Aamir Khan will release his latest film on YouTube so families who cannot afford cinema trips can watch
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bout ten years ago, Aamir Khan became troubled. Despite being one of Bollywood’s most bankable superstars for more than three decades, he realised that only tiny numbers of Indians were watching him on the big screen.
Indian cinema is widely adored and has an outsized influence on society but just 2-3% of its 1.4 billion people go to the cinema.
One longstanding problem is access, in particular in rural areas. Khan, who has starred in, directed and produced celebrated films including Lagaan, 3 Idiots and Taare Zameen Par, spent years trying to develop a plan to build thousands of low-cost cinemas in India’s rural hinterland where films could be beamed in via satellite. However, the initiative was stymied by relentless bureaucracy.
