‘Who Yash Raj?’: Ashneer Grover dissects why people don’t want to go to movie theatres anymore
Self-confessed social media guru Ashneer GroverShark Tank India’s original season saw him become a celebrity. He spoke about his experience with Shark Tank India. The current state of film industry At a recent event. Ashneer commented that it was becoming difficult to attract theatre audiences these days.
He was speaking at the Institute of Management Technology in Ghaziabad, where he said that he doesn’t deny that he is an influencer now. He stated that social media has allowed him to make so much money over the past year that he doesn’t need to be on TV at all.
He said, “In today’s time, you have an opportunity of creating a personal brand. Pehle kya tha, Yash Raj ji ke paas camera hai, Yash Raj ji ne casting karni hai. Jo unke camera ke saamne aagaya, woh hero hai. Ab bhaisaab sabke paas camera hai, toh kaahe ka Yash Raj (Olderly, Yashraj used to have a camera. Yash Raj wanted to film a cast. Yash Raj made a name for himself by putting his hand in front the camera. Now, everybody has a camera, so why do we need a Yash Raj)?”
He continued, “Kisi ko theatre jaana hi nahi hai. Theatre bharna mushkil ho raha hai. Sab bol rahe hain ke bhai main ghar baitha hoon, office baitha hoon, gaadi mein baitha hoon, jab mera mann karega mereko entertainment chahiye hai. This is the tipping point. Everybody, from all sectors, has an opportunity to go public and become famous. Aapko woh brand use karni hai. It’s getting difficult to attract audiences to theatres. People want to consume entertainment at their convenience, at home, at office, in their cars).”
While Ashneer wasn’t directly talking about Yash Raj Films, and using the iconic film studio’s name as an archetype for the gatekeepers of Bollywood, YRF had a particularly difficult run at the box office in 2022. However, most of the other Hindi film studios had a difficult run. The industry got a shot in the arm with YRF’s Pathaan earlier this year, and then with director Luv Ranjan’s Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar, also distributed by YRF.