Bollywood made room for children once. Between the late 1990s and the early 2010s, mainstream Hindi cinema regularly backed films meant for younger viewers: Makdee, Blue Umbrella, Return of Hanuman, Stanley Ka Dabba, Jajantaram Mamantaram, Taare Zameen Par, Bhoothnath, Koi Mil Gaya and Krrish. Today, a new Hindi film with a child in the lead—Little Thomas, about an 8-year-old who wants a sibling—is being described as ‘rare’ and ‘niche’.
What changed in the pitch
Kaushal Oza, writer-director of Little Thomas, says the question he heard while trying to find a backer was blunt: ‘Children’s film kaunsi chalti hai?’ He started making the film because he liked the story, not because he thought of it as a genre, but producers needed a reference point.
Financiers have become more risk-averse. The emphasis is on opening-weekend star power and evening shows. A children’s film needs the opposite, as producer Anushka Shah puts it: morning and afternoon slots, school-holiday timing, and word of mouth that builds over weeks.
- Big stars have largely stopped working in children’s films.
- Animation has narrowed toward mythology for kids.
- Independent, slice-of-life films for children have shrunk in number.
- PVR’s dedicated kids section—roughly 80-90 theatres—plays 90% Hollywood films through the year.
The safety net went away
Anurag Kashyap, whose Return of Hanuman was a cable TV hit, points to institutional support. The Children’s Film Society, India, formed in 1955, produced and distributed cinema for children under heads such as Sai Paranjpye, Nafisa Ali, Nandita Das, and Amol Gupte. It was merged with the National Film Development Corporation in 2022, removing what Kashyap calls a ‘big advantage’.
At the same time, children are watching Singham, Pushpa, and Taarak Mehta. Sonam Nair recalls seeing kids at a recent concert doing the Pushpa step and asking for the track. The audience has shifted; the pipeline hasn’t kept up.
Can low budgets and daytime slots bring it back?
Producer Ranjan Singh, who backed Little Thomas and began his career on Taare Zameen Par, argues the market still exists. Three of the top 10 highest-grossing films worldwide this year are children’s films, he notes. His answer is economics: if a story has limited business potential, make it on a low budget.
That is the hope around Little Thomas. It will need distribution designed for daytime audiences rather than a Friday-evening star launch. If it works, it may prove that Hindi cinema can still serve its youngest viewers without waiting for a star to sign on.
Source: Hindustan Times