Actor Pankaj Tripathi commented on the state of flux the film industry finds itself in, with changing audience tastes, the emergence of boycott campaigns and the rise of streaming services. He also called for writers to be given more respect (and more money) in a conversation with Connect FM Canada.
Asked about the success of movies like KGF: Chapter 2; the boycott campaigns which surrounded versions such as Brahmastra, Laal Singh Chaddha and Raksha Bandhan; and how streaming has impacted audience sensibilities, Pankaj Tripathi said he was not an expert on the subject, but gave his opinion nonetheless. He said in Hindi, “I don’t really have an idea about the industry, but I can tell you about myself. My tastes for cinema are very different. I watch movies like Tithi and Court, I don’t consume a lot of mainstream Hindi content.
He continued: “During the pandemic, people have been exposed to stories from around the world on streaming platforms. Their tastes changed and they started asking, “What are you showing us? There weren’t a lot of options before, both in terms of what was done and what was released. Small films would have no place in theaters. But now, even if they don’t, they can be found online.
On the rise of South Indian language industries, Pankaj Tripathi begged to disagree. Citing a report he recently read, he said: “It said that only a few South Indian films were hits, the rest failed. But I worry about the type of content that is being created in mainstream Hindi cinema. He told the story of a young writer who asked his advice on what price he should charge for a project, and Pankaj told him that he should receive at least 1% or 2% of the project budget.
He said that at the time, writers like Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar were household names, but nowadays nobody knows the names of the writers. “People confuse a well-written role with a well-acted role,” he said.
The actor can currently be seen in the Disney+ series Hotstar Criminal Justice: Adhura Sach. He was last seen in Sherdil: The Pilibhit Saga, and will next be seen in OMG 2.
