When Zakia Rafiqi, 26, heard that Laila Majnu, a 2018 Bollywood film, was being re-released in cinemas this month, she knew she had to watch it again.

“In 2018, I was among a handful of people in the cinema. This time, there were many more people. A lot of them were laughing and crying,” says Ms Rafiqi, who went with her sister to a cinema in Delhi.

Ms Rafiqi says she has an “emotional connect” with the film, a tragic love story set in Indian-administered Kashmir, where she is from.

“It’s good to see a piece of home on the big screen. When they are driving through the streets of Kashmir, you feel you are there,” she says.

Laila Majnu, written by popular filmmaker Imtiaz Ali, barely made a mark at the box office when it was first released, but did good business on its second run. It is one among dozens of Indian films – some made more than two decades ago – which are getting a new lease of life as people flock to watch them on the big screen.

India’s film industry, like others across the world, has seen ups and downs since the coronavirus pandemic shuttered cinemas for months and led many to turn to streaming services. It is yet to return to its former glory.

“This year has been particularly bad for new [Bollywood] releases,” says trade analyst Komal Nahta.

The industry – dominated by Hindi-language Bollywood – is now churning out films more regularly, but it’s common to hear people say they will wait for a film to stream on Netflix or Amazon Prime Video instead of going to cinemas.

Some films do break through – Stree 2, a Hindi horror-comedy currently playing in cinemas, has earned close to four billion rupees ($47.6m; £36.1m) domestically so far to become the year’s biggest Bollywood hit. In terms of overall earnings, it is second only to Kalki 2898 AD, a “pan-Indian” film which featured some of the country’s biggest stars. But these are rare bright spots for an industry which has seen highly anticipated films with big stars fare miserably at the box office this year.

There’s no doubt that India’s film industry is continuing to see a churn as viewing habits shift – the top 10 films so far this year include three from the southern state of Kerala, where budgets are comparatively small.

So it’s not surprising that both film distributors and viewers are turning to the comfort of the familiar. A look at the list of films being released again shows there’s no clear formula behind the choices.

Bollywood re-releases this year are across a range of genres. The 1990s seem to be a favourite decade with much-loved rom-coms Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge and Hum Aapke Hain Koun and action thrillers Main Khiladi Tu Anari and Baazigar getting a second outing. More recent hits – musical Rockstar (2011), buddy film Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (2011) and rom-com Jab We Met (2007) – have also brought people back to cinemas.

Analysts say the biggest surprise was the success of Laila Majnu. The film’s makers have said they were particularly happy that viewers in Kashmir could watch it as cinema halls reopened there in 2022 after more than two decades.

“The film has finally recovered its cost or at least minimised its losses,” says Mr Nahta, who adds that this will spur others to see if their films could also benefit from a re-release.