Language is the new genre: What Indian films reveal about changing consumer preferences

“Language is no longer a barrier, it’s a genre,” the IMDb “25 Years of Indian Cinema” report (2025) makes a definitive observation about language in contemporary Indian cinema.

This shift reflects how audiences now use language as a signal for tone, style and storytelling expectations rather than as a limitation.

Language as a Creative Shortcut

The report states that audiences now associate specific cinematic attributes with different language industries:

• Telugu and Kannada cinema with “maximalist spectacle and heightened heroism”
• Malayalam cinema with “rooted realism”
• Tamil cinema with tonal versatility and ideological themes balanced with commercial grammar

As a result, viewers approach films with genre expectations already formed through language identity.

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Accessibility Changed Consumption

The arrival of streaming platforms enabled dubbed and subtitled versions to reach audiences at scale, lowering long-standing language barriers.

However, the report stresses that improved access alone does not explain shifting preferences. Hindi cinema, despite its dominant distribution, did not see similar gains, indicating that audience alignment was driven by storytelling resonance rather than availability.

The Remake Model Under Reassessment

With originals now widely accessible, the report notes that “the remake model is under reassessment.”

Examples from the dataset show that while earlier remakes succeeded when originals were less accessible, recent Hindi remakes of Southern films struggled once audiences could easily watch the original versions.

Dubbing and subtitling have become part of release strategy, reducing the need for narrative replication.

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Authenticity as Navigation

As collaborations increase and films are shot in multiple languages, the report notes that the director’s narrative style is becoming a key way audiences navigate content.

This underscores “the value of authenticity” in an ecosystem where language functions as a creative cue rather than a constraint.