Bollywood, the King of Poor Storylines?

By Shubh Bhardwaj

Watched this in a Tom Cruise film 10 years ago is often what many of us are heard saying after watching a Bollywood film.

So, what is the problem?

Are the writers in India incapable of producing original, well thought content or is it the fault of the producers or the actors?

Often, we have seen that films which have repetitive action sequences, story lines and even dialogues do well on the box office, whereas films with a good story line and crisp dialogues and screenplay are lost way behind when it comes to getting the numbers right.



Films like Bang Bang, which was an exact copy of Knight & Day of Tom Cruise earned a whopping 332 crores.

Whereas a film like Andhadhun which had a jaw dropping story lines and neat dialogues and left the viewers with a question even in the end, only managed 93 crores.

There are various examples of poorly written films doing well on the box office and well written films doing badly.

Who’s to blame for this? Is it the writers, producers or actors or is it actually the fault of the viewers.

Various production houses say that if the public wants masala films, we have to give them that, as they also have to earn profits.

But a masala film or a mass film does not mean that the story line or the direction should be weak.

Not only does the Bollywood industry imitate Hollywood blockbusters, it also copies films made in South India.

A film like Pathaan does earn 850+ crores worldwide while having a “something we call in Hindi as ghisi piti storyline.

A similar idea in which the film War was made, with everything taken as Film logic and freedom and no connection to reality.

Till the time, films like these are able to perform well, India can not see an Oscar winning film and can not compete a at a global level.