This article of mine looks at how rising taxes, unchecked piracy, and algorithm-led content chaos are choking India’s entertainment industry and asks whether we’re applauding growth while real creativity is quietly disappearing.
I’ve held back from writing not because I lacked opinions but because what was unfolding around us didn’t deserve applause. In an industry that thrives on visibility, the most important issues today remain hidden beneath the surface. We see growth charts, new launches and events, but very little honesty about what it’s really like to build or sustain content in today’s India.
Take WAVES for example. A beautifully mounted event that brought together stakeholders to discuss the future of entertainment. But while we celebrated the surface, no one addressed the foundational cracks. That same week, the Supreme Court gave the green light for both Centre and state governments to levy entertainment taxes on broadcasting. This means that platforms already paying GST may now have to pay state taxes as well. While this may not stir headlines, it quietly reshapes the economics of Indian entertainment.
For large media conglomerates with legal teams and capital reserves, this is a procedural inconvenience. For regional players and independent outfits, it is a serious obstacle. Operational margins are already under strain. Advertising is fragmented. Subscription growth is inconsistent. When multiple taxes stack up, the message becomes clear. The small will exit and the powerful will remain.
This burden might fall on platforms today. But creators and influencers are next. If platforms start bleeding, they will pass on the cost. This is not direct censorship. It is economic pressure disguised as policy. You do not need to silence a voice if you can make it too expensive for it to be heard.
Piracy is another crisis hiding in plain sight. High-quality versions of major films are leaked before their release. The source is often internal. The action taken is minimal. I know producers who now skip theatrical releases altogether because they fear their film will be available online before the first ticket is sold. Everyone suffers except the pirate. The system looks away. Meanwhile, the content environment is being distorted by algorithmic behaviour. What offends spreads faster than what matters. Shock drives clicks. Noise wins over nuance. Family content and thoughtful storytelling get buried under trending vulgarity. Brands continue chasing reach, rarely questioning the type of content their media spend is supporting. Platforms issue statements, but little changes.
What is most concerning is the emerging ecosystem this creates. A system where cost structures and discovery models both push creators toward compromise. Staying authentic becomes the least profitable path. The market punishes risk. And that is never good for art. The bigger picture is even more troubling. This structure protects the powerful and isolates the rest. Large players can absorb taxes, invest in distribution, and influence regulation. Independent voices cannot. What starts as economic inequality becomes narrative inequality. Slowly but surely, we are building a media economy where only a few get to tell the story.
This is not theoretical. The ripple effect is real. The regional director shelving his next script. The independent YouTuber struggling with compliance. The small OTT platform collapsing under legal costs. These are the quiet casualties of an industry that celebrates volume but ignores depth. We must ask harder questions. Who is this system really serving? Is growth being measured in numbers or in diversity of voices? If we applaud scale without protecting substance, what exactly are we building?
There are solutions. Taxation must be simplified with protective measures for small players. Anti-piracy enforcement must move beyond surface optics and into swift, coordinated action. Algorithms must be held to higher standards of accountability. Most importantly, we need a new mindset that does not treat creativity as a commodity but as a cornerstone. The danger is not that creativity will disappear overnight. The danger is that it will adapt to survive in all the wrong ways. That creators will stop dreaming big, stop taking risks, and begin moulding their ideas to fit into an ecosystem that no longer values originality.
So again, what are we celebrating? The digital infrastructure or the shrinking space for new ideas? An industry that expands on paper but contracts at its core? India does not lack talent. It never has. But without protection, support and a fair playing field, even the brightest creators will lose the will to fight. We are not far from a future where the entertainment industry becomes a showroom of sameness. And that is not a future worth clapping for.
(The views expressed are personal.)
