The magic of South Indian cinema: Movies, masti, and mass appeal

Of the total screens in India (9,927), multiplexes account for only 40 per cent, though their share of collection is higher

“South emerges the new hero in India’s cinema landscape”, read the headline of an article that traced the box office collection trends of movies post-Covid (Business Standard, April 19, 2025). The article also presented some interesting figures about the number of movie screens (cinemas) in India.  

 

A question arises: How important is moviegoing in the life of an average Indian? When I started my life in advertising in 1979, I was a client servicing executive who was also tasked with the job of media planning. Those were the days of calculators and the large bound editions of the National Readership