For all its technical gloss, Bollywood is on a downward spiral

Bollywood, must decide whether it wants to change quickly and adapt to a new entertainment order, or face a slow winding down

There is hardly any Indian who has not been touched by the all-pervasive (sometimes invasive) influence of cinema. From the 1940s till the end of the last millennium, cinema was the dominant entertainment in the country. Lifestyles, social behaviour and cultural trends all were determined in some manner by films. Indian films, with their stars and soundtracks, were the omnipresent influencers in our vast and diverse country.

Whether it was the socialist idealism of the ’50s or romance and crime of the ’60s, or values ranging from secularism to religion, reconfiguration of the joint family system or urban migration to