Cinema in India is like brushing your teeth in the morning. You

When Shah Rukh Khan, the king of Bollywood, declares, “Cinema in India is like brushing your teeth in the morning. You can’t escape it,” he is not simply speaking of entertainment. He is speaking of a rhythm woven into the very fabric of a nation, a daily ritual that has become inseparable from identity. Just as one cannot begin the day without cleansing the body, so too in India one cannot pass through life without touching the luminous world of cinema. It is breath, it is song, it is mirror and dream alike.

This statement unveils the universality of cinema in India. From crowded streets in Delhi to remote villages where a projector is carried into dusty squares, the screen has always found a way to light up faces. It is more than a pastime—it is a collective heartbeat. In its songs, people find their own joy; in its tragedies, they see their own grief. The way a nation sings the words of film songs as though they were ancient hymns proves the truth of Khan’s words: you cannot escape cinema, because cinema has become a part of you.

Consider the tale of Raj Kapoor, the legendary actor and filmmaker. In the 1950s, when India was still young after independence, his films like Awara and Shree 420 carried songs that traveled across borders, even into the Soviet Union, where strangers sang the words without knowing the language. Cinema became a bridge between cultures, an ambassador of emotion, because it was inseparable from the life of the people. In those moments, cinema was not an industry, it was a living tradition, like the morning sun that greets every man and woman, whether they wish for it or not.

The quote also speaks to the inescapable power of art. Just as brushing teeth cleanses and refreshes, cinema refreshes the spirit of millions. It renews hope, rekindles desire, and sometimes awakens courage. During times of hardship, when economic despair or political unrest loomed, people still gathered to watch stories on the screen. The act itself was an affirmation: life goes on, dreams are worth holding, and beauty can be found even amid dust and struggle. This daily encounter with cinema became both nourishment and escape, but most importantly, it became ritual.

Yet this ritual is not without its deeper significance. In the ancient world, bards and storytellers roamed villages, telling tales by firelight, shaping the morals and dreams of a community. In India, the screen has become that fire. Where once the sage spoke epics of Rama and Krishna, now cinema reimagines heroism, romance, and justice for the masses. Shah Rukh Khan’s statement is not casual—it is a recognition that in the modern age, cinema is myth-making, a continuation of ancient tradition by new means.

The lesson here is clear: we cannot dismiss what is woven into the lifeblood of society. To deny cinema in India would be like denying water to the thirsty or denying light to the dawn. The wise must understand that culture is not something to escape from but something to embrace, shape, and honor. For in shaping culture, one also shapes the people, and in shaping the people, one shapes the destiny of nations.

Therefore, let the children of tomorrow remember this: embrace the stories that surround you, for they are the teachers of your heart. Do not scorn the songs, the images, the rituals of your land, for within them lies the wisdom of who you are. At the same time, contribute your own story, your own song, your own vision, so that the great river of culture may flow ever richer. Just as cinema in India cannot be escaped, so too your responsibility to add light to the world cannot be ignored.

And when you hear Shah Rukh Khan’s words, “Cinema in India is like brushing your teeth in the morning. You can’t escape it,” do not hear only humor. Hear the eternal truth: that man is bound by story as surely as by breath, and that to live well is to live in harmony with the tales that sustain a people.