Can ‘Ollywood’ and other ‘woods’ come out of the woods?

The answer to the caption of this piece which is in the form of a rhetorical question lies within the question itself. We will see in the subsequent parts of this article how this is so.

It is an undisputed fact that film industries of all languages in India are going through a phase of crises since the COVID-19 days.  But interestingly, these crises are mostly of their own making. 

One of the most prominent reasons for the crises afflicting the Indian film industries, as said in the very first sentence of this column, lies with the ‘woods’ themselves.

Calling various film industries ‘woods’ of different varieties is symptomatic of the ills affecting the former. To clear the air, Hollywood is the place where the American Film Industry is based. However, the enthusiastic copycats that many of us Indians are, there has been an overwhelming urge to name film industries of every variety a ‘wood’. For instance, the Hindi film industry is called Bollywood, the Odia film industry is Ollywood, the Kannada film industry is Sandalwood, the Tamil film industry is Kollywood, and so on. This keen desire to ape the West is also reflected in the movies in the form of plagiarism in subtle as well as overt manner. Many of the films that are churned out are ‘inspired’ by hits of other movie industries like Hollywood and some are downright cheap clones of the originals. 

In spite of the above, many of the Indian movies were doing reasonably good business drawing strength from star power of established actors and actresses with sizable fan followings. However, the COVID-19 pandemic upset their apple carts. Confined to their homes for months altogether, many of the movie watchers developed a taste for films with good content, mainly from the west. Some became fascinated with content of OTT (Over-The-Top) platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime etc. which are better at storytelling than screen releases. Sky-high ticket prices at multiplexes and top stars taking away the lion’s share of a film’s budget are other factors that led to a disproportionate number of flops compared to hits in the various movie industries. 

Then, is there light at the end of the tunnel? Yes, there is and many fast learners are adapting to the changed scenario to survive and flourish.

The overriding factor that pulls audiences to multiplexes and single-screen theaters is content or better storytelling. Here also, inspiring real-life stories and stories rooted in the soil and cultural milieu have greater chances of winning the movie watchers’ appreciation and thereby bringing in the moolah. Let’s take examples of such success stories in a few of the vernacular movie industries. 

Our own Odia movie industry has been plagued by falling box office collections and decreasing number of releases over the past few decades. Lack of original stories, tough competition from Hindi movies, and the reluctance of theatre owners to provide screens have been the banes of ‘Ollywood.’ However, in recent times, two movies with strong storylines bucked the trend. ‘Daman’ which enjoyed consistently high ratings on IMDb (Internet Movie Database), became a huge hit in its Odia version. Demand from non-Odia audiences goaded the filmmakers to release the movie in Hindi which also did reasonably well. Another movie ‘Pratikshya’ also became commercially successful. What distinguished these two movies from the rest were the strong storylines, one real-life story (Daman) and another (Pratikshya) reflecting the day-to-day struggles of a middle-class family rooted in hard reality. Of course, the movies were backed by brilliant acting by the protagonists and other main characters, not to speak of the good direction. 

Many regional films with Hindi sub-titles became runaway hits during the year 2022. One such movie that stood out from the rest was ‘Kantara’.  Deeply rooted in the local culture of coastal Karnataka, it grossed more than Rs. 400 Crore worldwide against its production budget of about Rs. 16.00 Crore. Other regional movies which also raked good money were RRR, KGF Chapter 2, Ponniyin Selvan etc. 
It’s not that no Hindi movie did good business in the recent past. ‘The Kashmir Files’, based on the plight of the Kashmiri Hindus who were forced by Islamists to leave the land of their ancestors in early 1990, became a super hit inspiring many other filmmakers to take the plunge into making movies based on real life stories. 

To summarize, the following are the takeaways as far as the movie audience behaviour in India at present is concerned. 

One, story of the film is the real star, not the actors and actresses eulogized by glamour-obsessed sections of the media and loved by millions of hysterical fans. 

Secondly, the theme has to have its roots deep in the local culture and social milieu. Stories divorced from the experiences of the common man are, in all probability, bound to be the reason for the failure of the films.
Three, big-budget films with a major part of it paid to the ‘superstar/s’, start their journey to the box office at a disadvantage. On the other hand, movies made with modest budget and not-so-big names have greater chances of recovering money spent and more.

Last but not least, today’s movie audience is smart and it spends money after due deliberations and evaluating the market reports, both from traditional and social media, and also getting inputs from word-of-mouth publicity. Moviegoers can’t be fooled in today’s age. On the other hand, they have the capacity to make the extra smart filmmakers and actors who take the audience for granted, look like fools at the end.

(DISCLAIMER: This is an opinion piece. The views expressed are the author’s own and have nothing to do with OTV’s charter or views. OTV does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.)