As producers battle it out on roundtables, trying to win a mine-is-bigger-than-yours debate around box office figures – it’s crucial for Hindi film producers, directors, writers, actors to stop looking outside for intervention. No amount of reverse-engineering Telugu, Tamil blockbusters will help tide over this difficult period – as we saw with Baby John last year. There might be the odd success in Jawan or Drishyam 2, but the only way across the wall is through it. Trying to conjure a 500 crore/1000 crore box office with each undertaking is a less sensible approach, considering the significant downside a studio or a producer is exposed to when a film fails (which is more frequently the case). Trying to cheat one’s way through a creative crisis in Hindi cinema – is like treating a brain aneurysm with a band-aid. Hindi cinema will have to look deeper within, and find the answers for more ambitious films, made on controlled budgets.