A JOURNEY OF MOTION PICTURE IN INDIA | EP15

New age filmmakers like Anurag Kashyap, Rajkumar Hirani, Dibakar Banerjee, Vishal Bhardwaj etc. have changed the scenario. There are movies on a number of themes. There is comedy, thriller, horror, fiction, movies with social message, SCI-FI etc. Films based on real life (Biopic) are making a remarkable impact on the youth. This is the age of Remakes. Films now are considered successful if the box office collection is above 100cr.

The Era of Bollywood Cinema Evolved a lot during the 30’s decade and the 90’s decade. The thirties are recognised as the decade of social protests in the history of Indian Cinema. A number of films making a strong plea against the social injustice were also made like V. Shantaram's Duniya Na Mane, Aadmi and Padosi, Damle & Fatehlal's Sant Tukaram, Mehboob's Watan, Ek hi Raasta and Aurat.

1931 was a landmark year for the Bollywood cinema as Alam Ara. Directed by Ardeshir Irani was the first Indian sound film. Its great Hindustani dialogues and seven songs made it a big hit. Indersabha was a film directed by Jamshedji Framji Madan which included 71 songs and was a 211 minutes long movie. It was released in 1932 whereas in 1937 Kisan Kanya was the first Indian colour film directed by Moti B. Gadwani.

The 90’s decade had a great impact on the Bollywood cinema. There were some great hits in the first half of the nineties. There were also some great achievements being honoured to our Bollywood actors.

 In the 21st century there is no demarcation between the arts of commercial films. Even mainstream films avoid songs and dances if the script does not require it. But the primary reason behind the cessation of such a demarcation is the audience's readiness to accept good films without any discrimination. 

A JOURNEY OF MOTION PICTURE IN INDIA | EP12

Films are made in many cities and regions in India including Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, Assam, Bengal, Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Jammu, Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Konkan (Goa), Kerala, Maharashtra, Odisha, Punjab, Tamil Nadu among others.

Though films are being made in all regional languages there are few regional filmmakers who stand in the race of today’s film industry, after bollywood south Indian movies place second followed with Marathi and the Punjab film industry.

Let’s start by knowing Marathi film industry. It is the oldest film industry. The pioneer of cinema in Union of India was Dadasaheb Phalke, who brought the revolution of moving images to India with his first indigenously made silent film Raja Harishchandra in 1913, is considered by IFFI and NIFD part of Marathi cinema as it was made by a Marathi crew.

In 1932, Prabhat Films produced first Marathi talkie film AYODHECHA RAJA. Marathi industry has come to notice in recent years after the film SHWAAS caught everyone’s eye. A place of genuine talent and fresh ideas is a key of Marathi industry. In recent year’s new concepts and good quality execution has turned Marathi industry’s faith.

Recently hit SAIRAT is the first Marathi film to cross a 100 crore club.

Another growing regional industry in terms of stories is the Bengali films. Having a legendry name of Satyajit Ray, Ritwik Ghatak, and Mrinal Sen as a back bone Bengali films are widely acclaimed. It started the parallel cinema movement and even today it has not left its style.

Over the years the output of films per year has increased in Bengal film industry it 149 films annually and Marathi film industry produces around 181 films annually.

Many other regional films also work hard and industries like Tamil and Telugu, Malayalam make sensible movies which are critically acclaimed worldwide.

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A JOURNEY OF MOTION PICTURE IN INDIA | EP8

The Indian film industry was moving towards modern age world cinema. India was developing with its infrastructure, economics, technology and culture. People had diverse opinions and likes-dislikes. Meanwhile the film industry was being filled up with upcoming talents such as Anil Kapoor, Govinda, Jackie Shroff, Madhuri Dixit, Amir Khan, and Salman Khan Etc. Commercial Hindi cinema grew throughout the 1980s and the 1990s with the release of films such as Ek Dooje Ke Liye (1981), Mr India (1987), Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak (1988), Tezaab (1988), Chandni (1989), and Maine Pyar Kiya (1989)

Masala films were back into action as the metro city life had taken full speed. Cinema became a stress buster and family entertainer. The films during this period gained audience and success but fell into a repetitive loop of action, crime, song, dance etc.

