Who Really Decides What India Watches? | Kanu Behl | Ep 270 | The Mohua Show

This episode of The Mohua Show is a searing, deeply honest conversation about power, gatekeeping, censorship, and what it takes to make cinema inside systems designed to resist discomfort.

Filmmaker Kanu Behl speaks with rare candour about his journey through Indian independent cinema — from giving nearly a decade of his life to a film, to publicly speaking out when its release and distribution were threatened. What began as a personal cry for help, he reflects, soon revealed the deeper power structures that govern Indian cinema today.

From organic word-of-mouth that no marketing budget could buy, to the worsening barriers to access that now demand money even to be seen, this episode lays bare a system more interested in extraction than engagement.

What this episode is REALLY about

Not glamorous filmmaking.
Not safe stories.
Not pretending audiences don’t understand complexity.

It’s about:

• Speaking out — when silence becomes impossible
• Power structures — who really controls Indian cinema
• Gatekeeping — access, money, and exclusion
• Corporate dominance — profit over artistic risk
• Organic word of mouth — when people choose stories
• Formula cinema — violence, spectacle, and repetition
• Intimacy on screen — home, family, and emotional truth
• The personal as political — why small stories hit hardest

If you’ve ever wondered why certain films struggle to be released, why honest cinema feels increasingly rare, or why audiences are blamed instead of gatekeepers, this episode will change how you see Indian cinema.