Although colour television was introduced in India in the 1980s, it was pirated videocassettes which were seen to pose the greatest threat to the cinema. Cinema halls played mostly to male, working-class audiences, so it is not surprising that this decade is largely remembered as an age of the action movie, experiments with disco dancing and rape-revenge movies. The increasing availability of the audiocassette during this decade led to a revival in film music and the return to popularity of the teen romance, with roles taken by a new generation of younger stars, who dominated the 1990s: Madhuri Dixit, Juhi Chawla, Aamir Khan, Salman Khan and Shahrukh Khan. Despite the arrival of satellite and cable television, the family audience was coaxed back into the cinemas by a policy of video-holdback and the refurbishment of the cinema halls. This was led by Sooraj Barjatya, who's Hum aapke hain kaun...!/What am I to you? (1994), was the biggest box-office hit in Indian cinema history with the slogan "The greatest institution is the human family".

A new wave of film makers, who made films in the more technologically advanced South Indian studios, began to release dubbed versions of their films which were major critical and commercial successes in the north. At the forefront of these was Mani Ratnam (Bombay 1993/4), who introduced the music director AR Rehman to the world, whose sophisticated compositions made film music appeal to a new generation.

By the end of the 1990s though, it was clear that the only films which could compete with Hollywood at home and abroad were the super plush romance movies originally created by Yash Chopra, one of the top directors in 1990s, whose influence as producer, director and mentor saw the biggest hits from these years: Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge and Kuch Kuch Hota Hai .

Video piracy turns movie-making into high-risk business. Adoor Gopalakrishnan creates a classic Elippathayam (The Rat Trap). Jeetendra’s asinine Himmatwala inspires similar inane flicks. But there’s also Ardh Satya and Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron. In 1988, teen romance takes off with Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak

The new cinema movement continued with full spirit in. the next decade (eighties) also . Shyam Benegal presented some good movies like Manthan, Bhumika, Nishant, Janoon , and Trikal. Nihlani's Aaghat and Tamas were remarkable works. Other important films with new style of treatment include Damul (Prakash Jha), 36-Chowringhee Lane (Aparna Sen), New Delhi Times (Ramesh Sharma), Mirch Masala (Ketan Mehta), Rao Saheb (Vijaya Mehta), Debshishu (Utpalendu Chakraborthy), Massey Saheb (Pradeep Kishna), Trishagni (Nabayendu Ghosh), Ijaazat (Gulzar), Umrao Jaan (Muzafar Ali), Dakhal, Paar (Gautam Ghose), Dooratwa, Neem Annapurana, Andhi Gali (Buddhadeb Dasgupta), Aajka Robin Hood (Tapan Sinha), Tabarana Kathe, Bannada Vesha (Girish Kasara Valli), Accident & Swamy (Shanker Naag), Daasi (B. Narasinga Rao) and Phaniyamma (Prema Karanth).

The new wave masters of Kerala, Adoor and Arvindan, consolidated their position in the eighties with their films Elippathayam, Mukha Mukham, Anantharam, Esthappan, Pokkuveyil, Chidambaram, and Oridath, Elippathayam has won the prestigious British film Institute award for 1982. Shaji N.Karun's maiden film Piravi(1988) bagged several national and international awards and was shown in nearly forty film festivals. Meera Nair, the young woman director, won the Golden Camera award at Cannes for her first film Salaam Bombay in 1989. In 1990, Adoor Gopalakrishnan's Mathilukal won the FIPRESCI and UNICEF awards.