As we lead up to the centenary of Indian Cinema we ask those who’ve journeyed with it to name one significant turning point in its path. 

“A Turning Point in Indian cinema according to me has been its corporatization that began with the opening up of the Indian economy in the early 1990s and finally boomed when Hindi film production was granted industry status by the Government in 2000. Today we can see the effect of that corporatization in the fact that multinationals, instead of nationals, are controlling chunks of our industry. So you have Disney taking over UTV and Viacom taking over Network 18. A ‘corporate culture’ has seeped into filmmaking which has made it more about money than anything else. This has seriously affected the creativity and freedom of ideas in our movies.”

—Kundan Shah, 64, is a Mumbai based filmmaker. He made his debut in 1983 with Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro, a dark satire that has gone on to become a cult Hindi film.