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Box Office: What Ranveer Singh’s 83's result means to the Bollywood industry
With the underperformance of 83, Bollywood looks to make serious amends to regain its lost audiences.
83 was undoubtedly one of the most awaited Bollywood movies for the year 2021. Since the relaxation of Covid-19 norms, only Rohit Shetty’s directorial, Sooryavanshi, has been able to succeed at the box office while other films have failed to put up the numbers. As things stand, 83 has only been able to manage Rs. 58cr nett from its Hindi version and another Rs. 3cr nett from its dubbed versions to give a cumulative all India nett of Rs. 61cr in 5 days. There is no denying that the film has underperformed. But, underperforming to this extent puts a serious question mark on the future prospects of the Bollywood industry. As things stand, the makers of 83 are staring at losses in the vicinity of Rs. 100cr, despite the lucrative deals they cracked with Hotstar and Netflix for the digital premiere of the film.
83 was watched by many known personalities of Bollywood before the theatrical premiere of the film and it was unanimously named as the film of the year. Riding high on confidence courtesy of the rave reviews from industry insiders and critics, the makers got the biggest shock of their lives as 83 opened to dismal box office numbers on Christmas Eve. The numbers didn’t grow much on Christmas Day and the first Sunday, and neither did they hold on to the weekdays, thus sealing the fate of the film. 
What the result of 83 means is that Bollywood has totally misunderstood its target market. The box office reception of the film is conversely proportional to the rave reviews it got. The underperformance of 83 in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities proves that Bollywood has not focused to cater to audiences outside the metros. Since this set of the audience was alienated by Bollywood, these audiences alienated Bollywood and moved onto content that Hollywood and other movie industries in India are offering. 83 also had the highest ticket prices for a Bollywood film, at places even higher than a Hollywood biggie like Spider-Man: No Way Home. The high-priced tickets stopped audiences from flocking into theatres as the same content would eventually come on digital mediums that have annual subscriptions which are almost equal to the price of 2 movie tickets. The streaming giants are observing the theatrical results of the films at close quarters and there will soon come a time when streamers won’t be willing to pay exorbitantly high prices for the acquisition of movies.
It is about time Bollywood ups its ante as it is losing its audiences at a very fast pace. They have already lost a significant audience on television and YouTube while the South Indian films continue to make massive gains year on year. Now they are losing out on theatre audiences too, who are preferring Hollywood and South Indian films over Bollywood films.
The day-wise nett Hindi collections of 83 are as follows:-
Day 1 – Rs. 12cr
Day 2 – Rs. 16cr
Day 3 – Rs. 17cr
Day 4 – Rs. 7cr
Day 5 –Rs. 6cr
Total: Rs. 58cr
What must Bollywood do to regain its stronghold in the Indian diaspora?
Written by: Rishil Jogani
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