‘So much money wasted on providing useless perks’: Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub on Bollywood’s struggles

Bollywood actor Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub recently spoke candidly about what he believes is going wrong in the industry. In an interview on the Know Time YouTube channel, he highlighted the tendency of filmmakers to focus more on star perks than on the films themselves.

Reflecting on the hierarchical nature of Bollywood, Zeeshan said, “Hierarchies should be done away with. Yash Chopra once said that films don’t fail, budgets fail. People here are so desperate to maintain hierarchies, and so much money is wasted on this. So much money is wasted on providing useless perks to people."

He elaborated further on the misallocation of budgets: “Not enough money is being spent on the films. They’ll create ‘bhaukaal’ out of pointless things. They’ll brag about not leaving a single light on in Mumbai; every light in Mumbai is on their set. They’ll brag about having every last vanity van in Mumbai on their set. How is this something to boast about?"

Zeeshan also criticised the industry’s obsession with formulaic filmmaking. “They’ll never talk about the film itself. And now they’re stuck, because the hierarchies they’ve created are eating them up from the inside. The other major issue is formula filmmaking. Any intelligent person can tell that whenever they’ve started following a formula, their films have failed."

Pointing to recent box office trends, he added, “Look at the recent films of this one production house. They had one big hit that didn’t adhere to a formula; it featured newcomers and turned out to be a hit, and the other one was a formula film with big stars, but it didn’t work at all… Every argument and distraction will go away the minute they start taking more interest in making good movies."

Zeeshan appeared to be referencing YRF’s Saiyaara and War 2. Saiyaara, which introduced newcomers Ahaan Panday and Aneet Padda, became a massive box office success, breaking records and exceeding expectations. In contrast, War 2, featuring Hrithik Roshan, Jr NTR, and Kiara Advani, had a disappointing run despite its star-studded cast.