Less Bollywood, more Tollywood: how Indian cinema’s hit machine flopped

A screening of Laal Singh Chaddha for members of the media and local officials at the opening of a cinema in Srinagar this week. Photograph: Danish Ismail/Reuters

The opening of a new big-name Bollywood film was once a national event across India, greeted by weeks of fanfare, long queues outside cinemas and halls packed to the rafters with audiences cheering and singing along.

But this year, with 77% of releases flopping at the box office, cinema halls have been left eerily quiet and Bollywood’s once unshakeable domination of the Indian film industry has begun to look uncertain.