The Kashmir Files director Vivek Agnihotri recently talked about the challenges Bollywood is facing and remarked that the industry is falling and is in shambles. He also took a potshot at the new generation of stars and stated that the decline of the industry is good for it.
Now, filmmaker Hansal Mehta penned a long letter on social media sharing his thoughts on the industry and the issues it is going through. He did not name Agnihotri but wrote on X (formerly Twitter), “Hindi Cinema Needs a Reset. For those predicting doom for Bollywood—pause. The industry isn’t dying. It’s waiting to be disrupted. The problem isn’t the audience losing interest. It’s that investment is being funneled into the safe, the recycled, the formulaic.”
Mehta continued that the future of Hindi cinema lies in betting on raw talent, bold storytelling and directors who can take a script and “direct the hell out of it.” He wrote, “The past few years have proved: stars don’t necessarily bring audiences; conviction does. A new generation of actors, filmmakers, and writers is ready to change the game. But it will take producers with vision, platforms that back stories over statistics, and directors who demand authenticity over familiarity. It will need solid financial discipline, intelligent exhibition strategy, marketing that is well thought out and not the template paid publicity that is making publicists rich and the industry much poorer.”
He then went on to name some of the young actors who made a mark in the last couple of years such as Adarsh Gourav, whom he called the Shape-Shifter, Vedang Raina, whom Mehta called the Screen Stealer. He called Ishaan Khatter the ‘Untapped Dynamo’, Zahan Kapoor the ‘Breakthrough Name’, Aditya Rawal the ‘Disruptor’, Sparsh Shrivastava as the ‘Silent Revolution’, Abhay Verma the ‘Wildcard’, Lakshya the ‘Relentless Fighter’ and Raghav Juyal the ‘Unpredictable Wildcard’.
Mehta concluded, “What’s the missing piece? Faith. Investment. Patience. Producers: Think long-term. Stop chasing weekend box office numbers and start building talent that will bring audiences back for years. Platforms: You have the data. Now have some faith. In talent. Start backing actors, not algorithms. Directors: Cast actors for the role, the skill, the depth. Not just familiarity. The audience is hungry for authentic, lived-in performances. Hindi cinema doesn’t need saving—it needs a shift in priorities. The formula is simple: invest in actors, not “stars.” Write without fear. Direct with conviction. Written in good faith. Apologies in advance for any omissions or errors.”
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