Bollywood is no match for India’s new wave cinema

The signature motif of Kantara: A Legend – Chapter 1, India’s second-biggest box-office success of 2025, is a primordial scream. It may as well be the sound of old Bollywood in its death throes, or the birth pangs of a new industry.

Kantara, described by its writer-director Rishab Shetty as “faith, culture, and devotion in all its glory”, isn’t standard

Bollywood fare

. For one thing, the film wasn’t made in Mumbai, India’s financial and entertainment capital. Nor is it targeted primarily at a Hindi-speaking audience.