A BAFTA for Boong, but no cinema for kids in India?

Lakshmipriya Devirsquos Manipuri film Boong won the BAFTA for Best Childrenrsquos and Family Film on Monday It is the first Indian film in that category to win the award The film follows a young boy navigating loss migration and belonging It beat films backed by larger international industries Yet films in India made for children have nearly vanishedAccording to IMDb National Film Development Corporation of India NFDC records and festival programming archives fewer than 10 liveaction childrenrsquos films were made across all Indian languages in 2024ndash25 out of over 1800 films produced annually That is less than one per cent of Indiarsquos film outputVillage RockstarsFestival director and filmmaker Jitendra Mishra who runs the Smile International Film Festival for Children and Youth SIFFCY says ldquoConsidering the number of films we make like more than 2000 films are every year the percentage of childrenrsquos cinema is very very lowrdquoFilmmaker Amole Gupte who wrote Taare Zameen Par 2007 directed Stanley Ka Dabba 2011 Hawaa Hawaai 2014 and headed the Childrenrsquos Film Society of India asks ldquoWhen was the golden era of childrenrsquos films ever in Indiardquo He explains the economis behind the lack of childrenrsquos films in the mainstream ldquoThe producer is a businessman Hersquos saying lsquoWhat is my return on investmentrsquo Hersquos not overly bothered about artistic contentrdquoTaare Zameen ParThe collapse of institutional support has made things worse Until 2022 the Childrenrsquos Film Society of India CFSI commissioned three to four childrenrsquos films every year according to Gupte who led the organisation between 2012 and 2015 Since CFSI merged into the NFDC there is no dedicated mandate to produce childrenrsquos films Instead childrenrsquos cinema now competes with spy franchises and stardriven spectacles Vidushi Kain General Manager at NFDC says bluntly ldquoChildrenrsquos films are often high financial risk films because you donrsquot know how the film will turn outrdquoThe irony is that children are watching more video content than ever before According to a 2024 FICCIEY media report India has over 450 million viewers under the age of 18 making it one of the largest youth media markets in the world But they are watching American superheroes Korean dramas and anime ldquoThey are more interested in Marvel movies gaming or Korean filmsrdquo Kain saysStanley Ka DabbaFilmmaker Aditya Sarpotdar director of Munjya 2024 believes Indian filmmakers underestimate children entirely ldquoWe have always been making small to midbudget childrenrsquos movies But we have not been making them on scale because kidsrsquo movies do not have big stars It doesnrsquot make sense for producers to put money on themrdquoMunjya based on a Konkani childrenrsquos folktale was deliberately built around a young protagonist ldquoThe legend itself was a childrenrsquos fable It was meant for dadi ki kahaniyaanrdquoAmole Gupte Shivraj Waichal and J MishraThe economics of multiplexes also do not work in favour of childrenrsquos films Ticket prices for major films in cities now range between R250 and R600 This makes family outings expensive quickly Gupte recalls trying to negotiate cheaper shows when he was with CFSI ldquoI tried that chainhellip asked theatre chains to give morning shows which are easy on the pocket for the child But it didnrsquot reach anywhererdquoInstead theatres prioritise films that maximise opening weekend revenue Childrenrsquos films which rely on slower wordofmouth growth rarely surviveAaditya Shukla and Aditya SarpotdarMeanwhile Europe treats childrenrsquos films as mainstream cinema In Sweden in 2010 the Swedish comedy film Farsan sold 246000 tickets competing directly with global blockbusters like Avatar 2010 In Denmark the childrenrsquos franchise Father of Four In Japanese Mode 2010 sold 356000 ticketsThese films succeeded because children were the audience In Scandinavia childrenrsquos cinema is serious business Gupte says these countries have a strong culture of taking kids to theatres to watch films Meanwhile in India childrenrsquos stories are still being told but mostly outside the mainstream Mishra says the percentage remains tiny ldquoConsidering more than 2000 films are being made every year the percentage of childrenrsquos cinema is very lowrdquo he saysMarathi filmmaker Shivraj Waichal whose film Arjun 2021 explored disability through a childrsquos perspective ldquoWe underestimate children and think about the parents first We believe that the parents will watch the film too and end up catering to themrdquo he says Even child actor Aaditya Shukla who starred in Dice Mediarsquos Bakaiti 2025 notices the gap He says ldquoThere are so many interesting stories that can be told from a childrsquos point of view but we donrsquot see themrdquo As Gupte puts it ldquoWhat you give people will eat If you give only spectacle they will eat spectaclerdquoNFDC speaksldquoWe are also planning to revive the International Childrenrsquos Film Festival Indiahellip to create a vibrant platform for exhibition discovery and engagementrdquo said Prakash Magdum Managing Director NFDC Boong for example was supported through Film Bazaarrsquos Work in Progress LabThe missing link How India stopped making kidsrsquo filmsThe CFSI era thinsp3ndash4 childrenrsquos films commissioned annually thinspDedicated institutional funding thinspFilms distributed through schools and festivalsAfter CFSI and NFDC merger 2022 onwards thinspNo dedicated childrenrsquos commissioning mandate thinspChildrenrsquos projects compete with all film projects thinspFunding driven by market viabilityNo place for kidsIn Hindi cinema the number of childrenrsquos liveaction films made show a clear decline2005ndash2015 approx 25ndash302015ndash2025 approx 12ndash18Regional cinema for kidsAcross Indiarsquos major film industries barely 40ndash60 liveaction childrenrsquos films were made between 2015 and 2025Hindi 12ndash18 filmsExamples Dhanak 2015 Chidiakhana 2023Marathi 8ndash12 filmsExamples Elizabeth Ekadashi 2014 Killa 2014Malayalam 6ndash10 filmsExamples Kolambi 2019Assamese 4ndash6 filmsExamples Village Rockstars 2017 Bulbul Can Sing 2018Bengali 5ndash8 filmsExamples Rainbow Jelly 2018