Trends are fun! The dopamine hits with the memes, and nothing really gets above your ‘sense of humour’ nowadays. If your mind doesn’t contemplate with humour, it’s an end to your relevance in the 21st century.
What I love about this new age is how no one is invincible anymore. You always find someone right behind you, ready to drop you off the edge, and you are gone; you become irrelevant.
So, how do you stay relevant? What and where are the keys? Why should people watch you? Why should people read you? & why do you think people should remain loyal to you?
Questions that will arise in every content-hungry human. Answers? No correct answers! But we have formulas. Formulas that are boring and have no actual weight. And in times when we have everything at a swipe, we think, that these ‘swipes’ will help us to grip on the momentum.
Far from reality, we speak from nostalgia (the silent killer), fighting for an invisible cause and trying to prove that no, we are evident. Something that the ‘now’ Bollywood is trying to prove. But how? Not with remarkable content for the theatres, but with heavy-effect momentum in the films, with an expectation that the social media gazers pick it up and make it go viral. Some films are picking viral Instagram audios, including them in their films or song sequences (example: Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3, “Hey Hari Ram”)
The irony? The very industry that once dictated pop culture now bows before it. Bollywood has become a slave to trends, mistaking virality for value and memes for meaningful storytelling. There was a time when cinema was about vision—about storytelling that lived beyond its runtime. Now, it’s about ‘moments.’ A punchline that trends for a week, a dance step that dominates reels, a song that gets ‘remixed’ endlessly until its soul is squeezed dry. So, now we remember the dialogue, not the film anymore.
But not that earlier, we never had such “dialogue” trends; As early as “Mere Paas Maa Hai,” we definitely had them! But we also remember “Deewar” here. Or something new-age like “All Izz Well,” but “3 Idiots” also comes with it.
But we miss that ‘linger’ in films that we have now.
It’s no longer about crafting an immersive cinematic experience but about generating content that survives in 30-second clips. The actual plot? Secondary. The performances? Who cares, as long as it’s meme-worthy! This is the pitfall of chasing virality. Bollywood isn’t curating art; it’s curating shareability. And while the numbers may look good on paper, the cultural impact is alarmingly hollow.
Look at how films are marketed today.
Social media is the primary battlefield. Entire campaigns revolve around hashtags, influencer promotions, and orchestrated ‘organic’ trends. Marketing is no longer about highlighting cinematic brilliance; it’s about creating an illusion of mass hysteria. Remember the manufactured controversies? The staged leaks? The calculated ‘spontaneous’ moments?
This isn’t innovation. It’s a survival tactic. Bollywood fears irrelevance, and in doing so, it has become addicted to digital approval. But trends are fickle. Today’s sensation is tomorrow’s forgotten hashtag.
Tracing Karan Johar’s Instagram stories, where he said, “If you want to go big, create something that truly stands out. Don’t just follow the crowd. Whether it’s action, romance, or chick flicks, let’s not lose our conviction and originality in the pursuit of quick success,” as quoted by The Statesman.
Bollywood, in its bid to stay ‘cool,’ risks losing what made it timeless. Sure, numbers matter. But longevity? Legacy? They matter more. No wonder we are now having re-releases!
The industry needs to wake up and realise that storytelling isn’t about algorithms. Films should breathe, not trend. Moments should be felt, not merely shared.
If Bollywood continues down this path, the industry will soon be left with films that nobody remembers, actors who fade as fast as their trending reels, and an audience that has long moved on to something more meaningful. And when that happens, Bollywood will have no one to blame but itself.
