Indian films are set to cross A$39 million at the Australian box office in 2025, outperforming local cinema and becoming the third-largest after the US and UK.
It's 'not looking like a Diwali lineup, which is usually grand and has superstar movies.'
...of premium video-on-demand viewing in the second quarter of 2025, led by JioHotstar (56 per cent share), with Amazon (Prime Video and MX Player) holding a combined 25 per cent share..
'We don't make films for profit and that's exactly why profit follows.'
At 8,700 screens, India, the world's largest film producing country, has just six screens for every million of its people, compared to 125 in the US and 30 in China. With Sitaare Zameen Par, Aamir Khan hopes to expand the market for Indian cinema.
More screens, more films, and longer windows will convert to more people watching, assuming they know a film is releasing, points out Vanita Kohli-Khandekar.
Writers and creators are telling more authentic stories based in states and cities that we may not have seen much of in mainstream media, such as Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh. Or ones that we have some mistaken notions about like Punjab, Delhi, Haryana, Bihar, Tamil Nadu, highlights Vanita Kohli-Khandekar.
'There is simply too much to watch, read and absorb.' 'Just online consumption (news, entertainment, social media) in India was 2.5 hours a day in November 2024.' 'Add TV (just under 4 hours), other media, and the figure is closer to 7 to 8 hours a day for over one-third of Indians,' points out Vanita Kohli Khandekar.
'What scares me is the fact that there is so much content that people have content indigestion.' 'How do you entice people who have indigestion of content?'
Much of the discussion is happening at a "family level, not a corporate level". That means it is an Ambani or a Goenka in direct talks with Johar.
'Our analysis of success, like failure, is so reductive and so one dimensional that we don't look at the bigger picture.'
'In the audience's mind there is no urgency to go see a film in the theatre.' 'If you pay for social media buzz it does not convert into bums on seats.'
'When I started to step into the West in 2006, I believed India was not going to be the back end.' 'I understood that no film-maker wants to believe that they are outsourcing their creativity to a low-end place.' 'The application of technology in the hands of our Indian artistes is identical to any of our artists in the West.' 'Nobody in the world can say this shot was done in India and that in London.'
'Fan armies are not just followers; they are a force of nature.'
Non-fiction continues to grow with the most-watched unscripted show, Bigg Boss OTT S3 getting more than half the viewership that Panchayat (S3) got.
While super hits like Jawaan are missing this year, it has been filled with a range of medium-range hits such as Crew, Teri Baaton Ne Uljhaa Diya and Guntur Kaaram, observes Vanita Kohli-Khandekar.
More than 157 million Indians watched at least one film in the theatre in 2023.
'India has the largest slate of local original content outside the US.'
Could it be about clout? Given its size and influence, RIL doesn't need the media for that, notes Vanita Kohli-Khandekhar.
Both sports and digital will drag down the healthy operating margins that entertainment television continues to make.