MUMBAI: India’s box office may have crossed the Rs 20,000 crore mark, but for Dinesh Vijan, founder, Maddock Films, the real story lies not in the number but in the shift behind it.

Speaking at a fireside chat at the FICCI-EY M&E Industry Report launch, in conversation with columnist and author Vanita Kohli-Khandekar, Vijan unpacked how theatrical cinema is evolving in the streaming age and why the big screen still holds its ground. His answer is simple yet telling: give audiences something they cannot get at home.

“The audience has changed. Good is no longer good enough,” he said, pointing out that today’s viewers, conditioned by global content and streaming platforms, demand scale, novelty and intensity. “If you want people to step out, it has to be an experience. Extreme emotion works.”

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From horror-comedy hits to rooted dramas, Vijan believes films that succeed today share one trait. They make audiences feel deeply and instantly. Subtlety, he suggested, often gets deferred to streaming. Theatres, on the other hand, thrive on spectacle and emotional highs.

This shift has also altered how films are conceived. “You cannot make a film lesser than what audiences now expect in theatres,” he said, referring to the rising baseline of quality and engagement. In his view, the grammar of storytelling is undergoing a “radical shift”, driven by fragmented attention spans and digital consumption habits.

Yet, even as storytelling evolves, Vijan insists filmmaking remains a collaborative business anchored in strong creative leadership. At Maddock Films, he positions the producer as a key decision-maker, balancing creative instincts with financial discipline. “The director is the mother of the film, the producer is the father. Someone has to take the tough calls,” he said.

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That balance extends to budgeting as well. Rather than imposing cost limits, Vijan lets the story dictate scale, supported by a strong internal team across production, finance and distribution. The company’s relatively high success rate, he noted, is what sustains its risk-taking ability.

However, one structural challenge continues to cap growth: India’s limited number of cinema screens. While urban centres are saturated, large parts of the country remain underserved. Vijan recalled instances of audiences setting up makeshift screenings in areas without theatres, underlining the gap between demand and access.

“If there were more screens, some films would have done significantly more business,” he said, adding that recent box office successes have revived industry conversations around expansion.

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On the long-running debate around streaming versus theatrical, Vijan was clear. The two can coexist, but the industry’s overemphasis on digital deals stems from a desire to de-risk films. “Every film that has crossed Rs 500 crore did so because it worked in theatres, not because it was pre-sold,” he said.

Looking ahead, he sees global markets as the next frontier. While Indian films occasionally break out internationally, the scale remains inconsistent. “We have not taken our cinema to the world in a structured way,” he said, calling for bigger, culturally rooted stories that can travel.

Vijan is already betting on that vision with ambitious projects like Mahavatar, aiming to combine Indian mythology with global storytelling scale.

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He also acknowledged the growing role of artificial intelligence, particularly in visual effects and production efficiency. While still evolving, AI could lower costs and democratise filmmaking, though seamless integration with live action remains a work in progress.

For now, though, the core formula remains unchanged. Strong stories, bold choices and a willingness to take risks.

“Nothing succeeds like success,” Vijan said, summing up an industry that, despite disruption, continues to find its audience where it always has, in the dark, before the big screen.

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