The cinema has a very important place in modern life. It is the cheapest and the most popular form of amusement. In every large city, there are several cinema houses. They are mostly full. Young and old, men and women, all like to enjoy a picture.

Different people have different views about the cinema. Young people think that cinema is a pleasure garden. The married couple thinks it is the best source of recreation. The old and the moralists dislike it. They think it as an evil. The cinema is an important means of recreation. Men, women, old, young and children are equally interested in seeing films. After hard work in the day, a visit to a movie removes our dullness.

The cinema has also great educative value. Its share in shaping and educating the public mind in different branches of learning is certainly great. There are indeed many educational films. In the Western countries, the school-going children are taught many practical lessons in History, Geography, Botany, Chemistry and other branches of learning through them. In the same way, art, literature and religion can also be taught through the cinema, it is the best audio-visual aid.

The cinema has a great social value. It has become very popular. So it affects the society to a great extent. There are many social pictures which expose the evils of our society. They can greatly help to uproot social evils. The cinema is also an important means of publicity and propaganda. We are living in the age of science. There is a rapid progress in trade and industry. Much of the development work in the country is shown through the cinema.

The cinema suffers from many evils. All the pictures are not educative. Some pictures are obscene. Regular seeing of films makes an adverse effect on our mind, health, purse and time. It weakens our eyes. It has effect on public morals. The other evil of the cinema is that it increases crime. People learn from it new methods of committing crimes. The criminal films make an adverse effect on the young and undeveloped minds. Children learn many crimes from the films.

The standard of the Indian films is generally low. Modern films ignore high ideals and corrupt our taste. Every effort should be made to improve the quality of films. Greater attention should be given to enhance their educative value.