Countdown to 2047

Bollywood as we know it will no longer exist. Two hour films will be out. The attention span of the consumer will be too short for that. Entertainment will come to us in 10-minute bites. There will be no such thing as the Hindi film industry. It will be the Indian Entertainment Industry. The dominant culture will be Indian, Chinese and Japanese.
Shekhar Kapur, Film-maker

The cultural scene came alive after Independence, but after the amazing 1960s and ’70s there’s been a sad lull. I’m disappointed that in the performing arts we are nowhere in the world market. Our classical dance forms need to reach the same level as Russian ballet which was so powerful. That burning desire of the artiste to be 100 per cent involved is missing.
Yamini Krishnamurti, Bharatanatyam dancer

Indian theatre will definitely reach out internationally because it has a strong past and an active present. I am talking beyond languages. I do Malayalam plays, but I am inspired as much by WB Yeats, as by world plays, Bhasa’s Sanskrit texts and Tagore. What we present to our audience has to be tanatu—meaning one’s own—natakam, inspired by our immediate surroundings, our soil and our roots. The future too lies in this.
KN Panikkar, Theatre Director