Heart throb Zeenat Aman had her year of charm while Danny Dangzongpa and Pran created terror. Competing Hindi cinema, Malayalam cinema of Kerala was experiencing its own 'Golden Age' in the 1980s and early 1990s. Some of the most acclaimed Indian filmmakers at the time were from the Malayalam industry, including Adoor Gopalakrishnan, G. Aravindan, T. V. Chandran and Shaji N. Karun. 

Adoor Gopalakrishnan directed some of his most acclaimed films during this period, including Elippathayam (1981) which won the Sutherland Trophy at the London Film Festival, as well as Mathilukal (1989) which won major prizes at the Venice Film Festival. He is often considered to be Satyajit Ray's spiritual heir as his movies make you remember Ray’s work

Shaji N. Karun's debut film Piravi (1989) won the Camera d'Or at the 1989 Cannes Film Festival, his second film Swaham (1994) was in competition for the Palme d'Or at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival. Commercial Malayalam cinema also began gaining popularity with the action films of Jayan, who lived a short success before an unfortunate demise.

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A JOURNEY OF MOTION PICTURE IN INDIA | EP7

The 1970s, Hindi commercial cinema saw the rise of gripping films such as Anand (1971), Amar Prem (1971) and Kati Patang (1972), establishing Rajesh Khanna as the first Superstar of Indian Cinema. Later, in mid 70s, action films like Zanjeer (1974) and Sholay (1975) solidified Amitabh Bachchan's position as a lead actor.

In 1975, Deewar, directed by Yash Chopra and written by Salim-Javed. 1979 Telugu film, Sankarabharanam, which dealt with the revival of Indian classical music, has won the Prize of the Public at the Besancon Film Festival of France in the year 1981. 1970 Kannada film, Samskara directed by Pattabhirama Reddy, pioneered the parallel cinema movement in south Indian cinema. The film won Bronze Leopard at the Locarno International Film Festival.

A new fleet of actor’s, directors and producers came up in the 1970’s thus giving opportunity to new talents. Rajesh Khanna made his mark in the industry and gave consecutive 15 blockbusters as a lead hero with films ARADHANA, DO RAASTE, BANDHAN, DOLI, KHAMOSHI, ITTEFAQ, SAFAR, KATI PATANG, THE TRAIN, SACHAA JHUTHA, AAN MILO SAJNA, MEHBOOB KI MEHNDI, ANDAZ, MARYADA, AMAR PREM etc.

Film maker Mani Ratnam’s directed Kannathil Muthamittal was critically acclaimed and Shyam Benegal continued to make parallel cinema with films like ANKUR, NISHANT, BHUMIKA, MANTHAN etc. the period also saw the rise of common man hero Amol Palekar with his films GOLMAAL, CHITCHOR, CHOTI SI BAAT, BATON BATON MAIN etc. 

Becoming an instant hit with relating a common mans grief with a comedy of chaos was well justified in his parallel movie league.

The Indian cinema had spread widely by now, with an intelligent audience, people demanded for new always and 1970’s has been a year full of experiments and new emerging talents who turned out to be big in today’s world.

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A JOURNEY OF MOTION PICTURE IN INDIA | EP6

The late 1940s to 1960 is known to be the golden age for Indian cinema. Some of the best cinematic wonders took place in between this two decade. It also saw the birth of parallel cinema, mainly led by Bengali cinema. Movies such as NEECHA NAGAR (1946), NAGRIK (1952), DO BIGHA ZAMEEN (1953) lay the foundation of Indian neorealist.

The style of new Indian wave in cinemas starting from the year 1955 like PATHER PANCHALI, THE APU TRIOLOGY was brought in by filmmaker Satyajit Ray, winning many international film festival awards, Indian Film Industry was being noticed for creativeness in its story and execution by the world. In 1967, Satyajit Ray written film named “The Alien” was said to be an inspiration for Steven Spielberg’s E.T. (1982). However Ray’s project got cancelled. He and Ritwik Ghatak were two of the prominent names in art films and parallel cinema.

