The year 2022 has been a quite a crazy one for Bollywood when it comes to box office. Many of its theatrical releases, including some biggies, have not worked well at the ticket windows. At the same time, dubbed versions of South movies like RRR, KGF 2, Kantara were doing wonders in the North India territory. Haters and even trade 'experts' were writing obituaries for the industry and Bollywood has been facing one negative trend after another on social media, some of them being directed hate based on unfounded allegations. However, Drishyam 2 is now breaking quite the records at the box office, and more importantly, shutting the naysayers down. Drishyam 2 Box Office Collection Day 16: Ajay Devgn’s Film Crosses Rs 175 Crore Mark!

At the time of writing this article, the Abhishek Pathak-directed film is just shy of about Rs 13 crore to enter the Rs 200 crore club, and the pace hasn't slackened much even though it is in its third week. Drishyam 2, starring Ajay Devgn, Tabu, Shriya Saran and Akshaye Khanna, is not the only Hindi film that worked at the box office this year. Gangubai Kathiawadi, Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2, Brahmastra have also done good in 2022, and people are already pinning hopes on Rohit Shetty's Cirkus to end the year on a positive note. So 2022 hasn't been all bad, but yeah, it could have been much better.

But, more importantly, the box office success of Drishyam 2 is very pertinent, because it comes at a time when Bollywood has been facing criticism and negativity at its worst. Do note that this feature isn't about how good the movie is, but rather how it fought against some very negative misconceptions and allegations about Bollywood box office and came out tops. Like the seven 'rules' below:

Allegation #1 - Remakes Are Not Working at Box Office

A Still From the Malayalam Drishyam 2

By now you should know that Drishyam 2, like the original, is a remake of the Malayalam film by the same name. Interestingly, the Malayalam original, starring Mohanlal in the lead, had a direct OTT release, and came at a time when audiences were consuming stuff on OTT platforms during the lockdown. Bollywood has been accused of remaking South hits left, right and centre, and none of them were working, prompting 'experts' to say that audience have already watched the originals on OTT and do not care for the 'cheap' remakes. Drishyam 2 proves to be a valuable aberration to that misconception, as it is not only a remake, and in my personal opinion, doesn't improve upon the original, and yet managed to excel at the box office. Drishyam 2 Movie Review: Ajay Devgn's Vijay Salgaonkar Returns in This Brittle Remake of the Mohanlal-Starrer.

Allegation #2 - Time is Passe For Older Superstars

Ajay Devgn in Thank God

Another accusation going on is that people are tired of seeing older superstars (with immense box office clout) on the big screen. Shah Rukh Khan has been struggling to deliver big hits even before the pandemic happened. Post theatres reopening after lockdown, while Sooryavanshi was a big hit, subsequent Akshay Kumar-starrers faced beating at the box office. Even Salman Khan, despite his popularity, couldn't make Antim a hit. The biggest shocker was the failure of Aamir Khan-starrer Laal Singh Chaddha. Since Kartik Aaryan's Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 was the biggest hit of 2022 till now, some claimed that time for older superstars is now getting close. Well, a 53-year-old Ajay Devgn just proved everyone wrong now, and what's more he pulled that off when his previous theatrical release, Thank God, failed at the box office.

Allegation #3 - You Need Chartbuster Music and Item Songs For Film to Work

Kartik Aaryan in Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2

Even a 'troll' critic like Kamaal R Khan aka KRK had to admit that he was surprised with the box office success of Drishyam 2, since the movie came out with songs that no one noticed much. There was no remixes featuring Nora Fatehi and the couple of tracks it had merely passed muster on the music charts. BB2's success had its popular (but recreated) music playing a big part into it. And yet purely based on its predecessor's legacy and the strength of its narrative (credit of that should go to the original film, though), Drishyam 2 still managed to overcome this 'deficiency' and draw in the audiences.

Allegation #4 - Festival Release Dates are Important

Satya Dev and Akshay Kumar in Ram Setu

In 2022, Raksha Bandhan and Laal Singh Chaddha both were Independence Day releases and both failed to leave an impact at the theatre windows. Ram Setu and Thank God came during Diwali week, and none of them managed to set the box office alight. Drishyam 2 didn't came during any major festivals and yet did wonders!

Allegation #5 - Only Big-Budget Spectacles Will Work

Ranbir Kapoor in Brahmastra

2022 was a year of big screen spectacles. RRR, KGF 2, Brahmastra, Ponniyin Selvan gave a larger than life visual experience for the fans, and their box office successes gave a false impression that people only prefer such films to watch on big screens. It also didn't help that the Western audience were going gaga over RRR, and only superhero movies and Top Gun Maverick were working at the international box office, and even in India too. Drishyam 2, despite having not a single action sequence and owning a modest budget, sailed through at the box office purely based on the power of its screenplay! Drishyam 2 Ending Explained: Ajay Devgn's Remake Takes A Different Turn From Mohanlal's Thriller - Here's How!

Allegation #6 - OTT Releases Have Hampered Box Office

Aamir Khan in Laal Singh Chaddha

Another allegation that trade 'experts' seems to keep repeating is that, because of the limited window between a film's theatrical release and its subsequent OTT release, they feel that audience are rather waiting for movies to arrive on their respective OTT platforms to watch them. The renewed appreciation for LSC after its Netflix release allegedly strenghtened their point. Wonder what these 'experts' will say now that Drishyam 2 is doing so well in theatres? With a good marketing, a nice trailer and a decent product, not to mention good luck too (Sorry, Bhediya!), movies can still score well at the box office.

Allegation #7 - Bollywood is Done!

Ajay Devgn in Drishyam 2

The worst negative trend against Bollywood was the 'boycott' trend against each and every release, before it came out. It sadly didn't help that even the portals were in covering those trends. There were allegations that Bollywood is finishing itself doing remakes, poor quality stuff and superstar obsession over scripts, and especially with South films doing so well - KGF 2 is the highest grosser of the year - we have had articles about how Bollywood should learn from other industries. Drishyam 2 mostly did nothing to change the aforementioned allegations, and yet it is earning big bucks. So how did this 'miracle' happen? Producers and trade analysts need to study Drishyam 2's success story to understand what it did right, and use that as a new yardstick.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 05, 2022 04:07 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).