Indian cinema

Following the screening of the Lumière moving pictures in London (1895) cinema became a sensation across Europe and by July 1896 the Lumière films had been in show in Bombay (now Mumbai).^[18]The first short films in India were directed by Hiralal Sen, starting with The Flower of Persia (1898).^[19]The first full-length motion picture in India was produced by Dadasaheb Phalke, a scholar on India's languages and culture, who brought together elements from Sanskrit epics to produce his Raja Harishchandra (1913), a silent film in Marathi. The female roles in the film were played by male actors.^[20] The first Indian chain of cinema theaters was owned by the Calcutta entrepreneurJamshedji Framji Madan, who oversaw production of 10 films annually and distributed them throughout the Indian subcontinent.^[20]

Raghupathi Venkaiah Naidu^[21] was a Indian artist involved photography and in many aspects of the Cinema of India. He was the first owner of movie theatres in Madras, and the producer and director of the first few silent Indian movies and talkies. The Raghupathi Venkaiah Naidu Award is an annual award introduced to recognize people for their lifetime achievements and contributions to the Telugu film industry. Andhra Pradesh State Government incorporated this prestigious award in 1981 in the honor of Raghupathi Venkaiah Naidu, a pioneer of Indian film industry. The winner of each year will be felicitated and presented a Golden Nandi, a Gold medal, citation and cash prize of Rs 50,000 at the state government's Nandi Awards functions.

During the early twentieth century cinema as a medium gained popularity across India's population and its many economic sections.^[18] Tickets were made affordable to the common man at a low price and for the financially capable additional comforts meant additional admission ticket price.^[18]Audiences thronged to cinema halls as this affordable medium of entertainment was available for as low as an anna (4 paisa) in Bombay.^[18] The content of Indian commercial cinema was increasingly tailored to appeal to these masses.^[18] Young Indian producers began to incorporate elements of India's social life and culture into cinema.^[22] Others brought with them ideas from across the world.^[22] This was also the time when global audiences and markets became aware of India's film industry.^[22]

Indian talking film

Ardeshir Irani released Alam Ara which was the first Indian talking film, on 14 March 1931.^[20] H.M. Reddy, produced and directed Bhakta Prahlada (Telugu), released on Sept 15, 1931 and Kalidas (Tamil) ^[23] released on Oct 31, 1931. Kalidas was produced by Ardeshir Irani and directed by H.M. Reddy. These two films are south India's first talkie films to have a theatrical release.^[24] Following the inception of 'talkies' in India some film stars were highly sought after and earned comfortable incomes through acting.^[20] As sound technology advanced the 1930s saw the rise of music in Indian cinema with musicals such as Indra Sabha and Devi Devyani marking the beginning of song-and-dance in India's films.^[20] Studios emerged across major cities such as Chennai, Kolkata, and Mumbai as film making became an established craft by 1935, exemplified by the success of Devdas, which had managed to enthrall audiences nationwide.^[25] Bombay Talkies came up in 1934 and Prabhat Studios in Pune had begun production of films meant for the Marathi language audience.^[25] Filmmaker R. S. D. Choudhury produced Wrath(1930), banned by the British Raj in India as it depicted actors as Indian leaders, an expression censored during the days of the Indian independence movement.^[20]

The Indian Masala film—a slang used for commercial films with song, dance, romance etc.—came up following the second world war.^[25] South Indian cinema gained prominence throughout India with the release of S.S. Vasan's Chandralekha.^[25] During the 1940s cinema in South Indiaaccounted for nearly half of India's cinema halls and cinema came to be viewed as an instrument of cultural revival.^[25] The partition of Indiafollowing its independence divided the nation's assets and a number of studios went to the newly formed Pakistan.^[25] The strife of partition would become an enduring subject for film making during the decades that followed.^[25]

After Indian independence the cinema of India was inquired by the S.K. Patil Commission.^[26] S.K. Patil, head of the commission, viewed cinema in India as a 'combination of art, industry, and showmanship' while noting its commercial value.^[26] Patil further recommended setting up of a Film Finance Corporation under the Ministry of Finance.^[27] This advice was later taken up in 1960 and the institution came into being to provide financial support to talented filmmakers throughout India.^[27] The Indian government had established a Films Division by 1949 which eventually became one of the largest documentary film producers in the world with an annual production of over 200 short documentaries, each released in 18 languages with 9000 prints for permanent film theaters across the country.^[28]

The Indian People's Theatre Association (IPTA), an art movement with a communist inclination, began to take shape through the 1940s and the 1950s.^[26] A number of realistic IPTA plays, such as Bijon Bhattacharya's Nabanna in 1944 (based on the tragedy of the Bengal famine of 1943), prepared the ground for the solidification of realism in Indian cinema, exemplified by Khwaja Ahmad Abbas's Dharti Ke Lal (Children of the Earth) in 1946.^[26] The IPTA movement continued to emphasize on reality and went on to produce Mother India and Pyaasa, among India's most recognizable cinematic productions.^[29]

