(The following article was printed in the "Inner Voice" column of the Hindustan Times, one of India's largest English language daily newspapers, on 1 March 2005.)
AN ESTIMATED 3.6 billion people in India go to the movies each year. This means that the average adult Indian sees between five and ten films a year.
Filmmakers are often called masters of illusion. They have perfected the art of re-creating reality, making it fun to spend an evening in a surreal world, to lose oneself for a few hours to celluloid fantasy.