THE phrase “Indian cinema” immediately conjures up images of Bollywood's dynastic stars, endless songs and improbable stunts. In recent blockbusters, a hero has thought nothing of scaling huge human pyramids or bringing stillborn babies back to life—while also, of course, making time for a dance routine. Yet India is seeing the emergence of a small "Hindie" scene that shuns Bollywood's jamborees. Studios have slowly started backing more hatke (offbeat) films over the past five years, with two big companies setting up divisions devoted to such projects. A few Hindie actors are even gaining cult status. Mumbai street vendors selling pirated DVDs, who perhaps have the keenest sense of the market, now stock "art films". And this year's Cannes Film Festival, which ended on May 27th, featured three new films drawn from the country's growing market for alternative cinema.



Anurag Kashyap, one of India's most prominent offbeat directors, brought his two-part film about corrupt coal mafias, "Gangs of Wasseypur", as part of the Cannes Directors' Fortnight showcase. He also produced Vasan Bala's "Peddlers", which was screened in the Cannes Critics' Week showcase. "Miss Lovely", a take on India's 1980s sleazy B-movie industry, was in the festival's official selection.



Hindie films are largely written by and for India's growing middle class. They typically put plot first, feature no stars and cost no more than $2.5m to make. Such films often take on edgier subjects. "Peepli Live", a 2010 film, explored rural suicides. Last year's "Love Sex aur Dhoka" took on sex tapes. The genre also produces romantic comedies whose characters reflect their metropolitan audience. Hindie protagonists are urbane artists, journalists and bankers. Love often fizzles out.



The spread of multiplex cinemas, which first arrived in Delhi in 1997 and in Mumbai in 2001, has boosted the Hindie. India's cinema owners now have enough screens to show both Bollywood blockbusters and niche projects. Also, as they replace single-screen venues, these swish theatres are raising prices from $1.50 to as much as $7 per ticket. The cinema is increasingly becoming a middle-class hangout.



By contrast, Bollywood's output is largely made for the masses by a small elite of “film families”. These undeniably fun films are often conceived as a showcase for a coiffed star rather than a coherent storyline. “The hero will fight, sing, dance, fall in love—he will do everything. These are called ‘masala films',” says Ganesh Matkari, an Indian cinema critic. A top-end epic costs $15m-30m, according to film executives.



The Hindie crowd cite Korean cinema, which has gained international acclaim over the last decade, as an example of how things could develop. There is still some way to go. Hindie cinematography is more naturalistic than Bollywood's zooming close-ups and saturated colours, but it is rarely experimental. The CCTV-style shots used in "Love Sex aur Dhoka", one of the genre's best films, were a notable exception.



Perhaps the most interesting development is that the worlds of Bollywood and Hindie are starting to influence each other. Recent blockbusters have taken the unusual step of having a female lead. Meanwhile, Mr Kashyap uses songs in "Gangs of Wasseypur". Dibakar Banerjee, the director of "Love Sex aur Dhoka", likewise uses songs in "Shanghai", which is due out on June 8th.



“The masala films aren't going away—people still love them,” says Siddharth Roy Kapur, the head of UTV Motion Pictures, a large Indian studio now controlled by Disney. UTV has had a hatke division since 2007.



“But the definition of ‘mainstream' is broadening,” he adds. “The lines are blurring.”