[edit]Golden Age of Indian cinema

Following India's independence, the period from the late 1940s to the 1960s are regarded by film historians as the 'Golden Age' of Indian cinema.^[30][31][32] Some of the most critically acclaimed Indian films of all time were produced during this period. In commercial Hindi cinema, examples of films at the time include the Guru Dutt films Pyaasa (1957) and Kaagaz Ke Phool (1959) and the Raj Kapoor films Awaara (1951) and Shree 420 (1955). These films expressed social themes mainly dealing with working-class urban life in India; Awaara presented the city as both a nightmare and a dream, while Pyaasa critiqued the unreality of city life.^[33] Some epic films were also produced at the time, includingMehboob Khan's Mother India (1957), which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film,^[34] and K. Asif's Mughal-e-Azam (1960).^[35] V. Shantaram's Do Aankhen Barah Haath (1957) is believed to have inspired the Hollywood film The Dirty Dozen (1967).^[36]Madhumati (1958), directed by Bimal Roy and written by Ritwik Ghatak, popularized the theme of reincarnation in Western popular culture.^[37]Other mainstream Hindi filmmakers at the time included Kamal Amrohi and Vijay Bhatt.

While, commercial Indian cinema was thriving, the same age saw the emergence of a new Parallel Cinema movement, mainly led by Bengali cinema.^[33] Early examples of films in this movement include Chetan Anand's Neecha Nagar (1946),^[38] Ritwik Ghatak's Nagarik (1952),^[39][40]and Bimal Roy's Two Acres of Land (1953), laying the foundations for Indian neorealism^[41] and the "Indian New Wave".^[42] Pather Panchali(1955), the first part of The Apu Trilogy (1955–1959) by Satyajit Ray, marked his entry in Indian cinema.^[43] The Apu Trilogy won major prizes at all the major international film festivals and led to the 'Parallel Cinema' movement being firmly established in Indian cinema. Its influence on world cinema can also be felt in the "youthful coming-of-age dramas that have flooded art houses since the mid-fifties" which "owe a tremendous debt to the Apu trilogy".^[44] Satyajit Ray and Ritwik Ghatak went on to direct many more critically acclaimed 'art films', and they were followed by other acclaimed Indian independent filmmakers such as Mrinal Sen, Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Mani Kaul and Buddhadeb Dasgupta.^[33] During the 1960s, Indira Gandhi's intervention during her reign as the Information and Broadcasting Minister of India further led to production of off-beat cinematic expression being supported by the official Film Finance Corporation.^[27]

The cinematographer Subrata Mitra, who made his debut with Satyajit Ray's The Apu Trilogy, also had an important influence oncinematography across the world. One of his most important techniques was bounce lighting, to recreate the effect of daylight on sets. He pioneered the technique while filming Aparajito (1956), the second part of The Apu Trilogy.^[45] Some of the experimental techniques which Satyajit Ray pioneered include photo-negative flashbacks and X-ray digressions while filming Pratidwandi (1972).^[46] Ray's 1967 script for a film to be called The Alien, which was eventually cancelled, is also widely believed to have been the inspiration for Steven Spielberg's E.T.(1982).^[47][48][49]

Ever since Chetan Anand's social realist film Neecha Nagar won the Grand Prize at the first Cannes Film Festival,^[38] Indian films were frequently in competition for the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival for nearly every year in the 1950s and early 1960s, with a number of them winning major prizes at the festival. Satyajit Ray also won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival for Aparajito (1956), the second part of The Apu Trilogy, and the Golden Bear and two Silver Bears for Best Director at the Berlin International Film Festival.^[50] Ray's contemporaries, Ritwik Ghatak and Guru Dutt, were overlooked in their own lifetimes but had belatedly generated international recognition much later in the 1980s and 1990s.^[50][51] Ray is regarded as one of the greatest auteurs of 20th century cinema,^[52] with Dutt^[53] and Ghatak.^[54] In 1992, the Sight & Sound Critics' Poll ranked Ray at #7 in its list of "Top 10 Directors" of all time,^[55] while Dutt was ranked #73 in the 2002 Sight & Sound greatest directors poll.^[53]

A number of Indian films from different regions, from this era are often included among the greatest films of all time in various critics' and directors' polls. At this juncture, Telugu cinema and Tamil cinema experienced their respective golden age and during this time the production of Indian Folklore, fantasy and Mythological films like Mayabazar grew up. A number of Satyajit Ray films appeared in the Sight & Sound Critics' Poll, including The Apu Trilogy (ranked #4 in 1992 if votes are combined),^[56] The Music Room (ranked #27 in 1992), Charulata (ranked #41 in 1992)^[57] and Days and Nights in the Forest (ranked #81 in 1982).^[58] The 2002 Sight & Sound critics' and directors' poll also included the Guru Dutt films Pyaasa and Kaagaz Ke Phool (both tied at #160), the Ritwik Ghatak films Meghe Dhaka Tara (ranked #231) and Komal Gandhar(ranked #346), and Raj Kapoor's Awaara, Vijay Bhatt's Baiju Bawra, Mehboob Khan's Mother India and K. Asif's Mughal-e-Azam all tied at #346.^[59] In 1998, the critics' poll conducted by the Asian film magazine Cinemaya included The Apu Trilogy (ranked #1 if votes are combined), Ray's Charulata and The Music Room (both tied at #11), and Ghatak's Subarnarekha (also tied at #11).^[54] In 1999, The Village Voice top 250 "Best Film of the Century" critics' poll also included The Apu Trilogy (ranked #5 if votes are combined).^[60] In 2005, The Apu Trilogy and Pyaasawere also featured in Time magazine's "All-TIME" 100 best movies list.^[61