Music and Dance on TikTok & Reels: The New Stars of Indian Entertainment

There was a time when the path to stardom in India was simple, and brutal. You either made it to Bollywood, or you didn’t make it at all. Maybe you got a lucky break in a music video on MTV India, maybe a reality show. But the gatekeepers were always there — producers, record labels, TV networks — men in offices deciding who gets to be famous.

That system feels almost prehistoric now. I’ve sat in college canteens where teenagers were glued to their phones, not to watch film trailers or cricket highlights, but to scroll through endless TikTok videos — later Reels, after TikTok was banned in India in 2020. Dancers from Indore, singers from Guwahati, comedians from Jaipur — kids you’d never hear of otherwise — were suddenly national names. No Mumbai casting couch, no godfather, no Bollywood surname. Just a smartphone and rhythm. That’s the revolution TikTok and Instagram Reels brought to Indian entertainment.

The Democratization of Fame

TikTok, before its ban, was like a pressure cooker for Indian creativity. Everyone with a phone could be a performer. A rickshaw driver dancing to a Govinda song could hit millions of views overnight. A 19-year-old lip-syncing to Arijit Singh from a small town in UP could get brand deals in weeks.

Reels picked up the baton after TikTok left. And the formula didn’t change: bite-sized content, catchy hooks, endless scroll. Fame no longer belonged to the few. It belonged to whoever hit the algorithm just right — or, more importantly, whoever connected with audiences who never saw themselves in glossy Bollywood.

For India, a country obsessed with stardom, this was like ripping down the velvet curtain and letting everyone step onto the stage.

Music: The New Soundtrack of Virality

You know what’s wild? Songs that Bollywood ignored are blowing up because of Reels. Old classics, remixed tracks, regional folk songs — they all became currency for viral content. Suddenly, Bhojpuri beats were trending nationwide. A Tamil track could go viral in Punjab. Punjabi beats would dominate dance trends in Kerala.

Platforms created a new kind of success metric. It wasn’t about how many CDs sold, or how many radio plays a song got. It was: how many Reels is it on?

Case in point: Rasode Mein Kaun Tha. Not a film song, not even from a big artist. Just a remixed dialogue from a TV serial. But it became a cultural event, thanks to short-form video.

And Bollywood caught on. Music directors now think about “Reel-worthiness” when composing. Catchy 15-second hooks are gold. Full-length songs are almost secondary.

Dance: From Streets to Screens

Dance has always been at the heart of Indian entertainment. Bollywood made it larger-than-life with choreographed routines, and reality TV made it aspirational. But TikTok and Reels made it intimate.

I’ve seen kids in narrow Delhi lanes nail intricate routines with nothing but a tripod and natural light. Dancers who would’ve never made it past a reality show audition now have millions of followers. Their audience? Global.

The kind of dance that works online isn’t the grand set-piece. It’s sharp, raw, instantly shareable. A signature step. A move that anyone can imitate and make their own. From “Lungi Dance” to “Rowdy Baby,” what Bollywood once choreographed for cinemas is now being reinterpreted, broken down, and looped on Reels.

The Rise of Influencers as Stars

This is the part old Bollywood insiders didn’t see coming. Influencers aren’t just internet curiosities. They’re now stars. Brands sign them. Music labels pay them to use tracks. And audiences often trust them more than film celebrities.

Take Riyaz Aly, Avneet Kaur, or Jannat Zubair. These aren’t just “TikTok kids” — they’ve become household names, with endorsement deals and acting gigs that blur the line between influencer and mainstream star.

For younger audiences, these creators feel more real than Bollywood. They’re not untouchable icons. They’re kids from the neighborhood who made it big, who still talk in Hinglish, who laugh at their own bloopers. That relatability is priceless.

The Algorithm as a Gatekeeper

Let’s not romanticize it too much. The algorithm replaced the old gatekeepers, but it’s still a gatekeeper. A few seconds decide your reach. Virality can be brutal — one week you’re trending, the next you’re forgotten. And it’s not always fair. Creators from privileged backgrounds often scale faster because they can afford better phones, lighting, production.

But compared to Bollywood’s iron grip, it’s still a seismic shift. The doors are open wider, even if the competition is fiercer.

Clash and Convergence with Bollywood

Bollywood didn’t take long to notice. Film promotions are now built for Reels. A new song drops? The choreographer designs a hook step just so fans can copy it. Actors themselves jump into the game, posting their own dances and memes to keep the hype alive.

It’s a feedback loop. Bollywood feeds TikTok/Reels with content. TikTok/Reels feed Bollywood with new stars and viral energy. One doesn’t replace the other — they merge.

The Cultural Impact

The real story isn’t just about platforms or fame. It’s about culture. TikTok and Reels gave voice — and face — to parts of India that Bollywood rarely acknowledged. Small towns, regional dialects, lower-middle-class neighborhoods. People who never saw themselves on the big screen suddenly saw themselves in millions of feeds.

It also blurred generational lines. Grandparents dancing to Yo Yo Honey Singh, kids lip-syncing Kishore Kumar. It stitched India’s obsession with music and dance into the digital fabric of everyday life.

What the Future Looks Like

The short-video wave isn’t going anywhere. Maybe TikTok’s ban was a setback, but Reels, Moj, Josh, and YouTube Shorts filled the vacuum. The format is now part of Indian entertainment DNA.

I see a future where the lines between Bollywood and social media completely dissolve. Where songs are written for Reels first. Where influencers headline films. Where audiences don’t distinguish between “real stars” and “internet stars” — because both live in the same feed.

Closing Thoughts

When I think back to those noisy single-screen theatres, I don’t see them as gone. I see them as one chapter. Bollywood still exists. Multiplex blockbusters still rule. But parallel to that, a new star system has risen — scrappy, digital, chaotic, democratic.

Music and dance have always been India’s heartbeat. TikTok and Reels just changed the stage. And for once, the spotlight isn’t in Mumbai alone. It’s in every town, every lane, every living room where someone presses record and dares to perform.

And who knows — the next Shah Rukh might not be discovered in a studio audition. He might already be out there, dancing in 15-second loops, waiting for you to scroll onto him.