Glimpses of Indian Cinema

1. Indian Cinema
Shwetan Burkule
Roll-8210, PUMBA

2. Early Indian Film History
• First cinema show was on July 7,
1896 in Bombay
• Early films were British and
American imports
• In early 1930’s, Indian production
companies grew and were mainly
centered in Bombay
• Musical and dance numbers were
popular in India films, reflecting
the importance of dance in Hindu
culture.

3. Early India Film History
• Dhundiraj Govind
(Dadasaheb) Phalke (1870–
1944) is known as the father
of Indian Cinema. His films
depicted Hindu Gods and
promoted Indian
independence from Britain.
• Swadeshi (indigenous)
movement sought
independence through
boycott of British goods.
– This led to rapid growth A scene from Raja Harishchandra
(1913), the most influential film in
of Indian film industry early Indian Cinema

4. Indian Film After Independence
• India gained independence
from Britain in 1947.
Jawaharlal Nehru was India’s
first Prime Minister.
• Movies from 1947 – 1950’s
reflected Nehru’s optimism in
nation building and socialist
based economy.
• Movies tended to blend
musicals with social
commentary. Jawaharlal Nehru

5. Indian Film Industry
Today
• India is a large heterogeneous country of many languages. Because
of this, film production is fragmented into regional industries:
– Tamil film industry. Based in Chennia, it is second in popularity
to Hindi films. Popular in many southeast Asian countries. The
famous actors like Rajnikant, Chiranjeevi have gained popularity
through this Industry.
– Bengali film industry. Based around Calcutta, its films are very
popular and dominate the National Awards (India’s equivalent
of Academy Awards). Prominent among these are Satyajit Ray,
Mrinal Sen and Ritwik Ghatak

6. Contd.
– Marathi Film industry. This is the oldest film industry in
India. The First national award for the best film was
awarded to “Shyamchi Aai” in the year 1954.
– Kannada film industry. Based in Karnataka, it has become
popular in recent years with blockbuster movies.

7. Hindi Film Industry (Bollywood)
• The Hindi film industry is currently the largest
and dominates Indian films.
• Based in Bombay it is the center of Indian film
industry.
• Known popularly as “Bollywood”
– A blending of Bombay and Hollywood

8. Bollywood Film Stars
Bollywood has its own
celebrities among
young people. Some
of them have also
gained international
fame and exposure
like Aishwarya Rai-
Bacchhan, Mallika
Aishwarya Rai Bipasha Basu Amisha Patel
Sherawat, Amitabh
Bacchhan.
Pictured on left are
some of Bollywood’s
leading stars
Shah Rukh Khan Hrithik Roshan Aamir Khan

9. The Kannada film industry
(Sandalwood)
• The Kannada film industry, based in Karnataka, is sometimes called
'Sandalwood', as Karnataka is known for its abundant sandalwood
forests;
• The first big success in Kannada cinema adapted a Gubbi Company
stage play written by G. V. Iyer to introduce the mythological
adventure movie into that language."[17]. Kannada films has
become very popular after the recent hits like Jogi (2005) &
Mungaru Male (2007).

10. The Malayalam film industry
• The Malayalam film industry is based in Kerala.
• Malayalam movies are known for their artistic nature and they
frequently figure in the national film awards. It is also currently
known for being the most conservative out of the different film
industries in India, despite the fact that it went through a liberal
phase in the 80's.
• Notable personalities include the filmmakers Adoor
Gopalakrishnan, Bharathan, K. G. George, G. Aravindan,
Padmarajan, Shaji N.Karun and John Abraham

