MUMBAI – Bollywood is dyeing its hair blond, getting itself a sports car and donning a pair of worn-out jeans. In other words, it’s trying to get younger and hipper.
The Hindi film industry, until now ruled by stars mostly in their 40s, is looking to woo younger audiences with edgier storylines and younger talent.
Two of Bollywood’s biggest production houses, Yash Raj Films and Viacom18 Motion Pictures — part of the Viacom 18 group have set up separate branches to cater to the 18-25 age bracket, hoping that the increasing spending power of this group will make these movies financially viable.
“They cannot afford to ignore this demographic, because they form more than 60 percent of theatre audiences and Bollywood is realising that now,” says C. Sridhar of 4sight, a company that tracks films and their success. Bollywood is traditionally known for its song and dance routines and family melodramas, but all that has changed in recent years.
The rise of what is known as the “multiplex audience”, urban viewers who have a taste for edgier cinema and the spending power to watch it, has meant that Bollywood is now exploring newer storylines and bolder themes.
The bulk of that audience are youngsters, either in college or fresh out of it, exposed to Western shows and movies and with more spending power than they have ever had before.
“This is an audience that doesn’t think like the rest of the population, they are more willing to experiment,” says Vikram Malhotra of Viacom18.
“This is the SMS generation, so time is short and they have a lot to do.” Viacom18 has a separate branch called Tipping Point, which will develop and produce films aimed at young audiences. Malhotra says the studio will bring in younger directors and young talent to act in movies that will have a distinct appeal to the 18-25 demographic, both in urban and rural India.
The stories will be of every genre from crime to romance but tailored to suit the mindset of Indian youth.
Most of Bollywood’s leading men, including the likes of Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan and Aamir Khan are all in their mid-40s, and first-time directors usually have to wait till their 30s to get a break.
