaps, the unbelievable success of Munjya is the flag-bearer of this piece where a film riding on no star power – an unknown face like Abhay Verma and even Sharvari, who did not have any box office prowess earlier. There is no denying that here, the content reigned supreme but that cannot be possible without the acceptance towards fresh faces with fine talents. The case study of KILL starring Lakshya in his debut has also been a rather interesting turn of events. The hammering of the film doing multiple festival rounds and getting immense critical acclaim usually doesn’t transpire into box office success but the marriage of art and new talent phenomenally presented in a crisp story led to KILL slowly and steadily getting decent numbers while facing juggernauts like Kalki 2898 AD, Sarfira and Hindustani 2.
Looking Ahead
The new breed of talents have a lot in their store and it is always encouraging to see them get bigger projects. On the one hand, we have the most recent debutant in the form of Junaid Khan, who came in with Maharaj and already has a film with Khushi Kapoor lined up ahead – interestingly Khushi Kapoor also being another fresh talent to look forward to. Then there is Vedang Raina, who has struck gold by bagging Jigra alongside the powerhouse that is Alia Bhatt. Then there is Veer Pahairya, who will be starring in Sky Force, Rasha Thadani in Abhishek Kapoor’s next, and Ibrahim Ali Khan’s debut with Kayoze Irani’s next among other projects.
There is so much novelty waiting to be offered, and if done well, the audience is willing to accept it with open arms.
