The year 2023 saw as many as four Hindi films cross the ₹500 Cr mark at the domestic box office: Pathaan, Gadar 2, Jawan, and Animal. That no original language Hindi film had managed to achieve this feat till then (Dangal was the highest original Hindi grosser before 2023, at less than ₹400 Cr) makes the success of the four films particularly noteworthy, and compelled us to ask the question: Is there anything common between the four films? Of course, they all belong to the broad 'action' genre, but is that all? And what about Stree 2, the latest addition to the ₹500 Cr list, in 2024?

One of our preferred ways to find commonalities between different pieces of content is to look for commonalities among their protagonists (and key antagonists, if applicable). For this analysis, we have used the Ormax Personality Framework. This framework is adapted from Jennifer Aaker’s Brand Personality Framework, to suit the context of the Indian entertainment business. This framework is a collection of personality traits under five dimensions. Under these dimensions, 27 relevant traits have been retained from the original framework. The framework is used to analyse characters and celebrities, on how they are perceived by their audiences.

In our context, we first looked at six key characters across the four 2023 films mentioned above - Pathaan and Jim (Pathaan), Tara Singh (Gadar 2), Vikram Rathore and Azad (Jawan), and Ranvijay (Animal). We looked at the traits strongly associated with these six characters, and found striking similarities. In the chart below, the traits that were associated with five or more of the six characters have been colored dark green, while those associated with three or four of the six have been colored light green.

There are six dominant traits that are associated with at least five of the six characters. Three of them fall under the Excitement dimension, i.e., Daring, Spirited, and Cool. Tough & Rugged, Confident, and Glamorous are the other three traits. These six are supported by secondary traits Good-looking and Intelligent. This combination represents a specific protagonist archetype, where Excitement and Ruggedness are the primary dimensions, and Competence and Sophistication are the supporting dimensions.

The archetype is high on masculinity and machismo, and triggers audience benefits related to adrenaline and swag, as covered in this related analysis earlier this year.

But more than the traits themselves, it's the high degree of similarity between the six characters that is particularly interesting. In a way, it suggests that there could be a "formula" at play: For a Hindi film to do blockbuster business in the post-pandemic times, its protagonist(s) must conform to this archetype, one can be tempted to conclude.

The tendency of studios and filmmakers to replicate such "formulae" is well-known. The term "formula films", after all, is an age-old term in Bollywood. But sometimes, all it takes is one film, to challenge the formula. 2024 gave us that film, in Stree 2. The film is now the highest-grossing Hindi film of all-time, with nett domestic box office collections almost touching the ₹600 Cr mark.

If we look at the two principal characters in Stree 2, namely Vicky (played by Rajkummar Rao) and Stree (played by Shraddha Kapoor), the 2023 formula fails. Vicky's top 5 traits, in order, are Funny, Friendly, Honest, Emotional, and Caring. None of these five are in either shade of green in the chart above. Clearly, this "hero" is not cut from the same cloth as the blockbusters of 2023. Stree's character has six dominant traits (in order): Good-looking, Cute, Glamorous, Daring, Intelligent, and Confident. Vicky and Stree are driven respectively by Sincerity and Sophistication, and are particularly low on Ruggedness, in sharp contrast with the six characters analysed above.

But in Stree 2, this absence of Ruggedness does not diminish, but rather enhances, its appeal, demonstrating that theatrical worthiness can transcend templates of mainstream success. Whether we call Stree 2 an outlier or not is a matter of semantics. But the film's success challenges the notion that post-pandemic Bollywood films must rely on larger-than-life action heroes to entice the audiences to visit the theatre.

If we zoom out and look at the big picture, the success of Stree 2 is a sign of caution, that post-analysis of success stories may not always reveal enough about the new success stories that are waiting to be written. And that's what makes our work at Ormax Media particularly interesting and challenging too!