The fast sell-outs of some themed Bollywood NFT collections indicate huge potential for the market, but both Bollywood and crypto have recently experienced slumps. What’s in store for the future?
Non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, have soared in popularity over the last few years. Not exempt from the craze, Bollywood-themed NFT collections have received mass attention, which is unsurprising given India’s Hindi-speaking film industry’s vast following.
Yet NFTs have declined in popularity after hitting a peak in January 2022. Cryptocurrency has suffered major losses this year, and recent Bollywood A-lister films have flopped.
Is there still a significant market for Bollywood NFTs?
Well, it depends. NFTs are only valuable if people believe they provide value or utility, and Bollycoin is simply tapping into an already-valued market that is 1 billion+ consumers strong.
The litepaper of Bollycoin, a cryptocurrency created solely to “bridge” Bollywood and the blockchain, points out that Bollywood is one of four things most people in India agree to have “sentimental value.” The other three are cricket, religion, and politics.
The record-breaking collections of ultra-famous Bollywood actors and actresses confirm the market’s potential.
Bollywood NFT Collections
Considered by many to be India’s most famous actor with 245 acting credits on IMDb, Amitabh Bachchan’s NFT collection sold for a total of $966,000 USD. Bachchan’s collection included signed posters, a collection of 5,000 random, various artworks, and a recording of Bachchan reading a famed poem of his father’s, which became the highest selling NFT ever recorded in India at $756,000. The Loot Box sold out within 54 minutes.
But NFT releases cannot rely on large followings alone. Bachchan’s collection’s success was also boosted by the interactive nature of the collection. For example, Bachchan’s poetry-reading NFT included a meet-and-greet with Bachchan, “BigB,” himself, and the signed poster NFTs included videos of Bachchan signing them.
For those who want to gain from their Bachchan NFTs, the BeyondLife NFT Marketplace offers a designated platform for NFT owners to resell their $10 LootBox wins, which are now being resold for more than $100. One is listed for $2,500.
Similarly, actress Sunny Leone’s NFTs Collection, Misfitz, features a variety of membership benefits. Her collection was accessed by purchasing access to the Misfitz Metaverse, now 100% sold out, that included an airdropped NFT. Members also are eligible for exclusive merchandise, content, future airdropped NFTs, and real-life events.
Bollycoin partnered with Salman Khan, a Bollywood actor with 44.3 million Twitter followers and 53.8 million fans on Instagram, to release two NFT collections, the second of which included access to Bollywood events in the Metaverse.
Notably, Bollycoin had sold one million Bolly tokens within three hours in anticipation of Khan’s first release.
But Bollywood NFTs aren’t limited to singular actors. The KFG (Kolar Gold Fields) movie franchise has created the KFGverse, an entire virtual reality based on the KFG films where fans can don avatars and purchase plots of land. The kicker? The KFGverse can only be accessed by purchasing a NFT access token.
10,000 access tokens were offered for release in April 2022. While the website indicates that only about 7,500 have been sold, it set the record for the fastest sale of 1,000 NFTs in India as of that time.
Still, no major Bollywood NFT collections have been released in the past few months.
Recent Decline of Bollywood
Instead, headlines are documenting the steep losses of recent A-list studded movies, and Bollywood’s revenue as a whole had decreased 80% in 2020 compared to 2019.
Some, such as Aamir Khan’s Laal Singh Chadda, Ranbir Kapoor’s Shamsera, and Akshay Kumar’s Raksha Badhan, have barely grossed half the movie’s budget and others are grossing even less than half.
But box office losses do not necessarily equate to a lessening of Bollywood star fan bases. Bollywood is still recovering from COVID restrictions that created a backlog of productions as well as social distancing guidelines that slashed theater attendance.
One analyst suggests that consumers have become accustomed to higher-quality content while at home under lockdowns, but others are confident Bollywood will make a comeback in 2023.
As far as NFTs go, cryptocurrency’s sharp downturn this year has not helped the situation. But Bollycoin predicts that “90% of the projected users of blockchain-based products over the next decade are yet to enter the market.”
If true, then NFTs are just getting started, and the recent slump in the cryptocurrency world has only made entering the market more accessible for a wider range of Bollywood and NFT fans alike.
Signing up for subscriptions to upcoming Bollywood NFT releases may just prove to be worth it, so long as you choose wisely.
