Bollywood needs a superhero to rescue it; revenue still 38% down

Analysts blame industry woes on lockdowns, lack of new content, and growing competition from streaming and over-the-top platforms

The Hindi film industry and the companies that get their revenue from Bollywood are yet to fully recover from the Covid-19 shock, even as rest of India Inc reported record revenues and profits in the post-pandemic period.

The annualised revenue of listed movie exhibitors, distributors, and producers is 38 per cent below the pre-Covid high reported in third quarter (Q3) of 2019-20 (FY20). In the same period, India Inc’s combined net sales was up 30 per cent.

The analysis is based on the quarterly consolidated profit and loss of five Bollywood-related listed companies — PVR, Inox Leisure, Eros International Media,