Emraan Hashmi says Leonardo DiCaprio-starrer One Battle After Another ‘tanked’ at box office: ‘That film has…’

Emraan Hashmi On One Battle After Another

Emraan Hashmi says the situation of the cinema industry is alarming as audiences are coming only to watch event films and not mid-length films, hence the rejection process has become more detailed. Hashmi, who will later be seen as a customs officer in Netflix’s Taskaree series, released two feature films, Ground Zero and Haq, in 2025. “The thing is, it has become extremely difficult for feature films to put things out there. There are a lot of things that you think should go on OTT because it is concept-driven,” the actor told PTI.

The Jannat actor said that he was careful while choosing projects as he did not want to repeat what he had already done in his career of over 25 years. “It’s become even more difficult when you talk about theater now. To say the least, everyone is afraid to take something that’s theatrical and weigh the pros and cons of what will work and what won’t. So when something explosive comes in theatrical or OTT, I understand it. The rejection process is a little more granular,” he said.

According to Hashmi, there are only four to six weeks between the time a movie releases in theaters and when it hits OTT, and if the movie doesn’t have hit songs, romantic stuff or more for the young audience, it becomes difficult to get footfall in theatres. “They’re saying, ‘We’ll be watching this at home in four to six weeks,'” the actor said when asked for his opinion on Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio’s statement that the theater industry is in a “worrying situation.” “It’s worrying. If you watch his last movie, One Battle After Another, it collapsed. Ten years ago it probably wouldn’t have happened. But now that movie is like, ‘Let’s watch it on OTT. It looks like that indie movie.’ However, this was not the case at first. Therefore, it has become very difficult now,” he said.

Emraan added that watching movies with family in the theater has become expensive as if money is spent on tickets, popcorn and drinks, the cost will exceed Rs 5,000. “You have a lot of films and they are doing good business. But that doesn’t take it any further, you need medium films, you need more films throughout the year, that is not happening. Only event films come out either on Christmas or Diwali,” he said.

The actor rose to prominence in the 2000s with many of his films including Murder, Avarapan, Zeher, Aashiq Banaya Aapne, Raaz 2 and Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai being theatrically successful. Hashmi said the difference between then and now is that filmmakers no longer appeal to a larger segment of the population. “Right now, we are doing it only for the elite (release movies). Where is the common man, where is the street, is there a single-screen theatre? Are there no good premium theaters for the single-screen audience? This audience is completely gone. They will probably go and collect their money to go and see something on Diwali. They cannot afford a multiplex.”

“And you don’t even have a single screen, the Gaiety, the Galaxy, and there are only a few of them left. But if you want these guys to go and buy (tickets) every Friday, you have to make it available to them. You have completely alienated the entire division. I saw this happen from 2012 onwards, when people wanted to appease the multiplex audience. So, your narrative became more elite-oriented, connected to them. It wasn’t rooted in desi stories. So you lost them conceptually and price-wise,” he concluded.

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