2024 has been a year of surprises for the Hindi film industry so far. While the fans have been desperately looking for well-made big-budget films, small and mid-budget films have pleasantly surprised everyone. Films like Article 370, Crew, Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiya, Laapataa Ladies, Madgaon Express, and the list is long.

The latest one to join is Maddock Supernatural Universe's Munjya which came out of nowhere and became one of the biggest topics of discussion in the industry. Munjya starring Abhay Verma and Sharvari Wagh in the lead is a horror-comedy which released without heavy promotions but thanks to its good word-of-mouth went on to do phenomenal business.

Horror-comedy is the way ahead

Amid the success of all the small and mid-sized films, one thing that has proved itself times and again is that the masses are consistently craving horror-comedy films. Films like Bhool Bhulaiyaa, Go Goa Gone, Golmaal Again, and lately, Stree, Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2, and Munjya. In fact, Maddock Supernatural Universe's 2022 film Bhediya was also a moderate success despite the industry going through challenging times at that time.

However, despite encouraging resgautults, not many filmmakers are attempting this genre. Though films like Stree 2, Bhediya 2, and Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 are gearing up for release soon, these are all part of franchises and cinematic universes. Apart from these, as an audience, I don't see any big filmmaker or production house trying to explore the genre. Instead, a lot of focus is being put on biopics and sports genre which haven't worked.

A look at the number of horror comedies in the past few years

In the past 10 years i.e. from 2014-2024, the Hindi film industry has seen only 9 horror comedies and there have been years like 2015, 2017, 2019, 2020, and 2023 where the audience didn't get to see even a single film in the genre.

Yes, there have been debacles like Gang of Ghosts, Great Grand Masti, Bhoot Police, Phone Bhoot, and Roohi but there's a good success ratio if count successful films. Stree 2, BB 3, and Bhediya 2 are expected continue serving entertainment to the audience. Stars like Akshay Kumar, Ajay Devgn, Shraddha Kapoor, Rajkummar Rao, Varun Dhawan, Kriti Sanon, Kartik Aaryan, Sharvari Wagh along with filmmakers like Priyadarshan, Rohit Shetty, Amar Kaushik and Anees Bazmee have brought the genre so far with their efforts, but more people in the industry will be required to harness its full power in the future.