And the cash registers are likely to keep ringing, with high-profile films such as superstar Salman Khan’s “Dabangg 3” (Fearless 3) scheduled for release this week as a blockbuster season comes to a close.

Ankita Maneck will be among the millions queueing to see Khan beat up bad guys, break into song-and-dance numbers and ride off into the sunset for the customary happy ending.

In the last 12 months, Maneck lost her job, moved back home and then had to scrounge for funds to pay for her father’s surgery.

Her only respite came in the form of a movie ticket, she said, describing her cherished Friday night routine that always includes a trip to the cinema.

“The current economic situation is very frustrating,” said the 29-year-old who now works as a marketing executive in the western city of Baroda.

“Watching movies is a great way to escape reality,” she told AFP.

She is not the only one who thinks so. As New Delhi struggles to kickstart the limping economy, with quarterly growth recently falling to a six-year low, the movie business has been pushing ahead at full throttle.