In a country where a huge population is under 15, one would expect a vibrant, thriving ecosystem of cinema made for children. But the reality is starkly different. Despite occasional successes and moments of brilliance, India’s children’s cinema remain marginal, both in numbers and in mainstream cultural imagination.
When Institutions Fade, Dreams Fade Too
For decades, Children’s Film Society, India (CFSI) stood as the principal public institution dedicated to producing and distributing children’s films. Founded in 1955, it gave voice to young protagonists, childhood imaginations, rural innocence and youthful curiosity — in dozens of feature films, animated shorts, documentaries and festival screenings.
Yet, in a sweeping reform announced in 2022, CFSI along with several other film-media bodies, was merged into National Film Development Corporation of India (NFDC). While the rationale was institutional rationalization, the merger also diluted the focus on children-specific cinema under a large umbrella of film, archive, and festival mandates.
The consequence is predictable: when the specialized guardians of children’s cinema lose their autonomy and priority, children’s films tend to recede further into the background.
What Children’s Cinema Offers
Why does children’s cinema matter? Because unlike mainstream “family” entertainments, films for children have the power to shape early moral imagination, social sensitivity, aesthetic taste. They provide representation to childhood realities seldom seen in adult-oriented films: hopes, fears, innocence, small joys, large questions.
Moreover, they can be culturally rooted: regional languages, local folklore, rural childhood experiences, all find space when one intentionally crafts cinema for children. In a diverse country like India, such representation helps preserve plurality of stories and perspectives.
When this space shrinks, we risk raising generations who consume mostly imported or formulaic content, diluting the very narrative heritage, and weakening the chance for children to see themselves on screen in meaningful ways.
The Economics
The harsh truth is, the numbers rarely add up. A purely children-oriented film seldom draws large multiplex audiences, because decision-making rests with parents. Marketing requires targeted outreach — through schools, parenting networks, community screenings — which is costly, effort-intensive, and returns uncertain.
Moreover, children’s films often lack the ancillary revenue streams that sustain mainstream cinema — satellite rights, big-budget music sales, star-power — making recovery harder. In an industry increasingly driven by high-risk-high-reward blockbusters, smaller children’s films struggle to secure funding or distribution.
Even streaming platforms, often cited as the saviour of niche genres, tend to prefer IP-driven animated content or familiar franchises. Standalone, realistic, auteur-driven children’s films rarely make the licensing cut, unless they come with strong names or pre-existing hype.
What Needs to Change — If We Truly Value Tomorrow’s Viewers
We must revive children’s cinema — not as nostalgia for yesteryear, but as cultural infrastructure for tomorrow’s India. This requires action on several fronts:
- Institutional commitment: The void left by CFSI’s merger must be filled — through committed funding, dedicated divisions within public film bodies, or independent trusts working to produce, restore, and distribute children’s films.
- New distribution strategies: Beyond theatres and OTT, schools, libraries, community halls and regional festivals must be re-imagined as distribution networks. Children’s films should return to being part of educational and social outreach.
- Support for regional & low-budget cinema: Regional languages, non-urban stories, realistic childhood — often costly to market but rich in cultural value — must be encouraged through subsidies, grants, and co-productions.
- Hybrid revenue models: Combining modest theatrical release, streaming, school licensing, and festival circuits can spread risk and improve sustainability.
- Awakening social value: Filmmakers, producers and audiences must recognize that children’s cinema isn’t a “side genre” — it’s the wellspring for future storytellers, empathetic individuals, and culturally aware citizens.
The Stakes Are Higher Than Box Office
At its core, cinema is not just entertainment, it’s a mirror and a school. What we show children shapes how they see themselves, their world, and their possibilities. When we neglect cinema for children, we don’t just lose films, we lose the chance to nurture innocence, imagination, empathy, critical thought.
In an age dominated by high-speed content, flashy animations and global franchises, rediscovering the quiet power of children’s films is more urgent than ever. Because those tiny voices narrated through local languages, simple frames, honest stories may well define the soul of Indian cinema’s future.
