Pankaj Tripathi has finally opened up and has talked about the recent boycott trend going on in the Bollywood film industry over the past few months, which some people say is the main reason behind the dent in film collections of Bollywood movies from the past few months.
Recently, many of the big-budget films including Aamir Khan’s Laal Singh Chaddha and Akshay Kumar’s Raksha Bandhan weren’t successful in making big money at the box office, giving the industry a rather sharp jolt.
In a recent conversation with Siddharth Kanan, who is a famous television and radio host, Pankaj Tripathi discussed why films in the Bollywood industry are not being able to make it big in the post-pandemic era. Pankaj Tripathi said, “Self-assessment is needed about what we are making and how we are making it—that’s necessary and that’s what is lacking.”
Speaking about the boycott trend, Pankaj Tripathi said, “If a film is bad, it doesn’t work, and doesn’t get boycotted. People don’t go to the cinema halls. That’s also a boycott then, isn’t it? There is no social media campaign then, and no hashtag but the film still doesn’t work. But yes self-assessment is needed.”
Talking about his film 83, which also starred Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone, which did not perform well at the box office, Pankaj Tripathi said, “Nahin Nahin, also nahin hota, Maine paise the lagaya hai film mein (No, no, I’m not upset, I haven’t invested anything in the film.” He added that he had just invested his talent into the film. “I did what I had to do, with full sincerity and what happens after that, is not in my hands.”
The movie 83, a sports drama, based on the real-life events of the 1983 Cricket World cup where India won the Cricket World cup for the very first time, was affected by the Omicron breakout in India in December. The box office collections for the film suffered a lot, even though the film received a lot of positive reviews from the audience as well as critiques.
Other Bollywood actors have also expressed their opinions on the boycott trends in the Bollywood industry. Talking about this matter, Sunil Shetty said, “We (the Hindi film industry) have done a lot of good work too. However, people might not be happy with the type of subjects the films are having these days, and that is why we are going through such a tough time. Hopefully, this will be considered. Initially, it felt like a one-off thing but now we have been continuously seeing that people are not coming to theatres and I can’t put my finger on a reason why and what this is happening.”
Tisca Chopra, who was seen recently playing the role of IAS officer Avani Raut in Disney plus Hot Star’s web series Dahan Rakan Ka Rahasya, said on this matter, “The opinion of the audience matters most. I think we make films for them and without them we are nothing. If they are boycotting our films then they must be thinking something or the other. Their thinking is also important because they spend both their time and money to see us. That’s why I respect his views.”
Vijay Verma, who was last seen in the film Darlings, also spoke about this trend. Pankaj Tripathi said, “It can scare you. It has just gone a bit overboard now. I feel something that you said 10 years ago could have been objectionable and made a few people raise their eyebrows. It could be a prevalent exercise at that time, but in today’s times, it is no longer frowned upon. I feel you cannot be cancelled for something like that.”
Javed Akhtar, on the other hand, called this trend a passing phase. Pankaj Tripathi said, “It is a passing phase. It doesn’t work. If the film is good and is appreciated by the audience, it will work. If it is not good and not appreciated by the audience, it won’t work. I don’t think this kind of announcement of cancel culture and boycott works at all.”
