The overseas success of the content-driven films Baahubali 2 and Dangal offer some crucial lessons for the Indian filmmakers.
The Indian cinema is witnessing its golden era with films like Baahubali: The Conclusion and Dangal faring well at the box office not only in India but also overseas markets. While Prabhas and Rana Daggubati’s Baahubali 2 is going Dangal impressively after more than two weeks of its release and is set to become the highest grossing film in the US, Aamir Khan’s Dangal has broken its Indian records in China after collecting Rs. 450.39 crore within two weeks of its release. While Baahubali 2 will soon create Rs 1500-crore club, Dangal is well past the Rs 1000-crore point.
Trade analyst Taran Adarsh shared the latest figures as he wrote, “#Dangal maintains the speed on weekdays in China… Week 2 [updated]: Mon: $ 4.95 mn Tue: $ 4.92 mn Total: $ 70.33 million [? 450.39 cr].” With this, the wrestling drama has already become the first Indian movie whose domestic collection is overtaken by a single overseas market.
So does this overseas success of these content-driven films offer some lessons for the Indian filmmakers? Definitely yes. To make a tentpole film, a filmmaker does not need to have a star-studded cast, surge pricing of tickets or a festival release. All that needs to increase the footfall in the theatres for a movie is good content, great performances from the artists and breaking through the set trends. The filmmakers in Indian need to understand the value of research that goes into filmmaking. Though SS Rajamouli took an extra year to wrap up his magnum opus but when he did, a masterpiece was in the offing. Baahubali 2 and Dangal gave the movie buffs all good reasons to head to the theaters from the VFX to the high concept ideas.
Not only the filmmakers but Dangal and Baahubali 2 has something crucial to teach to the actors as well. While Prabhas gave five years of his life to a single project and did justice to his role of Amrendra Baahubali, Aamir Khan bulked up to 95 kilos to play an aging father and a wrestler and then went through a rigorous training to shed those extra kilos to play a younger self.
So, to enter the 100 crore club might be a dream of every director or producer, but to achieve that milestone there is a lot that needs to be fixed. And the bottom line is, the audience is no fool.