As 'Superboys of Malegaon' Bombs, Industry Mulls on How to Revive Non-Tentpole Hindi Cinema from Ventilator
Despite critical acclaim, 'Superboys of Malegaon', starring Adarsh Gourav, Shashank Arora, and Vineet Kumar Singh, opened to a dismal box office response.
On March 2, when Sean Baker won the Oscar in the Best Director category for Anora (2024), he made a passionate speech about the biting importance of keeping the movie-going culture alive. The need for filmmakers to mount films for the big screen, for distributors to focus on theatrical releases, and for parents to introduce their children to films in theatres, which he hoped would shape the next generation of cinema lovers and filmmakers. "And for all of us, when we can, please watch movies in a theatre, and let's keep the great tradition of the moviegoing experience alive and well," he said to a thundering applause as Anora's big night signalled a massive win for Indie cinema.
Closer to home, in stark contrast to the triumphant energy of Hollywood's Dolby Theatre, was the low-key acceptance that yet another Hindi film, high on content, armed with glorious critical acclaim and festival showcase, was unfortunately biting the box office dust. Superboys of Malegaon, which was released on the last Friday of February, recorded one of the worst opening days of 2025, netting around ₹60 lakhs. By the time an average cinephile finished watching Baker's speech in India, it was Monday, by when every hope of the film picking up had been quashed. The much-loved Superboys of Malegaon had tanked in three days.
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"It is difficult to pinpoint what exactly went wrong with Superboys of Malegaon," box office analyst Jatinder Singh told The Hollywood Reporter India. "Because the way the industry has been functioning, nothing was going to go right anyway."
The Math
Though inspired by the documentary Supermen of Malegaon (2008), based on the life of Nasir Shaikh and other amateur filmmakers in the small town of Malegaon, the feature film wasn't "indie". It was directed by acclaimed helmer Reema Kagti, who co-produced it with Zoya Akhtar, Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani. Starring Adarsh Gourav, Shashank Arora, and Vineet Kumar Singh, who had won over a huge section of the audience with Chhaava just two weeks ago, the Amazon Prime Original was distributed by Amazon MGM Studios.
Written by Varun Grover, the film had a limited theatrical release and even tempted the audience with the much-criticised buy-one-get-one offer on tickets. But the weekend collection was still under ₹2 crore.
"It is not as if this is the first critically acclaimed film to meet this fate post-pandemic. The theatrical model, over the years, hasn't been favorable to such cinema," explained an indie filmmaker on the condition of anonymity.
"But the basic math to keep in mind is that post-pandemic, the market for tentpole films has increased. ₹500 crore will be the norm now if a big film clicks. Whereas, if a mid-size film was earlier netting ₹70-80 crore, that has come down to ₹30-40 crore. For the smaller films, if they were earlier doing ₹30-40 crore lifetime, it would probably be down to ₹15 crore or lesser, depending on who is backing it and the genre."
The current situation then, especially in the aftermath of Superboys of Malegaon, spells doom for the Hindi film industry, which is getting increasingly reliant on only tentpole films to cruise through the box office.
The OTT Curse
Singh said that the larger issue for smaller films is that before battling out at the box office, they have to fight the "mentality" that has set in strongly: That the audience can skip such films in theatres and watch them on OTT.
"Once a viewer thinks like that, it fails to translate the love they feel for your trailers to actual footfalls in cinemas. They simply wouldn't buy tickets for a film that they feel looks like an 'OTT film.' That has made it impossible for such films to break through." Singh said.
According to the box office analyst, the only immediate solution is to increase the window of theatrical films coming directly to streaming. The current window for Hindi films to premiere on OTT after their theatrical release is eight weeks.
"If we need to give these smaller films a chance, the window has to be of at least four months so that when the publicity begins and later when people see that the film is good, they feel the urgency to watch it. If they miss it, they will have to wait much longer to watch it. This, at least, gives a film a chance."
Singh's statement was echoed even by superstar Aamir Khan, who had backed last year's Laapataa Ladies. The Kiran Rao-directed comedy-drama opened to around ₹75 lakhs and ended its theatrical run with an underwhelming ₹20 crore. But, when it dropped on Netflix later, the film broke several viewership records of the time.
