Bhushan Kumar decodes KGF 2, RRR, Pushpa’s success as Bollywood films fail: ‘Heroism chal raha hai’

After the unprecedented success of KGF Chapter 2 and RRR in the Hindi sector, Hindi film producers are trying to decode the formula that is helping the south industry churn one pan-Indian hit after another, while Bollywood seems to be struggling to lure audiences into the theatres. T-Series’ Bhushan Kumar, who is looking forward to the release of Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2, is hoping that the Kartik Aaryan film will turn the tide for Hindi movies.
In a recent chat, Bhushan said that the audience wants to see larger-than-life cinema on the big screen and that seems to be the reason that Pushpa: The Rise, KGF 2 and RRR have worked. Bhushan had earlier produced Prabhas’ Radhe Shyam that, his own admission, “did not work.” Talking about the south hits, Bhushan told Bollywood Hungama, “If you look at the three hits, they are all masala entertainers. They are not just for the multiplex audience, or just for the massy audience. They are pure entertainers. They have music, action, heroism, the mother element, the way it used to be in our 90s films. They have scaled up all those elements. They are presenting it at a high scale, and it is working.”

He mentioned that Hindi films like War and Tiger Zinda Hai did the same thing, which is why they worked. He added that for any genre of film to work in today’s time, it needs to be scaled up. He said, “Aap jahan mass entertainer ko scaling kam karoge voh log film dekhne nahi jayenge. (The moment you scale down a mass entertainer, people won’t watch it.)”
He added, “People want scale, they want entertainment, music, comedy. Action hai toh bada action chahiye, comedy hai toh proper badi comedy chahiye. (If it is action, they want it big, if it is comedy, they want it to be big.)”

Bhushan essentially meant that the audience does not care about the realic angle of situations while watching bigger films and quoted a scene from KGF 2 where everyone is shooting at one another, but no one gets shot. He again emphasised that if the same thing was shown on a smaller scale, no one would have accepted it. “Ab heroism vapis chal raha hai (Heroism is working again),” he said. Bhushan said that another reason for the success of these films is their effective one-liners delivered with conviction.
It is yet to be seen if this approach will work for Hindi cinema in the coming months.