For Bollywood, there have been more disappointments than successes at the box-office so far, in 2024. And actor Anupam Kher, who marked four decades in the industry this year, feels the industry needs to self-reflect. “Going to cinema is an outing that a person does with their family. So, the quality of cinema needs to improve, because you are competing with streaming platforms and the millions of sources of entertainment in the world. Why don’t we raise our bar?”

Kher feels the biggest challenge for the industry right now is storytelling: “India is such a huge country, and we are not telling our stories. Hindi cinema is still struggling to tell stories that are from our land. Most stories and sequences are such that you feel you’ve seen them somewhere. The best way to reinvent is to look back and look within.”

The actor’s OTT release Vijay 69 earned him a lot of praise. He feels the novelty of the script made the film work: “What makes Vijay 69 different is that it is an original script. Kahin pe bhi pehle kuch nahin dekha hai. There is no unnecessary high-speed shot or slo-mos. It’s a human story.”

Ask if OTT is a safer medium for the makers today vis-à-vis theatres? “I have been a part of Indian cinema for 40 years now. Every time, we blamed something’s rise for theatrical releases not doing well, but cinema is still going on. However, we cannot deny that OTT has created jobs for a lot of people and improved the quality of content,” Kher ends.