India, April 6 -- Veteran actor Pankaj Kapur reflects on the evolving landscape of Hindi cinema at a time when big-budget spectacles like Dhurandhar, Dhurandhar: The revenge, and franchise-driven formulas such as Housefull 5 (2025), Stree 2 (2024) dominate the conversation, with films like Golmaal 5 continuing the sequel trend. Despite the industry's tilt towards scale and familiarity, Kapoor believes storytelling is quietly reclaiming its space. "The biggest change is that stories have improved significantly. Content has come back strongly into cinema," Kapoor says, reflecting on how the focus has gradually returned to substance after a phase where it seemed to drift.

"There was a period, especially in the late '80s and '90s, which was ...