Dhurandhar makes news in The Economist; FT zooms in on Bollywood films

The Economist has taken note of Dhurandhar. It sees the move is propaganda for PM Modi. It explains what has driven the movie's success:

Two emotions have driven the films’ record-smashing success. One is sheer exhilaration at the stylised ultraviolence set to a sweat-soaked soundtrack. The other is a sense of catharsis. A country that cannot pull off an assassination in Canada—Canada!—without getting rumbled is in “Dhurandhar” capable of retribution that makes Mossad look like LARPing teenagers. The trailer for “The Revenge” starts with a Pakistani terrorist telling the Indian spymaster that “Hindus are a very cowardly people”. The film spends four hours proving him wrong.

But ultimately the movie is a hit because it reflects a world that many Indians think is real:

The loudest cheers came when the screen lit up with news footage of Mr Modi, the bravest Hindu of all. But to dismiss “Dhurandhar” as propaganda is to miss something important. It did not become a monster hit by trying to convince viewers of an alternate reality. Its genius is to reflect the world many Indians, browbeaten by years of shrill pro-Modi messaging on TV news and social media, already believe to be real

The FT focuses on Bollywood. It portrays an industry that is struggling, with a movie such as Dhurandhar offering hope of a way out. 

One executive says the industry is “on a ventilator”. Cinema attendance last year fell 6 per cent from 2024 levels to 832mn, the lowest in a decade barring the pandemic years, according to Ormax Media, a consulting firm tracking India’s entertainment sector. While box office receipts have recently edged back, helped by rising ticket prices and a smash-hit thriller that heaps praise on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, insiders and analysts say Bollywood is a shadow of its former self.

 ....One top producer who has worked with many of Bollywood’s top actors says the combination of cultural drift and waning star power is a deadly one. “If you’re bankrupt on creativity, then the only thing you’re banking on is stars,” he says. “Nobody’s coming to the movie theatre to watch a star any more.” This, he adds, is a major reason why several international studios abandoned their attempts to enter the Indian industry.

There are some hopeful signs of late:

 As last year drew to a close, a violent spy thriller named Dhurandhar (Stalwart) started gaining traction at the box office, offering the industry some hope. Built around some real incidents, the film features a swashbuckling Indian spy in Pakistan and heaps glory on India’s current national security adviser and Modi. By January, despite a run time of well over three hours, it had become one of India’s largest-grossing movies ever, earning over $140mn. 

.......Despite a fall in the number of cinemagoers year on year, Indian films made $1.45bn from ticket sales in 2025, up from $1.32bn in 2024, Ormax Media said in a report in January, “underscoring the continued dependence of the box office on rising average ticket prices in recent years”.  India’s total moviegoing audience, meaning the number of people who go to the cinema — often for repeat visits — rather than total ticket sales, has been stuck at about 150mn to 160mn for nearly a decade, according to Ormax.  But streaming platforms appear to have lost some of their initial charm when it comes to watching films. That has fed into the prices they and TV channels are willing to pay to buy rights for films, which was down 10 per cent in 2024, according to a report by EY. “Streaming has reached a point where audiences are no longer enamoured by it like they were when it came, because initially there was a sense that this is so different and so new,” Ormax’s Kapoor says.