Considering that he’s a scrappy kid from a decidedly unglamorous part of New York City, Spider-Man has no business being so popular in India, a land of over-the-top heroes such as Dhurandhar.
Yet in 2002, Spider-Man (then played by Tobey Maguire) made history when it became the first Hollywood film to earn more than $1 million in India. The superhero film recorded the biggest opening ever for a Hollywood production in India, when it crossed ₹ 72.50 crore (or about $7.6 million) on its first day. By contrast, Alpha, one of this year’s most-anticipated Hindi films, starring Alia Bhatt and Bobby Deol, earned ₹ 11.10 crore on its opening day. Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey has so far earned over ₹ 200 crore (about $21 million) and is the 10th-highest-earning film of the year so far in India.
Subsequent films in the franchise did well too. But they’re all small, baby potatoes when placed next to …Brand New Day. Yet, there is clearly more to Indian audiences than chest-thumping and slapstick. Offbeat Hollywood titles such as Obsession (about a wish for love that comes horribly true) and The Invite (about two couples mid-spiral) found audiences, despite limited shows and little publicity. Alongside their respectable Indian box-office collections are the success of the Partition-themed drama Main Vaapas Aaunga and the tsunami of interest in Satluj (about a Sikh activist investigating extrajudicial killings in the 1990s), which was controversially taken offline within days of its streaming release. All of which raises the question: What it will take for Indian film industries to tap into these audiences through stories and storytellers that aren’t formulaic? Now, these industries have become synonymous with gatekeeping and a lack of originality. It has arguably never been harder to break into one of the established film industries in India. To survive as an independent filmmaker or producer feels all-but-impossible. The net result is a roster that radiates anxiety and mediocrity.
