Pad Man director R. Balki heavily criticizes recent blockbusters in Bollywood, calling them ‘damn boring’ and ‘worst films’

Renowned filmmaker R. Balki is known for his films like Pad Man, Paa, and Cheeni Kum. During a recent conversation, the veteran director talked about the blockbusters in the past few years and mentioned that they were the “worst” and “damn boring” films.

While speaking at an event at MIT World Peace University in Pune, R. Balki shared his two cents on the recently released successful films. He mentioned that the “blockbusters” that have happened in the last 4–5 years have been the “worst films.”

“I’m just saying, not only from an intellectual or an artistic point of view but also from the old entertainment, ‘masala, paisa vasool’ kind of a feel. Also, they’re damn boring,” he stated.

Balki further continued by drawing a comparison from iconic Manmohan Desai films. He highlighted the retrospective of Amitabh Bachchan that Desai’s films like Amar Akbar Anthony and Naseeb would offer. He expressed his belief by admitting that these classic films were fun to watch, which has completely gone from the current blockbusters.

Despite lacking entertainment, the films have been working well at the box office, which Balki credits to marketing. He mentioned that the films have lately become like a project and economics is associated with it which aims at recovering the amount invested in it.

The Paa filmmaker stated that it is the marketing that drives people into the theaters to believe something is good which actually is not. “By the time people believe it’s bad, the film has made its money,” he said.

In addition to this, the filmmaker also pointed out the audience’s psychology that also contributes to the phenomenon. He stated that sometimes people don’t want to believe that a film is bad after watching it and want to find one or two good things about the movie.

Balki said if they like something about the star, they end up saying that it was “Time pass” as one wouldn’t pay 500 bucks and curse themselves. “You will want to say, ‘I was not that foolish. Oh, it was… it was fun. It was a little bit fun,’” he said.

R Balki’s last directorial was Abhishek Bachchan and Saiyami Kher starrer Ghoomer which was released last year in 2023.