Abhishek Bachchan on the shift from escapist cinema to realistic cinema

Bollywood is known for churning out hundreds of films every year, belonging to different genres and set in a different milieu.

However, just as any other film producing industry across the world, Bollywood has also shifted its focus towards realistic cinema, especially after the advent and rapid proliferation of streaming media platforms in the country.

A lot more actors and filmmakers are willing to take bigger risks and make movies that talk about real issues than just following formulaic ideas and basing premises on done-to-death topics. Does that mean the days of escapist cinema numbered? Well, Bollywood star Abhishek Bachchan does not believe so.

“People at the end of the day want entertainment. Entertainment does not mean slapstick comedy. Entertainment means for those 2-3 hours that you are watching a film, you are removed from your actual world, filled with problems, and transport it to a different world, when you view something, and you feel entertained. Whatever the genre of that be, as long as it is good, people will watch it, as simple as that,” he told a publication in a recent interview.

When asked if there is anything he watched on a streaming media platform that he really wished could have an experience of watching in theatre, he said, “So, that’s a difficult question to answer because as actors, you do not get the opportunity to go to the theatre as often as you want to and if you do, you go on the circumstances which do not really allow you to optimise the viewing experience of the theatre. ‘You know, you go quietly and before the lights come on, you sneak out. You do not get to sit down and just enjoy the film. So sadly, a lot of us end up seeing films in either a preview or at home. So, we are pretty used to seeing stuff on the television. That’s what I am saying and because we have been part of filmmaking for so long, you know what it could have possibly translated to on-screen. So, I am pretty used to it. So, I have never thought about it in that sense.”

Abhishek Bachchan can be currently seen in Bob Biswas which is streaming on ZEE5.