Are Nationalistic films falling out of favour with the audiences?

Nationalist films in Indian cinema have seen mixed success, with only a few like ‘The Kashmir Files’ and ‘The Kerala Story’ resonating with audiences. While many films dramatizing historical or current events have been released, most have failed to connect emotionally or generate significant interest. Over-saturation, accusations of propaganda, and evolving audience tastes contribute to the genre’s struggles.

The genre of nationalist films in Indian cinema has witnessed a dramatic shift in the fortunes with only a handful of movies connecting with the audience at the box office. Of the many that hit the theaters only The Kashmir Files and The Kerala Story have been successful. The rest despite aggressive marketing and being topical have failed to sustain interest from the audience or the political class. In the past decade one has seen a surge of Nationalist films, The Kashmir Files, The Bengal Files, Bastar: The Naxal Story, Udaipur Files: Kanhaiya Lal Tailor Murder, Veer Savarkar, Jahangir National University, The Sabarmati Report etc aimed to dramatize controversial chapters of history or current events of Indian history frequently aligning with the political rhetoric. However the expectation that nationalistic themes automatically guarantee success at the box office has been misleading. The audience has only embraced those films that resonated with them on an emotional level and that has been proven with the few films that have worked.In case of The Kashmir Files and The Kerala Story, it tapped into the ram emotional response and it leveraged the word of mouth publicity and engaging with so called real narratives that connect with a large section of the public. Despite controversy and accusation of propagandism , both films found an audience that was eager for answers to questions that have been asked for years. ‘Both films were relentlessly marketed as truths that were suppressed in the earlier regimes and now they have the strength to come out and talk about it. These films were also told in a simple manner by focusing on victims’ perspectives. And both films got a lot of attention with news channels and social media debates and conversations. In contrast the others failed to create this kind of chatter neither on social media nor in general conversations. With a string of failures one can understand the limitations of the genre. For example after stupendous success of The Kashmir Files, Vivek Agnihotri went on to direct The Bengal Files and even after 4 days at the cinema halls the film has failed to cross the Rs 10 crore mark. While Udaipur Files which after a lot of struggle with Censor Board ultimately released to a lifetime collection of just over Rs 2 crore. THe poor performance of the films could be due to over- saturation of similar narratives to disconnect between on screen portrayal and lived realities. With many being accused of manipulating facts for political gains or for oversimplifying complex issues to build trust with discerning viewers.Also over the years the audience taste has been evolving, they are looking for multi-layered stories rather than one-sided accounts. Several nationalist films have been categorized as propagandist as the pedal a narrow ideological thought. Veterans warn that such cinema risk diminishing credibility and reducing art’s ability to inspire civic spirit or genuine reflection. Often these films lead to violence and polarization, which further underline the dangers of opportunistic or sensational storytelling. Despite a lot of investment and support by the government , most ventures lose money. Poor storytelling, generic characterizations, and lack of star power coupled with increasing skepticism led to diminishing revenues for new releases.The trajectory of the nationalist film genre reveals a growing disconnect between screen and society. Only films that tap into buried trauma or provide compelling evidence however controversial continue to draw crowds, while a majority now flounder amid audience fatigue and changing sensibilities.