3 Review(s)

Lata Jha’s chronicle of the fast-changing dynamics of Indian cinema is not only timely, it is alsoinformative and engrossing.—Shabana Azmi […] insightful, incisive book on the economics of our film industry. .—Sanjay Leela BhansaliHow has the Indian film industry thrived in the last 100-plus years? Has it advanced technologicallyand in terms of content? Are creative minds today backed adequately by studios that claim to spendcrores to give the audience an artistic thrill?For far too long, Indian filmmaking has been seen just as a pursuit of passion and creative madness. Afterhaving turned into a foreign studio-controlled ecosystem over the past few years, though, the industry hasseen other forces emerge. In Bollywood, Box Office and Beyond: The Evolving Business of Indian Cinema,author and film journalist Lata Jha aims to examine these forces in detail—the tussle betweenmultiplexes and single screens and their struggles, and the threat and opportunity that emergingstreams of monetization, such as video streaming, pose for filmmaking as we know it.As readers go through the book, they can clearly visualize the challenges of box office recovery forfilms that are increasingly losing draw in small towns, inadequate profits for studios that are yetto fully find their feet in the crowd of local producers or lead stars demanding exorbitant rates.Bollywood, Box Office and Beyond is an ode to the behind-the-scenes struggle that makes the movieand OTT viewing experience worth the public’s money, or at least tries to.