Bollywood and Boycott Culture

The concept of the boycott was born in Ireland, where Charles Cunningham Boycott was a British land tax collector whose despotic methods forced peasants and farmers to rise up against him in the 1880s. They abolished it and gave birth to the word boycott, which has since been used worldwide as an effective method of protest and as a collective bargaining tool.

In India today, the concept of boycott is a major thorn in the side of Bollywood with 'Boycott Armies' running rampant on the triggering social media. As the film industry slowly returns to normal after being battered by COVID-19 and quarantine, dozens of films have called for boycotts. The most prominent of these was the #BoycottBrahmastra which targeted Brahmastra: Part One - Shiva, which was one of the biggest blockbusters in the industry. Ahead of the film's release on September 9, it saw an intense online campaign calling on people to boycott the film on a number of extravagant grounds, including those that claimed it showed nepotism and her religious and nationalist sentiments.

But not just Brahmastra, the past few months have seen many different films facing similar issues, including Aamir Khan's Lal Singh Chaddha remake of Forest Gump, Akshay Kumar's Samrat Prithviraj and Raksha Bandhan, Liger, Dobaaraa and Dhaakad. The films have also faced boycott calls from the moral police in the past, but the trend seems to have picked up steam in recent years. One particular response was given to the fractional fragment of history filmed in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Padmaavat and Gangubai Kathiawadi.

The culture of intolerance has gained momentum in the last decade. Boycott campaigns use misinformation to influence the perception of the general public through the online platforms used by that public. Echo chambers online are attuned to communalist, supernatural, jingoistic and misogynistic messages and are clearly being deployed to operate the #BoycottBollywood movement.

The dangers cannot be downplayed due to the sheer size of the industry. A recent report by consulting firm Deloitte states that it is the largest in the world in terms of the number of films produced; an estimated 2,000 films a year in over 20 languages. According to a recent PwC report, India's media and entertainment industry is likely to reach Rs 4.3 trillion in revenue by 2026. The film industry alone is expected to garner revenue of Rs 16,198 crore by 2026. Of this, Rs 15,849 crore would be box office collections.

It takes big budgets to make a movie and calls for a boycott may force at least some producers to reconsider their projects, which will affect jobs and content quality. Telugu superstar Vijay Deverakonda, whose film Liger was also targeted, urged people to realize the extensive damage the trend boycott can cause. He said that apart from the actor, director and actress, 200 to 300 actors are working on the film. Even if the lead actor's name glorifies the film, 2000 to 3000 families are being fed.

Some filmmakers believe that the criticism from the boycott calls actually helped the film gain popularity. Therein lies the problem, because going to the theater today is an expensive affair, especially in cities. In exchange, OTT platforms today offer good content, and, in many cases, the same movie can reach the streaming platform within two to three weeks. This means that calls for boycotts may confuse and disgust some audiences, and then the initial collections that are crucial to the film's revenue.

So, we can conclude that the boycott culture is harmful for the development of Bollywood.