Risky business: The structure and practice of formal film distribution in the Hindi film industry

This chapter focuses on formal theatrically oriented film distribution - the much overlooked and frequently misunderstood dimension of the Hindi film industry - and points to its crucially foundational function within mainstream Hindi filmmaking. It elaborates upon the critical role played by distributors in the Hindi film industry and discusses how the nature of Hindi film distribution shapes and influences many other practices within the industry from casting and budgets to release strategies. It outlines the changing nature of film distribution in the Hindi film industry over time focusing on the transformations engendered by new technologies such as the advent of video, satellite television, and the multiplex. It details how, despite the film industry's rhetoric, the actual audiences for producers have been the independent territorial distributors who serve as metonyms for the ticket-paying public.