Kalki Koechlin says Bollywood is in "recession"; shares visible signs [reactions]

Kalki Koechlin has always been appreciated for how honest and articulate she is. The actress never minces words and never fails to speak her mind. Recently, she spoke about the current state of Bollywood, making fans wonder what it is that is truly going on. Earlier too, several filmmakers and actors have expressed their growing concern towards where the Hindi film industry is headed and have spoken about how the state of it is not really transparent to the audience. The actress also voiced her concern about the dire state of Bollywood and how the industry is struggling. 

Speaking on the popular podcast Aleena Dissects, Kalki mentioned that there is almost a "recession" like state in Bollywood at the moment. She presented her assessment on the podcast about what she thinks about the entire situation. 

Kalki mentioned, "Recession ho raha hai... does everyone know that? There is a Bollywood recession, that's why they are re-releasing everything. There is no content. Whatever they are making is not working... that's why everything is stalled."

The actress very clearly stated that even though people within the industry are well aware of the situation, they are powerless to reverse the situation and have it in their own way.

Kalki further added, "Kyunki kisiko pata nahi kya chal raha hai... kya nahi chal raha hai... kuch predictions nahi ho raha hai...so everything is stalled... everything is stuck... creative teams are being fired and rehired... they just don't know why it's not working... and I think people don't realise there is this crisis going on. (Because no one knows what is going on... what is not going on... no predictions are going on... so everything is stalled... everything is stuck... creative teams are being fired and rehired... they just don't know why it's not working... and I think people don't realize there is this crisis going on.)"

Talking about the impact, Kalki mentioned, "From top to bottom I have spoken to people... and at the top, they are like, 7 films... crores of money being just spent and they can't find a platform to release. And now there are smaller actors who haven't had work in 2 years."

She further added, "It will change, it will adapt to the next thing. There was a time when circus was big, there was time when theatre was big. Those also got a renewed life when, say, people wanted suddenly live concerts... and there was a time when it disappeared, and now it's picking. So things will keep changing, formats will keep changing. And people need stories, will need it, and it's just in which format it comes, who knows."

The video went viral on Reddit, and netizens soon started a discourse on it. Bollywood enthusiasts discussed whether Kalki's analogy was right or not, and mostly agreed on it. 

A comment on the post read, "when a recession happens, its the time for new talents to rise and try something different. malayalam cinema went through a rough patch in the 2000s then the new generation came up and reached one of its best eras. after that, covid happened and suddenly the industry went national.i think producers need to start believing in new technicians. even if it's a small budget project, they should go ahead and produce movies."

Another netizen wrote, "Anurag was talking about how Bollywood has been ignoring B and C tier centres for so long. They haven't even bothered to sell their movies to many theatres across north India. They've alienated them and now they're worried."

There were also comments like, "Karan Johar camp is the reason for this state of bollywood. They really have ruined the whole fabric of what bollywood meant and was", "Recession nahi, succession ho raha hai... Nepo kids ka hi", "Credit goes to Johar and his nepo baraat! The real talent is lost, not given opportunity... Yeh hona hi tha aaj nahi toh kal!!" and "Kalki, itna sach bhi nahi bolna tha."