Anil Kapoor’s son Harsh Varrdhan calls out star obsession in industry, criticises low quality of films: ‘They belong in the 1980s’ | Bollywood News

Bollywood star Anil Kapoor’s son, actor Harsh Varrdhan Kapoor, has shared his thoughts on the decline of the Hindi film industry as it continues to witness back-to-back box office failures. Taking to X (formerly Twitter), Harsh Varrdhan criticised the industry’s obsession with stars and emphasised the need to focus on high-quality, medium-budget films.
The Ray actor responded to a film buff’s tweet, who declared that ‘Bollywood is finished’ as several major stars are having difficulties on the commercial front. For instance, Salman Khan’s latest film, Sikandar, became one of the lowest openers of his career. The fan wrote, ‘Salman don’t wanna act, Aamir doesn’t have any film to act, Akshay has dozen of films but of what use, SRK does a film in 2 yrs, Ajay could do big but he’s playing it safe. Ranbir is the lone warrior from here, looks like.”
Responding to this, Harsh Varrdhan argued that Bollywood needs to move beyond its dependence on stars and formulaic films. “Bollywood isn’t and shouldn’t be only about stars that have been there and done that and formulaic films,” he wrote.

Bollywood isn’t and shouldn’t be only about stars that have been there and done that and formulaic films it’s time for producers and financiers to gamble on low cost high concept films for cinemas without the usual tropes .. prioritise never before seen story telling and keep the… https://t.co/sf4Lk8bQPh
— Harsh Varrdhan Kapoor (@HarshKapoor_) March 31, 2025
Calling for reforms in the industry and urging an end to unnecessary expenditures, he added, “It’s time for producers and financiers to gamble on low cost high concept films for cinemas without the usual tropes .. prioritise never before seen story telling and keep the upfront costs low and the audience will come. Make 8-15 cr films with minimum P and A and back the makers. We made Thar for Rs 20 cr it looks visually better then many films that cost 2-3 times that… Why? Because every cent went into the making of the film and not unnecessary costs.”
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Harsh Varrdhan was also quick to point out the low quality of films being churned out the industry in recent times. “It’s 2025 and the films that get green-lit are films that belong in the 1980s and not even the good ones,” he wrote.
Harsh Varrdhan himself has done very selective projects. He was last seen in Netflix’s Thar (2022), which also starred his father Anil Kapoor. Before that, he made his acting debut in Mirzya and starred in the film Bhavesh Joshi Superhero.