7 Changes We Hope To See In Bollywood In 2018

2017 was a highly mixed year for Bollywood in different areas. While there were high hopes from all over the world that Bollywood will increase its worldwide domination by giving more films like Dangal and Sultan that became some of the biggest blockbusters in different countries in 2016, it seems like Bollywood shot itself on the foot in 2017. 

Replicating the massive success of films like Dangal and Sultan would have been difficult but there were films like Tubelight and Jab Harry Met Sejal from 2 of the biggest stars in Bollywood who have more following than popular Hollywood actors. Still, the highest grossing Hindi film of the year is the dubbed Hindi version of Baahubali 2. 

The other 9 films in top 10 from Bollywood managed to earn 100 Crores but a majority of them received mixed reviews from the critics. Content ruled with films like Shubh Mangal Savdhan, Bareilly Ki Barfi, Newton and Hindi Medium managing to blur the lines between content and commercial cinema. Here are the 6 changes we hope to see in Bollywood in 2018:

Equal Pay: We all know how severely Bollywood actresses are underpaid when compared to their male counterparts. According to Forbes, there is an average 25% difference in the salary of a male and a female. Pay disparity has been going on since Bollywood and Hollywood started making films.

Actresses like Priyanka Chopra, Deepika Padukone, Sonam Kapoor etc. have spoken against the pay difference and Kangana Ranaut rightly said that no one can guarantee the success of a film so why are the actresses paid less.

Good Music: The Hindi Film Industry is known for its song and dance numbers and musicals are a strong presenter of our culture abroad and Indian music is one of the most popular genres there. 2017 films did not have any good music albums so as to speak of and people were struggling to update their playlists, resorting to older hits.

Musicians, directors, composers, and producers should know that remaking Punjabi hits is not going to get them far and they should look for something original. Very few films like Jab Harry Met Sejal managed to make people interested in its music.

More Content: Success of films like Lipstick Under My Burkha, Toilet: Ek Prem Katha, Newton etc. showed that the Indian audience is maturing and changing its taste. They are more interested in films based on relevant topics and practical situations and filmmakers should take a cue from the commercial success these films received. 

No Unnecessary Sequels/Remakes: One cash cow that Bollywood continues to milk, the industry should realize by now that they should invest more in ideas rather than copying stories and scenes frame by frame and cater to the new audience. Poster Boys, Sarkar 3 and Commando 2 are the examples of sequels/remakes that flopped miserably at the box-office and Judwaa 2 was blasted by critics and audiences for its misogynistic undertones.

Good Multistarrers: For a long time now, Bollywood has been unable to make a genuinely good multi starrer film. The script is not able to do justice to a galaxy of actors filmmakers cast in their films which ends up messing the film's story and its characters. This year too, we saw multistarrers like Poster Boys and Baadshaho performing underwhelmingly at the box-office. 

Technically Advanced Films: In a recent talk with a prominent film critic, a top Bollywood actor questioned the fact why Bollywood hasn't been able to make a film on the scale of Baahubali. Everyone knows Bollywood has the budget, the star power, the people who can make a technically sound magnum opus yet no one seems to be leading on that front. 

(Un)Censor Troubles: This year, the Censor Board was in the news for all the wrong reasons and Pahlaj Nihalani faced the wrath of many personalities from Bollywood for his sanskari choices, banning films like Lipstick Under My Burkha and asking the filmmakers for unnecessary cuts. We hope that under Prasoon Joshi's tenure, the Censor Board will act a little mature and the films won't have to compromise.