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Once celebrated as the heartbeat of Indian pop culture, Bollywood today finds itself in a slow but steady decline. While other film industries—from the artistic terrain of French cinema to the emotional precision of South Korea’s Oscar-winning films—are pushing boundaries, Hindi cinema seems trapped in its own loop.
Star kids, soulless remakes, bloated franchises, and a disillusioned theatre system have all contributed to an existential crisis for one of the world’s biggest film industries.
A Factory of Familiar Faces, Not Fresh Talent
The first and most glaring issue is the entrenchment of nepotism. A phenomenon no longer hidden, it’s now normalized, even weaponized. Star kids, often trending on social media even before their debut, are parachuted into the industry, armed with brand deals and PR machinery, while talented outsiders scrape for screen time.
Their struggle, if any, starts where others’ dreams culminate. With each new generation of poorly prepped star kids—Suhana Khan, Ananya Panday, Ibrahim Ali Khan, Junaid Khan—the last batch starts to seem almost promising in retrospect. The problem isn’t just their presence, but the systemic denial of space to those without pedigree but with potential. And that rot isn’t limited to actors—producers, too, are often born into the business, making filmmaking more about legacy than merit.
Remakes, Sequels, and the Art of Creative Decay
Once niche stories like Baaghi or Drishyam have turned into forced franchises—pale imitations of their originals, driven more by box office mathematics than narrative necessity. Everyone wants a cinematic universe now, but few seem to understand what made Hera Pheri iconic in the first place: story, character, and heart. The same goes for the grand iconic movie Gadar – featuring Sunny Deol, its a movie with great story, actions and human touch but its sequel was a disaster.
OTT is Easily Accessible Than Theatres
Going to the theatre was once a cultural outing. Today, it’s an overpriced inconvenience. With conglomerates like PVR and INOX monopolizing screens, ticket prices have soared, and so have the costs of basic snacks—₹400 popcorn, ₹300 cola. Preceding your film, 30 minutes of ads ensure that you’re paying for corporate promotions as much as for the movie itself.
OTT platforms, while offering convenience, have also fed into a dangerous apathy. Audiences now wait a few weeks for films to land on Netflix or Prime. The urgency to watch a movie on release weekend is fading, and with it, the collective joy of cinema viewing.
There was a time Bollywood offered something no other industry could—emotion, drama, and an unmistakable Indianness like Sholay. But today’s productions are often shallow copies of Hollywood. Big-budget VFX with no narrative spine. Plastic surgeries over performances. Gloss over grit.
Even producers admit the creative imbalance. Writers are underpaid, editors undervalued, while actors walk away with ₹15-20 crore paychecks. How can good stories emerge when the storyteller is at the bottom of the food chain?
What We Forgot, and What We Must Remember
At its best, Indian cinema held a mirror to society with movies like Mother India, Black, Swades, Salaam Bombay. Today, few such films find funding, let alone screens. Producers prefer packaged mediocrity—film projects led by PR metrics, not passion.
South Indian industries, meanwhile, continue to thrive. Why?
Because they still trust the producer as the creative backbone. Because they believe in storytelling over stardom. Films like Tumbbad, despite modest marketing, have gained cult status purely on merit.
