The new and final season of Koffee with Karan kicked off with Salman Khan as its first guest, and what began as a trip down memory lane soon got me thinking about my own relationship with Bollywood.As Karan Johar and Salman revisited their first meeting and their film together, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, the conversation turned to how much the industry has changed. From films and actors to sets and the overall experience of making cinema, the sentiment was clear that they simply do not make them like they used to.As they reminisced about films such as Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and Dulhan Hum Le Jayenge, I found myself asking a question I had not consciously thought about in a long time.When was the last time I genuinely enjoyed a Bollywood film?Somewhere along the way, I stopped looking forward to Bollywood. It was not a conscious decision or a dramatic boycott. I simply lost interest. The repetitive storylines, familiar faces, increasingly similar-looking actors, and forgettable music made it harder to find something that genuinely excited me. With every passing year, mainstream Hindi cinema seemed to be getting more predictable, and its music was often the biggest disappointment.Today, when I open YouTube looking for a song, I almost always find myself going back to the 1990s and early 2000s. Not because everything made back then was brilliant, but because there was variety. Films could make you laugh, break your heart, challenge you, or simply entertain you. They had flaws, but they didn’t all feel like variations of the same story.Story continues below this adAlso Read | Salman Khan says he will have children one day, opens up about staying unmarried: ‘My decision’The films we still remember, and the stars we still missThink of Dil Se, Sarfarosh, Roja, Andaz Apna Apna, Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, Damini, Baazigar, Satya, Kaho Naa… Pyaar Hai and Vaastav. And that is just the 1990s. The 2000s gave us Lagaan, Rang De Basanti, Guru, Jodhaa Akbar, Rockstar, and Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, among many others.Different genres, different sensibilities, different stories. These films gave us memorable characters and music we still listen to.Watching Salman on Koffee with Karan brought back another memory. Karisma Kapoor joined the episode for the rapid-fire segment, and the conversation touched on Dulhan Hum Le Jayenge, its songs, and its costumes. It reminded us how films from that era could leave a mark on popular culture well beyond their theatrical run.And then there is Salman himself. Watch him in the song Pehli Pehli Baar Jab from Jab Pyaar Kisi Se Hota Hai, and you simply cannot miss the effortless charm he brought to the screen. I would challenge today’s actors to recreate that particular combination of looks and charisma, just as I would challenge anyone to recreate Shah Rukh Khan’s magic in Chaiyya Chaiyya. But I also do not necessarily want them to. I want today’s stars to create their own moments, the kind that audiences will remember decades later.Story continues below this adWe seem to have traded stars for carefully managed images. Public relations teams, media training, brand associations, and carefully constructed personas have become an increasingly visible part of celebrity culture. Everyone has an image to maintain and a narrative to sell.There is nothing wrong with publicity, but when everything feels curated, where does the spontaneity or the authenticity go?Where is the individuality?The problem isn’t that today’s stars cannot be charismatic. It is that the machinery around them can make it harder for their individuality to shine through. When every appearance, interview, and brand association seems carefully planned, the line between a celebrity and the image being sold to us begins to blur.Whatever happened to independent music?And while we are at it, whatever happened to independent music?Story continues below this adThere was a time when you did not need a film to give you a hit song. Indian pop music had its own stars, albums, and identity. Shaan and Sonu Nigam were familiar voices, while Falguni Pathak became the queen of dandiya and festive pop with songs such as Maine Payal Hai Chhankai (1999) and Meri Chunar Udd Udd Jaye (2000).Alisha Chinai’s Made in India (1995) became a defining pop hit. Lucky Ali gave us O Sanam and Dekha Hai Aise Bhi, songs with a sound and soul unmistakably their own. Euphoria, led by Palash Sen, brought Indian pop-rock into the mainstream with Maaeri and Dhoom Pichuck. Silk Route’s Dooba Dooba became an anthem, while the Aryans gave us Aankhon Mein Tera Hi Chehra, featuring a young Shahid Kapoor in its music video.And who can forget Leja Leja Re, the 2006 song featuring Shreya Ghoshal and Ustad Sultan Khan, or Tera Mera Pyar by Kumar Sanu?These songs did not need a blockbuster to find an audience. They had lives of their own. You could play them on repeat, associate them with a phase of your life, and return to them years later. Independent music had room to breathe, and artists could build identities outside the film industry. Today, it feels as though film soundtracks dominate the conversation, while standalone music struggles to command the same mainstream attention.Story continues below this adPerhaps what I miss is not just the music itself, but the idea that a song could become popular on its own merits, without being attached to a film, a star or a promotional campaign. Independent music gave listeners a different set of voices to discover and artists a chance to build an identity beyond the movies. That space still exists, but it feels much harder for it to occupy the centre of popular culture. ⠀From film songs to advertisements, where did the fun go?The nostalgia extends to advertising, too. Pepsi and Coca-Cola once gave us commercials that felt like events. I remember the excitement of waiting for a new ad. From the Liril girl to the little boy chasing a jalebi in the Dhara cooking oil advertisement, and Cadbury’s memorable campaigns, advertising could be funny, inventive, and genuinely entertaining.Now, I struggle to sit through many commercials. Too often, they rely on familiar celebrity faces and predictable formulas.Where are the ideas that make you stop and pay attention? Why does everything have to look so similar?Story continues below this adThat sameness is what bothers me about mainstream Bollywood, too. The perfectly sculpted bodies, familiar styling, predictable romances, and songs that struggle to stay with you beyond a few listens. It is not that every contemporary film is bad or that the past was perfect. The 1990s and 2000s had their share of forgettable films, formulaic scripts and manufactured stars. But the films and songs that worked gave us something to hold on to.Perhaps that is also why older films returning to cinema halls feel so significant. Audiences are willing to revisit stories they already know, not just for nostalgia but for the pleasure of experiencing them on the big screen again. Maybe the question is not why people keep returning to the past, but what made those films worth returning to in the first place.Pankaj Udhas’s Aur Ahista Kijiye Baatein is a reminder of how music can endure without a trend, a promotional campaign, or a film release to keep it alive. There is an intimacy to the song that makes you slow down and listen. It asks for nothing more than your attention.And perhaps that is what I have been missing all along.Story continues below this adI do not want Bollywood to recreate the 1990s or bring back the past. Every generation deserves its own stories, sounds, and cultural moments. I want today’s films to surprise me, today’s music to stay with me. I want to look forward to a film without having to convince myself to watch it.Until then, I will probably keep returning to my old favourites that I have known for years and wondering when Bollywood stopped feeling like a place I wanted to visit.Watching Salman Khan and Karan Johar reminisce about the films they made together did not make me want to return to Bollywood. It made me realise how far I had drifted away from it.