ABSTRACT
The cinema is still the favorite pastime of most populations across the globe. It is clearly so in India, which is the largest film-producing country in the world. Its output now has a formidable global reach. After years of marginalization by academics in the West, as well as by local elite cultural commentators, Indian cinema has moved from the periphery to the center of world cinema in a comparatively short space of time. The reasons for this remarkable journey are many and complex.
