By the year 1982 television has become an indispensable commodity of the drawing rooms of an Indian household. Its popularity kept on increasing and with it came the changes in the audio visual medium in India. By1993 Doordarshan, the national channel, diversified in a big way and daily programmes were shown in Hindi, English and sometimes in Urdu. Regional movies were shown on weekends and so where the popular and critically acclaimed Hindi films.

There were further changes in the audiovisual medium when the satellite packages were introduced with the Star TV. This time the Indians could also watch international films and programmes. These modifications were largely responsible for the changes in the Indian audience as well. Along with it came Zee TV, CNN, Sony and others. Every channel has movie sections where films were broadcasted all day long. The audience, now, has the freedom to choose from a variety of films.

The Indian cinema was now challenged to deliver more interesting and innovative themes to lure the audience out of their lairs and make them reach the cinema halls. The popularity of the films also made it possible for the film industry to reach out to more number of people. Apart from television there were VCDs to watch movies. The video cassettes were easily available in the markets. There was now no problem in watching Guru Dutt`s Pyaasa or Raj Kapoor`s Shree 420 as and when desired. Certain serious changes were yet to come. The popularity of television had an impact on children too. They were glued to the cartoon channels and loved the Walt Disney characters. This led to the making of animation films in India as well. It also popularized the animation films that were made elsewhere. The changes in the audio visual medium revolutionized the thought process of the Indians. They no more wanted to be restricted with mythological films, historical sagas or the romantic genres. They were ready to accept more realistic films and were ready for the experimental cinema.

Thus a new era was set to begin on the silver screen with anti heroes and heroines, love stories without happy endings and slowly the thin line between art and commercial cinema disappeared.