SHORTER IS HOTTER IN BOLLYWOOD NOW

Mainstream films are cutting length and delivering crisp fare to impatient audiences — it’s a good thing for multiplexes, too

Mainstream Bollywood films now have shorter run times than ever before, unlike the sagas of the past decades that easily crossed three hours. The recent release Shubh Mangal Saavdhan, starring Ayushmann Khurrana and Bhumi Pednekar, runs for 1 hour 45 minutes; and Qaidi Band, which launched newcomers Aadar Jain and Anya Singh, had a run time of 1 hour 59 minutes. Bareilly Ki Barfi, featuring Ayushmann, with Rajkummar Rao and Kriti Sanon, and Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s film Babumoshai Bandookbaaz, both barely breached the two-hour mark.

Trade expert Atul Mohan explains that this has to do with the impatient audiences today. “People today don’t have the time to sit through a threehour film. We want everything instant, travelling to eating to entertainment.” He adds that the shorter run times actually help films to get more shows at multiplexes. “Multiplexes contribute the most to a film’s business [nowadays].”

While short run times are associated with Hollywood films, Mohan adds that Bollywood has also been trying to make its films crisper. “Earlier, there used to be so many songs in Hindi films, but it has gradually lessened. If you drag something beyond a point, it tests viewers’ patience.”

Kushan Nandy, director of Babumoshai Bandookbaaz, has the same thought. He says, “Today, if you go for a twohour film, then you’re keeping two hours and 15-30 minutes in mind for the whole thing. But the moment someone says it’s a three-hour film, I know that four hours of my life are gone in a day — so attention span is definitely an issue.”

However, Aanand L. Rai, producer of Shubh Mangal Saavdhan, feels differently. “I don’t think it has to do with patience. It’s only to do with the fact that this story was supposed to get over in this length,” he says. “It’s not as if you made a 150-minute film and, if people didn’t like it, you’d shorten it to 100 minutes and the audience would fall in love with it!”

A good story is what Bareilly Ki Barfi director Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari believes in. She says, “According to me, the story should decide the run time. Whatever is necessary should be kept.”

1 hr 59 mins Newcomers Aadar Jain and Anya Singh in the recent release Qaidi Band

2 hr 2 mins Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Bidita Bag in Babumoshai Bandookbaaz

2 hr 2 mins Rajkummar Rao and Kriti Sanon in Bareilly Ki Barfi

1 hr 45 mins Bhumi Pednekar in Shubh Mangal Saavdhan