11. The Marathi film industry
• Marathi Film Industry, one of the oldest film industries in India, originated
in Nasik, and developed in Kolhapur and Pune.
• Dadasaheb Phalke, recognized as the father of Indian cinema, was a
pioneer of movies in Marathi. He produced the first Indian silent movie,
and later some Marathi talkies. In his honor, a much coveted "Dadasaheb
Phalke Award" is given annually for exceptional contribution to Indian
cinema.
• As an offshoot of Prabhat, V. Shantaram founded "Rajkamal Studios" in
Pune, and produced some excellent Marathi movies in the late 1950s and
early '60s.
• Shwaas earned an official Indian entry for an Oscar award in 2004), "Pak
Pak Pakaak" (won Swarovski Trophy in AFFF, Singapore, in 2005),"Sane
Guruji", "Uttarayan", "Aga Bai, Arecchaa“ etc are the other prominent
films.
• Modern Marathi actors include Dilip Prabhavalkar, Bharat Jadhav, Sonali
Kulkarni, Sadashiv Amrapurkar, Ashwini Bhave, Amruta Subhash, Atul
Kulkarni and Sanjay Narvekar.

12. The Tamil film industry(Kollywood)
• The Tamil film industry (Kollywood) is based in the
Kodambakkam area of Chennai.
• Several technicians have crossed industries to encapture
National fame such as Bharathiraja, Selvaraghavan,
Maniratnam, A. R. Rahman, Shankar, Ravi K. Chandran and
Jeeva.
• several Bollywood actresses made their débuts in Kollywood,
with Aishwarya Rai appearing in Iruvar, Priyanka Chopra in
Thamizhan, Lara Dutta in Arasatchi and Sushmita Sen in
Ratchagan.
• The Tamil film industry accounts for approximately 1% of the
gross domestic product of the state of Tamil Nadu.

13. The Telugu film
industry (Tollywood)
• The Telugu film industry is based in Andhra Pradesh's capital city,
Hyderabad.
• Raghupathi Venkaiah hailed as father of Telugu cinema is the first
exhibitor in the South. He bought crono-megaphone, the first
projector equipped to reproduce `sound' by disk system and
exhibited short reels way back in 1910.
• The Telugu film industry produces the largest number of films every
year in India, with about 245 films produced in 2006.
• The state also has what is claimed to be the largest film studio in
the world, Ramoji Film City.
• Successful Telugu films are also remade and dubbed in other
languages like Tamil, Malayalam and Kannada and are released in
respective states.

14. Globalization of Indian cinema
• Today, Indian cinema is becoming increasingly
westernised. This trend is most strongly apparent in
Bollywood.
• Bollywood also produced box-office hits like the films
Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge and Kal Ho Naa Ho,
both of which dealt with the overseas Indian's
experiences.
• Indian cinema is also influencing the English and
American musical; Baz Luhrmann's Moulin Rouge!
(2001) incorporates a Bollywood-style dance
sequence.

15. Indian Film Facts
Indian Film Industry (2007)
• Average Ticket Price- Rs 24.
• Attendance- 4,23,13,71,141
• Revenue- Rs.100,53,49,01,491
• Number of cinemas in the year 2007- 13,000
• India is the world leader in film production
• India has the most ticket sales per capita in the world

16. Awards
• the Indian government has sponsored the
National Film Awards (which first began in
1954), awarded by the government run
Directorate of Film Festivals (DFF).
• The Filmfare Awards ceremony is one of the
oldest and most prominent film events given
for Hindi films in India [12] and is sometimes
referred to as the "Bollywood Oscars.

17. Central Board of Film Certification
• For a film to be released publicly it must
receive approval from the board
• It’s guidelines state:
– The Cinematograph Act lays down that a film has
to be certified keeping the interests of
sovereignty, integrity and security of India,
friendly relations with foreign states ,public order,
morality etc. in mind.

18. Rating System
How do the rating systems of India and US compare?
India CBFC Ratings
Unrestricted Public Exhibition
Unrestricted – but with
parental supervision
Restricted to adults
Restricted to special class of
persons
Sanction of any of the above
category subject to Excisions
and Modifications
Refusal for exhibition

19. References
• Rajadhayaksha, A. (Ed.) (2001). Encyclopedia of India cinema.
• Culturopedia.com. Cinema in India.
http://cinema.culturopedia.com/cinemaintro.html
http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/southasia/Culture/Cinema/cinema.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinema_of_India
http://www.cbfcindia.tn.nic.in/