Ayushmann Khurrana was on a hot streak of eight back-to-back hits before the pandemic-induced lockdown led to the theatre shutdown in 2020. With digital entertainment taking precedence over the past year and changing viewers’ palate, he believes that actors and filmmakers will have to provide superlative content to lure audiences back to cinemas. 

“I’m a firm believer that the pandemic and lockdowns have made us more opinionated than before, and that people will only want to invest time and energy on things that are unique. They will want to have community experiences that are worthwhile,” says Khurrana. Citing the example of Article 15 (2019) that bravely spoke about the caste system in India, he says that filmmakers will need to present “disruptive content for people to enjoy, engage and discuss.”