"How do you expect people to connect with the films?" In 2022, filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri took potshots at Bollywood on its approach to making films.
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00:00They thought this is India. They thought zindagi na mile ge dubara is India.
00:03This is not India. These are not the real problems of it.
00:06Most kuch kuch hota hai, then suddenly things started changing.
00:09The entire film industry is in control of these moneyed kids, you know.
00:16Of course, in the public domain spoken about how there is an increasing divide between what
00:23a large portion of Bollywood is showing, not everybody perhaps, but a large portion of
00:26Bollywood is showing, and what the audience connects with.
00:29I wanted to understand from you, A, what do you think is the reason for that?
00:34And B, what is the solution?
00:37The entire film industry is in control of these moneyed kids, you know,
00:41who are unfortunately born in India, but basically their mind is in London or New York.
00:46And so this elite club, they're making films for themselves.
00:50And that's why you see the hero of all these films is not Indian.
00:53I mean, I come from Bhopal and my naniyaal is in Kanpur.
00:57In both the places, no young person can relate with student of the year which they make.
01:02You know, their mothers are not real mothers.
01:03Their fathers are not real fathers.
01:05Their problems are not real problems.
01:07How do you expect people to connect with it?
01:09Pehle bhi people used to go to movies and say ki, you know,
01:12I don't need a really interesting plot line, but I want to be entertained, you know.
01:16And I want to forget about what has happened at home,
01:19jo mere issues hai, troubles hai, and watch a bit of fantasy, you know.
01:23Or maybe even some humor.
01:24Wouldn't the same apply to this in terms of, you know, when you talk about...
01:27No, no, no. These are absolutely, absolutely two different things.
01:30You know, they're absolutely two different worlds, you know.
01:32The thing is, Govinda played a common man of India.
01:35Any common man could relate with him.
01:37Mama, chacha, chachi, ladki ko bhaga le jaana nahi,
01:39kul hi ban raha hai, kahin pe, kahin kuch ban raha hai,
01:41main hero number one.
01:42People could relate all with that.
01:43Judai, udai, julwaan, all these films were set in that.
01:47See, when your hero is not a common person,
01:51if your hero is not set in the social fabric,
01:55socio-political fabric of the society,
01:57then people are not going to connect with it.
01:59They'll connect for some time.
02:00They'll go because it's a habit.
02:02Now you tell me, in last so many films you have seen,
02:05where do you, I mean, where is the common man of India?
02:07A, second, there is no villain,
02:10which means there is no social evil in the society.
02:12Even up to Dilwale Dulhania le jayenge, Shah Rukh Khan goes and he says ki,
02:16nahi, main toh traditional shadi karunga,
02:18baap se permission leke.
02:19Wahaadak theek tha.
02:21Then post kuch kuch hota hai, then suddenly things started changing.
02:24And these young boys and girls who took over the Bollywood,
02:27they started believing that they can change habits.
02:30Because they didn't know Hindi,
02:32they started using this Hinglish because they knew Hinglish.
02:35They thought everybody in India speaks.
02:37Nobody speaks like that in India.
02:39Aap jayiye, Indore mein aap poochiye,
02:40kabhi aapne sunaya se Hinglish mein baat karte hui kisi ko.
02:43Then Dil Chahta Hai, success, whatever success,
02:47they thought this is India.
02:48They thought zindagi na milege dubara hai is India.
02:51This is not India.
02:52These are not the real problems of India.
02:54You know, so that's why they slowly, slowly,
02:57and it doesn't happen in one day,
02:58so slowly they started getting disconnected.
03:00You go to any middle class family today,
03:02anywhere in India,
03:03I was in Chennai sometime back,
03:06and there were these members of DMK,
03:08which are absolutely opposite of BJP,
03:11you know, the right wing politics, right?
03:14They were, those women were telling me the same thing
03:16that, oh, look, you're Bollywood,
03:18why shameless people?
03:19Why are they talking only threesome and orgies on their shows?
03:23Like, though that is, show is not a Bollywood,
03:25but they assume it's Bollywood.
03:26So when it comes to Bollywood,
03:28it's not along the party line.
03:30It is the middle class of an India.
03:32And on an average, middle class of India
03:35feels that Bollywood is not doing what they ought to do.
03:40So this is the problem, I think.