Of Bollywood, boycotts and box office: Laal Singh Chaddha Vs Pathaan

Have people grown bored of the relentless calls to boycott this film and that, this business and that? (Illustration by Suneesh K.)

The relief in Bollywood is palpable. Pathaan, Siddharth Anand’s action thriller and the fourth instalment in the YRF Spy Universe, has made nearly Rs 700 crore in 10 days.

Its lead stars, Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika Padukone, are favourite targets of the ‘Boycott Bollywood’ bandwagon on social media. Shah Rukh Khan because of his Muslim identity, and Deepika Padukone because she went to JNU in 2020 to stand in solidarity with students who were protesting against mob violence on campus.

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Pathaan’s success comes after several big Bollywood films bit the dust in 2022, and this includes Aamir Khan’s Laal Singh Chaddha (2022) that also faced a ‘boycott’ campaign, just like Pathaan. A Hindi adaptation of the Hollywood film Forrest Gump (1994), Laal Singh Chaddha bombed badly at the Indian box office but became the highest grossing Hindi film of the year internationally.

So, does the Indian audience love one Khan more than the other? Have people grown bored of the relentless calls to boycott this film and that, this business and that, over anything ranging from the colour of a bikini to the absence of a bindi? Has the ‘Boycott Bollywood’ campaign been steamrolled under an enormous national crush on Shah Rukh Khan?

Also read: When Pathaan star John Abraham called this actor to polish his Hindi for the Shah Rukh Khan blockbuster 

Also read: Pathaan writer Shridhar Raghavan: Few people are as charming or funny as Shah Rukh Khan. We utilised those strengths

But, in a complicated country like India, the answers are never so simple.
There was much handwringing among the liberal left when Laal Singh Chaddha crashed at the box office. True, the ‘boycott’ campaign was loud and ugly and Aamir himself was rattled enough to appeal to the audience to watch his movie. He even had to reiterate that he loves his country – this from a man whose previous film, Dangal (2016), played the national anthem at a pivotal point in the narrative, making all of us stand up for the second time in theatres.

Apart from Aamir’s Muslim identity, there are two other charges lined up against him. His PK (2014), a science-fiction comedy that takes jibes at religion and superstitious beliefs, was a massive money-spinner that earned over Rs 750 crore. But though the general public embraced the film, the right wing was upset that a Muslim actor had starred in a film that mainly critiqued Hindu beliefs while only making passing references to minority religions such as Islam and Christianity. Never mind that the writer-director (Rajkumar Hirani), producer (Vidhu Vinod Chopra) and the rest of the lead cast (with the exception of Boman Irani who is Parsi) were all Hindu. Further, Aamir has been among the few Bollywood celebrities to talk about rising intolerance in the country. He said that his (now ex) wife Kiran Rao had asked him if they should leave India. The right wing has never forgiven him for the comment.

But while the political targeting cannot be denied, it’s important to ask if this is what killed Laal Singh Chaddha at the box office. If the audience is so easily swayed by such campaigns, Raksha Bandhan (2022) that clashed with Aamir’s film, and starred the right wing’s blue-eyed boy Akshay Kumar, ought to have become a hit. The film did far worse than Laal Singh Chaddha. Not just that, this was Akshay’s third flop in a row, including the disastrous performance of Samrat Prithviraj that was actively promoted by the BJP. Three states ruled by the party made the film tax-free, and Home Minister Amit Shah also attended a special screening of the historical biopic.

Also read: Atul Kulkarni: "'Laal Singh Chaddha' was written for Aamir Khan, the actor and producer"

Kangana Ranaut, another star champion of the right wing, also had a tough time at the box office, with her big budget action film Dhaakad making less than Rs 3 crore. The film sold only 20 tickets nationwide on Day 8 of its release.

The films that actually did extremely well at the Hindi box office in this period were dubbed-to-Hindi hypermasculine action films from the south such as KGF Chapter 2, RRR, and Kantara, sequels to popular hits such as the horror comedy Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 and suspense thriller Drishyam 2, fantasy films such as Brahmastra and the dubbed version of Karthikeya 2, controversial film The Kashmir Files, and the biopic of a sex worker and mafia queen Gangubai Kathiawadi.

What’s common to all these films is that they had unique stories to tell, and/or the audience believed that the big screen experience was worth their time and money. Drishyam 2, notably, was a remake and became a blockbuster despite films like the Hindi remake of Vikram Vedha flopping. But does that have to do with the ‘boycott’ campaign against Vikram Vedha or because of other factors such as Drishyam 2 being the sequel of a highly popular film and its non-availability in Hindi dubbing unlike Vikram Vedha (the dubbed version is available for free on YouTube and has also been telecast on Hindi channels)?

Moreover, film industries that did not witness such boycott campaigns also struggled in 2022, a post-pandemic period when the audience had developed a clear preference for what they’d like to watch on OTT and what they’d like to watch in theatres. Ninety percent of Malayalam films that were released in 2022, for instance, were box office flops. In Telugu, producers held a meeting to study the post-pandemic situation in which several films, including those of big stars, were flopping.

While the vitriol directed towards Laal Singh Chaddha was certainly an attempt to cow down Bollywood, making it seem like the campaign was solely responsible for the film’s debacle at the box office is giving such bullies too much credit. As those who watch the trade closely noted, the trailer of Laal Singh Chaddha received a lukewarm response, implying that the audience didn’t find it exciting enough to go to theatres on the very first day. The film also received mixed reviews, with critics panning Aamir’s performance which looked over-the-top and repetitive. The fact that the original Forrest Gump is available on OTT with Hindi subtitles may have also played a small part, but the biggest factor was probably the poor word-of-mouth and the genre of the film that wasn’t suited for a post-pandemic mood.

Pathaan, in contrast, has all the factors that were common to blockbusters from 2022. The previous films of the YRF Spy Universe have all been hits, especially Siddharth Anand’s War (2019) with its cool stunts that made waves not only in the Hindi belt but also in the south.

A beefed up Shah Rukh Khan and femme fatale Deepika Padukone sizzling in ‘Besharam Rang’ from Pathaan may have attracted the wrath of the right wing, but the song – which reminded the audience of ‘Ghungroo’ from War – clearly did a lot to popularise the film among the people (just what Samantha’s ‘Oo Antavaa’ did for Pushpa). Seeing Shah Rukh Khan back on screen in a full-fledged role after Zero (2018) was also a definite pull.

When it became apparent that Pathaan was going to be a hit, the right wing backpedalled a bit. The Prime Minister, who had until then never said a word about the rabid boycott Bollywood campaign, said that BJP leaders shouldn’t make “unnecessary remarks” about films. A few days after Pathaan’s release and videos of fan frenzy in theatres, Anurag Singh Thakur, Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting, deemed such boycott campaigns as “negative” and added that such campaigns vitiated the atmosphere.

So, has the audience changed between Laal Singh Chaddha and Pathaan? A small section may have stayed away because they ardently believe in boycotts; a small section may have gone to theatres to show their support to Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika Padukone. But neither of these sections can make or break a film at the Indian box office.

What Pathaan may have effectively done with its success, is to call out the hollowness of such besharam boycott campaigns. The most popular scene from the film is probably the last one with Shah Rukh and Salman – two Khans, let’s not forget – talking about whether they should retire. “It’s been 30 years,” the Badshah reminds his adoring audience. The cheers that echo across the theatre for this scene are enough to prove that when it comes to cinema, this movie-mad country’s dil is still pagal for him.