An estimated 250 million officially ‘‘literate’’ people in India cannot read a simple text. Same Language Subtitling (SLS) of Bollywood film songs on TV is already giving regular reading practice to 100 million weak readers. Informed by more than a decade of research and implementation, a case is made here for SLS as a cost-effective and proven solution for lifelong reinforcement of reading skills. India’s literacy rate experienced a dramatic rise in the last fifty years, from 18.3% in 1951 to 65.4% in 2001, when the last census was conducted. That translates to a country of 562 million literates and 296.2 million nonliterates. The most significant decadal growth of 12.9% was in the 1990s, mainly due to the innovative Total Literacy Campaigns (TLCs) of the National Literacy Mission (NLM). That much is the oft cited good news. What does a literacy rate of 65.4% actually mean? The Indian Census defines a literate as ‘‘A person aged 7 and above who can both read and write with understanding in any language.’’ Relaxing the definition on writing, can 65.4% of the 7+ population in India, at least read a simple text with understanding? Not really. What it means is that households across India reported 65.4% of its members to be ‘‘literate,’’ when the census fieldworker showed up. What if the national census had actually tested for reading ability? We did just that, with a sample of nearly 20,000 people drawn from 3,200 randomly chosen households in four Hindi states – Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Bihar. First we followed the census approach. Then we asked every household member, aged 7 and above, to read a simple text in Hindi, of 35 words, that