Along with parallel cinema, commercial cinemas also started gaining huge success. Movies like Guru Dutt’s PYAASA (1957), KAAGAZ KE PHOOL (1959), Raj Kapoor’s AWAARA (1951), SHREE 420(1955), MUGHAL-E-AZAM (1960), and V. Shantaram’s DO AAKHEN BARAH HAATH (1957) were appreciated by audience and were a cult hit. The quality of these films was so good that the tag of being a masala movie from Indian Films Industry was partially wiped off. A journey towards amazing stories and ethical filmmaking was a key ingredient in this golden age of Indian cinema.

Mehboob Khan’s MOTHER INDIA (1957) was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. As said before people started noticing our work and because of filmmakers such as V. Shantaram, Satyajit Ray, Ritwik Ghatak, Mrinal Sen, Mani Kaul, Adoor Gopalakrishnan, G. Aravindan, Girish Kasaravalli, Bimal Roy, Buddhadeb Dasgupta and K. Asif.  The golden age of Indian cinema was indeed precious as gold.

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A JOURNEY OF MOTION PICTURE IN INDIA | EP5

    
In the 60’s cinema had started getting noticed and was gaining huge popularity by the Indian audience. The filmmakers were also catering to this audience very particularly keeping in mind their taste and preferences. Ticket prices were also reduced so that a common man can purchase it and for the elite better seats and facilities were provided on high priced tickets.

The commercial success of films triggered an emotional aspect with the audiences and made people go crazy for their favorite actors and actresses. India’s social life and culture was being put into cinemas as example festivals like Holi, Diwali, Karvachaut etc. which created a bonding among audiences.    Seeing this rapid growth global audience and markets became aware of Indian Film Industry.

To reach the audience in rural areas Cinemas were being put up in a tent. These came to be known as tent cinema introduced by Swamikannu Vincent in which a tent was erected on a stretch of open land close to a town or village to screen the films. The first of its kind was established in Madras, called "Edison's Grand Cinemamegaphone".

As the growth was happening, during World War II, Indian audiences were being treated with masala films and that has been a successful ingredient for Indian film. Masala films stands for all those commercial films which primarily have songs, dance, romance, fight etc. An entertainment package which still stands successful in today’s Indian film industry.

During the 1940s cinema in south India captured almost half of India’s cinema halls. Cinema came to be known as a part of cultural revival. After partition of India the assets were divided and number of studios went to the neighboring country Pakistan.

After Indian independence the cinema of India was handled by S.K. Patil Commission. S.K. Patil, head of the commission, viewed cinema in India as a 'combination of art, industry, and showmanship' while noting its commercial value. Patil set up of a Film Finance Corporation under the Ministry of Finance. In 1960 the Film Finance Corporation came into being to provide financial support to talented filmmakers throughout India.

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A JOURNEY OF MOTION PICTURE IN INDIA | EP4

The journey from painting reels to digital technology we have seen it all. The future still waits for more inventions in the world of films. Over the year we as audience came across 3D projection, 4k resolution IMAX etc. In earlier years these things were just dreams. Who would have thought that what we see through our eyes could be seen through Camera and soon this thought turned into reality.

Technicolor techniques were introduced. Though the first attempt of Indians to make a color film failed, the film KISAN KANYA gave hopes for improvement. The first attempt of coloring film SAIRHANDRI failed as the reels were damaged during the process. It could have been the first multi color talkie film produced by Prabhat Film Company in 1933. Sairhandri was directed by Rajaram Vankudre Shantaram.

Later in 1937, KISAN KANYA a film directed by Moti B. Gidvani and produced by Ardeshir Irani released. It used a cinecolor process and became India’s first color film. Though this film didn’t do well, this change was not accepted by the audience at first but it all changed until the film AAN released in 1953.

