Recap 2024: Rule Of Ghoonghats, Ghosts And Guns – How Small Films Turned Big

Laapataa Ladies took time to get noticed. That’s because the movie had a small town vibe with unknown faces. Its only strength initially was the story about two girls searching for freedom and finding their voice from behind their ghoonghat. Beyond that, only two names gave belief – Aamir Khan and Kiran Rao backing the film.

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From ghoonghat to Oscars

New actors Nitanshi Goel, Pratibha Ranta and Sparsh Shrivastava were a risky bet. But the movie shocked! The trio indeed made us forget that we were watching actors. They got consumed by their characters, exactly what Kiran wanted.

Six months later, Laapataa Ladies became India’s official entry for the upcoming 97th Academy Awards. This cemented the fact that content is indeed the “king” – a phrase that has trended ever since India saw an OTT explosion post pandemic.

Shoe-string budgets and power of content

2024 saw small and medium films shoving off the big production studios. While mega movies like Fighter, Bade Miyan Chote Miyan, Maidaan andSingham Againstruggled, unexpected sleeper hits like Kill, Munjya, Shaitaan andArticle 370 ruled.

Trade guru Taran Adarsh told Zoom, that 2024 saw the "sheer power of content." He said, "It's been a great year because somewhere, audience is also looking for good content, and not necessarily star value. If stars are there, fine, but the content has to be strong because after the initual pull of the stars, it is the content that does the talk."

Star power tanked

Akshay Kumar's all three releases, Bade Miyan Chote Miyan, Sarfira, and Khel Khel Mein, made on exorbitant budgets, tanked. Infact BMCM made at Rs 350 crore sank with a meager Rs 111.5 crore.

Producer and Film Business Expert Girish Johar added to the point. He told Zoom, "These small and medium budgeted films have done fantastic at the box office. This clearly shows that audiences are keen at watching good cinema. Stars are important, but they are not the critical factor post the pandemic and the OTT growth."

Stree 2 ka aatank

Infact Stree 2, sans any “superstar,” and led by a heroine (Shraddha Kapoor) gave every release, Hollywood films included, a run for money. Though it had a brand franchise name backing it, it closed its box office with a lifetime collection of around Rs 595 crore in India and Rs 826 crore worldwide, surpassing Shah Rukh Khan’s Jawan (2023), something to take note.

Back in 2018, when Amar Kaushik was offered to direct the franchise debut, he wanted to add comedy to horror. Calling it his own horror-comedy, it opened major doors for the genre in Bollywood. And this year's Stree 2 cemented his claim. It has become the main money-maker for its production banner Maddock Films, that had half-a-dozen releases, including Stree 2 this year.

Business of cinema

So why were filmmakers willing to back smaller movies more than the big ones in 2024?

Considering a shift in audience sensibilities, and an over-exposure to international content, there's a growing awareness about characters over actors. What a Khan or a Kapoor did, is getting offered to "smaller" actors who are investing more stength and conviction. This automatically brings down the budget and profit-sharing leaving more money in hand to put in production. Result? The overall cost of a movie decreases. And if budgets are small, profits margins ought to be big.

Children as target audience

Munjya director Aditya Sarpotdar stated despite any big cast, budget or promotional activities, his film received footfalls due to its content. Munjya is a standalone movie in Maddock’s Supernatural Universe. It starred Sharvari Wagh, Abhay Verma and Mona Singh. Aditya said in an interview, “I realised that people are attracted to the narratives and the experience. They want to watch clean entertainment, films that are fun and humorous.” Munjya attracted a lot of children as the title character appealed to them. Infact 30 per cent of its collection came from the younger ones who dragged their families to the theatres.

Actors over stars

If 2023 was considered the year of reviving Bollywood's lost glory with mammoth hits like Pathaan, Jawan, Gadar 2, Animal and Tiger 3, 2024 came down to real business of movie making that relied on good scripts and performances instead of high-end production, grand locations and stylised presentation. Actors this year did not shake any leg in the whites of Greece. Neither did they stop a flying helicopter with a rope.

Johar added, "Good content always runs at the box office. And that encourages new talent, new directors, new storytelling, and gives chance to new people to come into the system. This is going to stay and we'll have many good films at the cinema doing well."

Re-release trend

2024 saw a new trend of re-releasing old movies too. While it filled in the gaps on Fridays, movies like Veer-Zaara, Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein, Gangs of Wasseypur, Tumbbad and Kal Ho Naa Ho rekindled their magic onscreen proving why nostalgia trick works. But, how long can it sustain the box office?

Adarsh opined, "It's great to have revivals because a lot of people may not have watched those films. So it's great to have them back in theatres. Even for those who've watched it will want to revisit it."

ALSO READ: Mahal To Stree 2: Why Bollywood Is Steering Away From True Horror In Favour Of Horror-Comedy

Going forward

With the attention span of audience falling by the day, and OTT becoming an easy scapegoat, filmmakers are fighting for keeping them hooked from the word go. Viewers are spoilt for choices, genres and stories, it's a do or die situation, and relying solely on star power means drawing limits.

"2025 is going to be a bang with all the holidays getting blocked!" Adarsh added. "It's going to be so crowded that you and I will be running to theatres to review and watch a film," he concluded.