A good year in the movies can mean multiple things. Studios sufficiently bankrolling films, independent projects finding their way to the mainstream, underdogs triumphing over tentpole projects, new faces coming up and old faces rediscovering their voice. In that sense, 2024 fulfilled most of these possibilities.
Filmmaker Sriram Raghavan, known for curating gore in his films, conjured a heartbreaking romance in Merry Christmas . Three female actors fronted the commercially viable Crew , a modest-budgeted Munjya won big, Payal Kapadia's independently-funded All We Imagine As Light got a theatrical release and ensembles like Madgaon Express , Stree 2, and Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 were triumphs. On paper, we are steadying ahead.
But a little probing dismantles this neat narrative. There can, and should, be different ways of looking at something. But no matter how one sees it, 2024 reveals to be uninspiring for Hindi films.
Quantity is no longer the problem. Admittedly, there was a lull during the Covid-19 crisis, but some time has passed and as of now, a steady roster of theatrical and streaming releases is in place. Theatre owners and exhibitors also came up with a ploy to combat infrequent releases: re-releasing old Hindi films.
Yet, the quality has been on a steady decline. The Era Of 'Genericness' As of now, the landscape of Hindi films resembles a linear line drawn by a vanishing ink. The multi-crore industry has come to be imbued by such genericness in plot and aesthetics that i.