A Dilip Kumar- Nimmi starrer by Mehboob Khan was the first Indian film which used Technicolor process on the prints which was the most expensive color format of that era. Shot in 16 mm it was blown up to 35 mm achieving a landmark success. As a safety measure the film was also shot in black and white format.

The following years brought in massive hits with V. Shantaram’s Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baaje in 1955 and Mehboob Khan’s Mother India in 1957. Coloring techniques like Geva color, techicolor, Eastman color etc. were used too.

Adapting to this quickly soon the black and white format started to fade away. The last film in black and white is Saraswatichandra which is still remembered for its songs.

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A JOURNEY OF MOTION PICTURE IN INDIA | EP3

The period from 1890’s to 1930 saw an innovative change in the field of movies. Four decades of trial and error paid off in 1930’s when Ardeshir Irani brought Alam Ara to the Indian audience. It was the first Indian talkie film. However in 1927, The Jazz Singer became the first talkie film in the world. It was made with Vitaphone which was a leading brand of sound on disc technology. Technically the rest of the world was way ahead of India back then too because In India people are not likely to accept change quickly and thus the development takes time.

On 14^th March 1931, Ardeshir Irani released ALAM ARA and then followed up by producing first south Indian talkie film KALIDAS which was directed by H. M. REDDY and released on 31^st October 1931. ‘Talkie film’ means talking film or films with sound. This new technology was liked by Indian audience and soon Indian Film Industry sky rocketed to the top and today is the largest producer of films in world.

During the initial period there were hardly any actors but the ones who were, carried out multiple tasks and thus were paid a good sum of money too. CHITTOR V. NAGAIAH was the first multilingual film actor, singer, composer, producer and directors in India. He was popular to be known as the Paul Muni of India in the media.

As the sound technology improved over the years, 1930’s saw a rise of music in Indian cinema with musicals such as INDRA SABHA and DEVI DEVYANI being the first with a concept of song and dance in Indian films. Rapid changes enthralled the Indian audience and attracted them which could be seen due to the massive success of DEVDAS. Studios were being built and one of the oldest standing studios till date is the AVM studio in Chennai which has produced over 170 films in multiple languages.

Up next how color films rule the market.

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A JOURNEY OF MOTION PICTURE IN INDIA | EP2

                                 
It was time; people had started to notice the magic of cinema. On 18th May 1912 "SHREE PUNDALIK" a silent Marathi film by Dadasaheb Torne released. It was the first Indian film which released at coronation cinematograph at the then called Bombay. It’s quite controversial as it is believed that it cannot be called India's first film because it was a photographic recording of a famous Marathi play as well the camera man named Johnson was British and the film was processed in London.

Then entered the father of Indian cinema Mr.DADASAHEB PHALKE. A scholar on India's languages and culture broke new grounds in the Indian Film Industry. Producer-screenwriter-director DADASAHEB PHALKE combined the elements from Sanskrit epics and produced Raja Harishchandra in 1913 a silent Marathi film. It is known to be the first full length Indian motion picture and interestingly the female characters in the film were played by male actors. Thus gaining a huge success it motivated many others to make such films.

In 1916,Tamil filmmaker R.Nataraja Mudaliar made first Tamil silent film named Keechaka Vadham. The film industry was taking its place and was building a strong base with an intention to succeed and prowess, bold decisions were been taken as in that era, money was a primary concern for many upcoming producers. It was a niche market to enter and therefore many were scared to incur a loss. The ones with money entered and one of them was Jamshedji Framji Madan a Parsi entrepreneur who owned first Indian chain of cinema houses named Madan theatre.

It produced 10 films annually and distributed throughout the Indian Subcontinent from the year 1902. In 1919, also being a founder of Elphinstone Bioscope Company, Calcutta he merged with Madan Theatre Limited and produced Bengals popular literary work. He made a remake of Dadasaheb Phalke’s RAJA HARISHCHANDRA as SATYAWADI RAJA HARISHCHANDRA in 1917.

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