At a recent event, Khan noted how the audience no longer feels compelled to visit cinemas when it knows a film will be available on OTT platforms within weeks.
Crucially, Superboys of Malegaon is an Amazon Original, which first made its way to the cinemas and will later head to Prime Video for its streaming release. Industry sources shared how the film, by this design, wasn't dependent on the box office for its revenue. This could signal a test move of sorts by the streamer to push some of their festival-toured titles for a limited theatrical-first model (so that it gets a bigger push when it comes on the platform as the glowing reviews would already be out).
Time is Money
The bigger concern, irrespective of any release design, remains how to first get the viewers to cinemas. The other way, apart from an increased OTT window, is controlled pricing.
A senior exhibitor with over three decades of experience across India pointed out how films in the South often benefit from capped pricing, which varies according to states but is at an average of ₹250. Recently, the Karnataka government proposed in its budget to cap movie ticket prices at ₹200 across multiplexes and single screens.
"The Hindi film industry can't deny the fact that the South has a more robust cinema-going culture because the government in Tamil Nadu, Telangana, and Andhra Pradesh have made the big screen accessible. In the North, you can't expect a middle-class family of four to buy tickets worth ₹350-₹400 each. If that's the price they see when they go to watch a film like Superboys of Malegaon, they will instantly think a bigger spectacle film will be a better value for money for the entire family. That's where a price cap matters because it makes people give every film a chance, from that of a Rajinikanth, Vijay to a Pradeep Ranganathan," the exhibitor shared.
Ranganathan has hit a hat trick after Comali (2019), Love Today (2022), and his latest Tamil blockbuster Dragon. The film has already grossed over ₹100 cr and is now looking to release in Hindi.
"Capping of ticket prices never makes the exhibition sector happy, especially the big multiplex chains. So, there is always a backlash, and there will be that over the Karnataka government's proposal as well. But that shouldn't deter the influential people here to push the state government to do so in Norther states. There will be uproar, but if you untangle yourself from the web of lobbying and favours and think of the long-term health of the industry, this will be a game-changing move," the exhibitor added.
The other hindrance, if the industry were to solve the above crisis, is showcasing, which is the make-or-break for any film, but especially for smaller and mid-sized movies that aren't front-loaded star vehicles like Shah Rukh Khan's Pathaan (2023), Jawan (2023), Sunny Deol's Gadar 2 (2023) or Salman Khan's upcoming Eid outing Sikandar.
The exhibitor broke down the strategy and shared, "If my target audience is urban working executives who know about the world cinema or are at least interested in paying and watching 'good' films, then we need to make shows available to them. You have morning shows because those are essential for the student crowd, and then have the most shows around evening to night because that's when that target audience will get free from work and watch the film.
"But if you give a small film with the potential to do well a show in the middle of the afternoon, you are essentially burying it. Then, the next best option would be a late-night show, which, again, can't work for the audience. It needs a smarter producer to make it happen."
According to trade insiders, Superboys of Malegaon would fall in the same category as last year's Laapataa Ladies and 2023's 12th Fail. What Laapataa Ladies gained tremendously from was the backing of Khan, who put his might behind promoting it.
Vidhu Vinod Chopra's 12th Fail, which followed the rise of a man from extreme poverty to become an Indian Police Service officer, also had a limited theatrical release but opened to a little over ₹1 cr. The Vikrant Massey-starrer ended its run at ₹56 cr.
"The other film that did well in this space was Rajkummar Rao's Srikanth (2024), about a visually-impaired industrialist. The film earned almost ₹60cr. What is common between Srikanth and 12th Fail, despite the former being headlined by an obviously more popular actor?" the indie filmmaker asked.
"Both were universal stories about Indian men trying to do greater good against all odds. In 12th Fail, he fights poverty and his circumstances to become an IPS officer to change the country. That screams noble. Now compare that, from the point of view of an average movie-goer who has spent an exorbitant amount on tickets, to a bunch of moviemakers wanting to make a film in a small town. It's beautiful and moving. But do people really care for cinema?"