Tisca Chopra says ‘Bollywood is afraid’: ‘They keep making the same film with new twist’

Tisca Chopra weighs in on Bollywood’s growing fear of taking creative risks.

With Dhurandhar on a box office rampage, the film has become the most talked-about release of the moment. While opinions remain divided over its politics, there seems to be near-unanimous agreement on one front—the film is undeniably well-made. Its success has once again sparked the familiar debate around why certain films rake in crores while others struggle to find an audience. Some have credited its out-of-the-box storytelling, while others have applauded the sheer bravery of its vision. Amid these discussions, actor Tisca Chopra, without directly naming Dhurandhar, weighed in on Bollywood’s growing fear of taking creative risks.

Speaking to Bollywood Bubble, Tisca remarked, “The problem is that we are watering the fruits and not the roots, which is writing. The work has become extremely shallow. I am not saying one can’t do commercial or comedy cinema, but it starts from the writing. You need to give time to your writers and freedom to brainstorm ideas. We don’t nourish writers.”

She added, “We are very afraid. Nobody wants to take a chance. We keep doing the same thing with a little twist. The audience is not entertaining it anymore. Whenever you bring something new with conviction, people accept it.”

Echoing similar sentiments, several prominent actors and filmmakers, including Hrithik Roshan, Ram Gopal Varma, and Sudhir Mishra, publicly praised Dhurandhar and director Aditya Dhar’s craft.

Filmmaker Sudhir Mishra wrote on X, “By the way, Dhurandhar is a well-made film. Aditya Dhar is extremely skilled. The acting is terrific. The most difficult thing in filmmaking is a director’s ability to make the audience smell the place—and Aditya Dhar, with the help of his brilliant cinematographer and production designer, manages to do just that. The casting, including the minor parts, is bang on. I am, of course, a filmmaker from another school.”

Hrithik Roshan, too, shared a nuanced response, writing, “I love cinema. I love people who climb into a vortex and let the story take control—spin them, shake them—until what they want to say is purged out onto the screen. Dhurandhar is an example of that. I loved the storytelling. It’s cinema. I may disagree with the politics of it and argue about the responsibilities we filmmakers should bear as citizens of the world. Nevertheless, I can’t ignore how much I loved and learnt from this one as a student of cinema. Amazing.”

Dhurandhar has earned over Rs 1140 crore at the global box office.