Bollywood is losing the plot

Good morning. It’s almost the end of 2024. It was a challenging year for Bollywood and we take a look at how the Hindi film industry is struggling to find its mojo. Also in this newsletter, the books, shows and places I most enjoyed this year. Plus, if you are planning your new year’s resolution, scroll down for Nandan Nilekani’s productivity tip. 

Programming note: India Business Briefing is off the rest of the week. We’ll be in your inboxes next on December 31. Season’s greetings and happy holidays!

Lost the plot

It has been a sad year for Bollywood. In the first 10 months of this year, Indian box office collections were $1bn, down 7 per cent from the same period last year. What’s more, 2024’s big hits were all from the south of the country, with Pushpa 2: The Rule and Kalki 2898 AD running to packed houses.

Viewer time and wallet share are severely fractured. There are a dozen Indian video streaming services, a few international ones, as well as competition from YouTube, Instagram Reels and other user-generated content vying for eyeballs. Watching a film in a multiplex is not a cheap exercise; the tickets are pricey and the popcorn pricier (scroll down for the appropriate tax rates). A large chunk of the audience now prefers to wait for the movie to land in a streaming service than watch it in cinemas. 

At the same time, the costs of movie making have only increased. Despite the astronomical price tags that come with Bollywood’s A-listers, big names are no longer guaranteed to draw in crowds. In October, director Karan Johar, who had managed to seize the zeitgeist for the past two decades, sold a 50 per cent share in his Dharma Productions to vaccine billionaire Adar Poonawalla. The press release announcing the merger was telling; it talked about the challenges of the digital future without saying how the company planned to navigate it — only that it would need the resources to do so.

There are no simple fixes. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to tear people away from their devices and into theatres — and the Hindi film industry is suffering a crisis of confidence. As budgets bloat, production houses are playing it safe by falling back on the same old formula and not taking any creative risks. 

Ajay Bijli, the head of India’s largest multiplex operator PVR Inox, told the FT that Bollywood’s content makers were still “grappling with what the consumer wants”. Cinemas are instead counting on big Hollywood films to fill up seats next year, and who can blame them? Just the names of major Bollywood releases for 2025 are enough to tell you their creative drought endures: there’s War 2, Jolly LLB 3, and Housefull 5. 

Do you have any thoughts on how Bollywood can break its jinx? Write to us at [email protected] or hit reply.

More news you should know

1. Donald Trump’s team plans to pull the US out of the World Health Organization on day one, a move that will result in the group losing its main source of funds and ability to tackle public health emergencies.

2. Deloitte wants to slash spending on staff travel and expenses in the UK by more than 50 per cent.

3. Google’s push to become an AI leader has given its stock a boost.

4. Leopards and langurs, forts and forests, samosas and chai. Author Kate Maxwell writes about her family’s adventure across Rajasthan by train. 

5. Paneer butter masala for Christmas lunch? Cottage cheese is having a moment.

Looking back

And just like that, 2024 is nearly over. I am always a little shocked and more than a little sad to close the book at the end of a year. As I grow older I worry that I didn’t get as much done as I should have — the books that I didn’t read, the holidays I didn’t take, the stories I didn’t write. This was a difficult year for me. Perhaps that’s why, for a change, I can only remember the things I enjoyed. Here’s a short list.

The three books I loved reading:

• Brotherless Night by V. V. Ganeshananthan is the wrenching story of a family caught up in the war in Sri Lanka. Set in Jaffna and narrated by a young girl who wants to grow up to become a doctor, it is a beautifully written novel about a family and a community coming undone by war. 

• A Day in the Life of Abed Salama: A Palestine Story by Nathan Thrall is a very clever book. It uses one incident — an accident which sets a bus full of schoolchildren aflame — to illustrate the complex structure of the Israel-Palestine conflict. As a writer of non-fiction, I am envious of Thrall’s patience and his ability to find people who are unafraid to present themselves in many shades of grey.

• The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles is a delightful romp, following four young men as they embark on a road trip from Nebraska to New York. The book is packed with characters, some good, some bad, but each one is so compelling that I wished their story would never end. (Only recently did I find out that Towles was an investment banker for more than 20 years before he became a writer!)

I watched way too much TV this year, catching up on decades of missed shows and films. I came late to both Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, but boy am I glad I got to them. I am hard pressed to think of another popular work of art that is a more complex meditation on good versus bad. 

I travelled quite a bit this year, and was left awestruck by Muir Woods in California and the fairy chimneys at Cappadocia. I also closed my eyes and plunged into the delightful madness that is New Orleans and lived to tell the tale. (My liver probably disagrees).

My intent for 2025 is to read and watch a lot more Indian regional content. Let me know if you have any recommendations, or send me your favourite bits of 2024 at [email protected].

Go figure

Last week’s GST council meeting decided on three different tax rates for popcorn, a move that launched a thousand memes. Here’s a quick primer if you’re writing your own jokes for the holiday party. (We are not alone. Earlier this year, the UK went through its own snack-related tax controversy.) 

My mantra

“When I look at things to work on, I put them on a low impact to high impact X-axis, and a low friction to high friction Y-axis, and I only select things for both business and my public service that are high impact, low friction. Obviously, you want to have a high impact, but high friction means you cannot get anything done because somebody is trying to stop you.”

— Nandan Nilekani, co-founder and chair, Infosys

Each week, we invite a top Indian business leader to tell us their mantra for work and life. Want to know what your boss is thinking? Nominate them by replying to [email protected]. 

Quick question

The rupee has been falling to new lows for the past several weeks. Do you think the currency will strengthen in 2025? Take part in our poll here.

Buzzer round

On Friday we asked: Which beverage was invented as a livener for travellers arriving at Foynes airport in County Limerick? 

The answer is . . . Irish coffee! Here’s HTSI’s top tips for making the festive drink. 

Rohanshi Vaid, research manager at the Hinrich Foundation was the first to send us the right answer. Congratulations!

Thank you for reading. India Business Briefing is edited by Tee Zhuo. Please send feedback, suggestions (and gossip) to [email protected].