Kareena Kapoor Says Bollywood Can't Chase ₹500 Crore Anymore

Kareena Kapoor has a message for producers still chasing the next Animal-sized number. Speaking at a town hall with Yuvaa ahead of Daayra's release, she pushed back on the idea that box office scale is the only measure of a film working. "Not every film is going to make Rs 200 crore or Rs 500 crore," she said, per Bollywood Bubble. "I believe we are evolving, and the audience is helping us do that."

The comment came wrapped inside a longer point about what she calls Bollywood's herd mentality, the tendency of the industry to clone whatever worked last. Her example was Sandeep Reddy Vanga's Animal, the 2023 hit that grossed over Rs 900 crore worldwide and, in Kareena's telling, set off a wave of copycat aggression. "Abhi violence chal rahi hai… Animal chal gayi toh chalo sab violence kar lete hai," she said. "We are herd mentality, what to say?"

But she wasn't writing off the trend as permanent. Kareena argued the audience itself is getting sharper, and that filmmakers banking on old shortcuts, a comedy label here, a star name there, are running out of road. "The young audience will ask thought-provoking questions," she said. "Now filmmakers can't just say, 'It's a comedy, so people will definitely watch it!'" She also credited directors going against the grain, saying viewers are now willing to show up for a trailer that promises something different rather than something familiar.