Rajeev Khandelwal: Grand publicity and big star cast can no longer assure a hit film

Actor Rajeev Khandelwal says that because audiences today have the exposure to meaningful content, they will not accept anything and everything that is served to them in the name of entertainment.

Bollywood’s tried and tested formula to success for long has been big-budget extravagant films with huge star cast, but actor Rajeev Khandelwal opines that those aspects will no longer work nor guarantee success.

Actor Rajeev Khandelwal says OTT has been instrumental in bringing about a change in the film industry.

“We’ve seen a gradual shift happen even before the pandemic, even before this OTT boom. There are actors like Ayushmann Khurrana and Rajkummar Rao who’re being accepted. There was a shift happening. All those films before which shouldn’t have worked, which did work because they were mounted, marketed very well and showcased in a different way, that will change,” Khandelwal asserts.

The actor states that it’s because of the audiences’ exposure to meaningful content, that anything and everything will not be accepted in today’s time.

“Now people are exposed to good content. If you think grand publicity and star cast will help you then sorry to say, it won’t happen. It won’t assure you a hit,” he adds.

Talking about the many big films that released digitally in the past one year owing to the pandemic crisis, the 45-year-old says, “Some of those films didn’t grab any eyeball. Had they released in theatres the makers would have plastered all around that the film earned so much on the first three days and then we’d have been forced to believe that the film is good, which isn’t the case. On digital, they weren’t even watched because word spreads very fast. If something can’t hold their attention for the first few minutes then it does not matter.”

Khandelwal notes that the conversations around how OTT has been instrumental in bringing about a change in the film industry, are also true.

“I do agree with the fact that a lot of actors, who weren’t getting a platform to showcase their talent, are now getting that and are also being appreciated and getting more work. The film industry works in a certain way. When I did Aamir in 2008, people said that a TV actor isn’t worth giving a shot and there was a myth that TV actors don’t work in Bollywood. That they’re not capable of carrying a film on their shoulder or shine in the industry. But my film did well and it changed the mindset,” he concludes.