The followers are real. The fans are real. The problem is they are not the same people. Bollywood spent a decade optimising for the wrong number and called it strategy. Now the box office is sending the invoice.
Seven films released in February 2026. Not one hit. June is about to make the same mistake, only bigger, with six major releases fighting for the same screens, the same audience, and the same weekend, and the math already knows who loses.
The Top India survey spoke to over 1,000 entertainment workers. What they described was not an industry slowdown. It was a collapse in slow motion, happening entirely behind the camera.
The death of Asha Bhosle is not merely the passing of a celebrated artist; it signals the fading of a cultural ecosystem that once defined Indian cinema.
Two Indian films, Rishab Shetty’s ‘Kantara: A Legend – Chapter 1’ and Anupam Kher’s ‘Tanvi The Great’, have taken a strategic step toward global recognition by joining the list of 201 feature films eligible for consideration at the 98th Oscars.
For a long time, Indian cinema existed inside a language of anticipation. We spoke of it as an industry perpetually “on the brink”, of global recognition, of serious critical legitimacy, of finally being understood beyond stereotypes. Every festival screening was framed as a breakthrough, every foreign review treated as a moment of validation.
The scene had to be changed and the film, which was hailed as one of the most iconic in the history of Indian cinema, had shown the police officer Thakur Baldev Singh (Sanjeev Kumar) having a duel with Gabbar Singh (Amjad Khan).
Titled 'The Luminary Icons: Creative Bonds and Fierce Performances,' the session brought together a thoughtful, dynamic dialogue on the enduring art of performance.
Highlighting that all jury-members were “on the same page for whatever films we selected”, Gulati said that they were watching the content, which is more important than anything else.
Addressing the gathering, Sawant said that Goa has become a permanent home to IFFI as it offers world-class infrastructure and a tourism and hospitality industry trained to welcome the world.
