Bollywood's 2024 story unfolded behind the scenes-soaring star salaries, flopping big-budget films, spiraling production costs, and a fixation on cost recovery over creativity and strong scripts have hit producers hard, leaving the industry searching for its plot. The fallout? Few fresh big-budget films went into production, making 2024 a lacklustre year for the Hindi film industry compared to 2023.

According to Sacnilk, a box-office research data firm, the total gross box-office collection in 2024 to date is Rs. 10,754 crore. This is an 18.2% fall when compared to the total gross box-office collection of Rs. 13,161 crore in 2023. Understandably, the fall is steeper when one takes into account the gross box-office collection of Hindi films. The gross box-office collection of Hindi films fell by 25% to Rs. 4,534.2 crore in 2024 when compared to 2023.

Ram Mirchandani, founder of Rampage Motion Pictures, said, "Common sense must prevail. The focus must be on costs now. Stars, directors, and other artists must come together and take a realistic view of their remuneration. There must be a concerted effort at making a film financially viable."

One of the key lessons of 2024 has been the budgeting of films. A common observation that a large number of producers share is that films that do not warrant high budgeting get over-budgeting because of the indulgence of stars and other stakeholders.

Suniel Wadhwa, co-founder of Karmic Films and a veteran film distributor, said, "A key lesson of 2024 is budgeting of films. Producers must keep the budgets of films under control. If a producer intends to engage in self-indulgent storytelling, then the film's talent must derive its remuneration from the film's profits."

Due to over-budgeting and poorly written scripts, in 2024, a few big-budget films such as Bade Miyan Chote Miyan and Maidaan failed at the box office.

Another key lesson that 2024 has taught the industry is collaboration in funding and creativity. A veteran producer who wished to be unnamed said, "Today, a production house cannot fund, create, or mount a film on its own. There is a great deal of uncertainty in the industry about what will work and what will not work at the box office."

He added, "I think the approach must be to mitigate risks. Mid-sized and small-sized production houses must collaborate with big production houses either for creativity or funding."

A positive development that sums up 2024 is the fading influence of stars in attracting audiences to theatres and the unexpected successes of films that were not headlined by big and marquee star names in the industry. In fact, 2024 has been a year that is defined by the success of mid-budget films such as Munjya, Shaitaan and Stree 2. These films are a quintessential example of stories told well that found huge acceptance among audiences across states.

Girish Wankhede, a movie trade analyst, said, "The exceptional success of Pushpa 2 - The Rule in just the dubbed Hindi version alone (collected over Rs. 500 crore) shows that a large audience, which is important to theatres and stays in tier-II and tier-III cities, cannot be ignored or overlooked."

He added that makers have to focus on scripts that have more mass appeal, as mass audiences are more regular theatregoers and more unforgiving than audiences with refined tastes.