INDIAN CINEMA AFTER INDEPENDENCE

Satyajit Ray, a young graduate from Tagore’s university, Vishwa Bharati at Shantiniketan, decided to make a feature film based on the novel. He did some shooting and editing and ran out of money. He approached the then Chief Minister of West Bengal, Dr. Bidhan Chandra Ray, for assistance.  Dr. Ray was impressed with the rushes of the film and decided to provide government assistance to the young director. Pather Panchali was released in 1955 and won the award for `The Best Human Document’ at the Cannes Film Festival in 1956 and thereafter went on to become one of the most internationally acclaimed Indian films. The film earned and is still earning substantial money for the Government of West Bengal!

In 1960, the government set up the Film and Television Institute of India at Pune, which was located in the compound of the now defunct Prabhat Studios. Formal training in all aspects of filmmaking was provided at the FTII by renowned names from the industry. A large number of actors, directors and technicians graduated from this institution and made outstanding contribution to Indian cinema. Some of the more well known names are Subhash Ghai, Mani Kaul, Jaya Bhaduri, Nasiruddin Shah Raza Murad, Adoor Gopal Krishnan Shatrughan Sinha, Mithun Chakraborty, Tom Alter, Kanwarjit Paintal, Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Vidhu Vinod Chopra and Raj Kumar Hirani. In the long run these steps of the government helped to introduce fresh talent into the industry.

In 1975 the FFC became the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC). This semi autonomous government agency helped promote filmmakers from different parts of the country and film making, which in the early part of the century was centred in Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai, now spread to many regional centres across the country in states like Kerala, Orissa, Assam, Karnataka, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh.

This government initiative also helped promote what is known as parallel cinema. Parallel Cinema as the name suggests, was different from mainstream commercial cinema in both the Hindi and the regional language productions. These films broke away from stereotypical representations and standard formula stories with their dose of fantasy and incredulity and focused instead on real life, both urban as well as rural. Such films gave encouragement to actors who were not necessarily stars but suited the role they had to play; as well as to script writers, music composers and set and costume designers to be innovative and experimental.

Ray’s Pather Panchali, which could be regarded as one of the pioneering films of the parallel cinema movement, had lead actors who were not from the film industry; in fact some of them had never acted before. The music was composed by the brilliant young classical sitar player Ravi Shankar, the costumes were in accordance with the reality that the scenes represented, and the camera work reflected a keen sense of photographic aesthetics that was not always available in mainstream cinema. Other than Satyajit Ray, Ritwik Ghatak and Mrinal Sen in Bengali, Adoor Gopalakrishnan in Malayalam, Mani Kaul, Shyam Benegal, Sayeed Mirza and Ketan Mehta in Hindi, Girish Kasaravalli in Kannada and Jahnu Barua in Assamese are some of the film makers who are regarded as important exponents of the parallel cinema in India.

INDIAN CINEMA AFTER INDEPENDENCE

The production of films increased manifold and films became the major source of mass entertainment. The industry still continues to grow in spite of the fact that today television broadcasting is also a competing source of entertainment. After producing 1288 silent films from Raja Harishchandra (1913) to Alam Ara (1931), the industry produced 233 films in the year 1935 itself and the production kept increasing steadily. In the year 1990 the industry produced as many as 948 feature films! Today we produce more than a thousand films a year, which is almost three films a day!!

The government of independent India pursued the Nehruvian dream of a socialist pattern of society.  Seeking equality, justice and peace, Nehru’s dream of an equitable society fired the imagination of the Indian people who after almost two hundred years of foreign rule sought to create a politically, economically, culturally, morally and ethically strong society that would be forward looking and modern and at the same time value the glory of its past history. The filmmakers were also touched by this new hope of a better society. Bimal Roy, Raj Kapoor and Guru Dutt were three big names in mainstream Hindi cinema who made films on the theme of a social regeneration. Raj Kapoor’s Awara (1951), Boot Polish (1954) and Jagte Raho (1956), Bimal Roy’s Do Bigha Zameen (1953), Sujata (1959) and Bandini(1963) and Guru Dutt’s Pyaasa (1957) and Kaagaj Ke Phool (1959) are good examples of such films.

In 1953, Bimal Roy, inspired by the neo realist film movement in Italy (see the chapter on Film Movements) made the film Do Bigha Zameen. This path-breaking film traces the tragic story of a simple village farmer, Shambhu, who needs to protect his two bighas of land from the unscrupulous zamindar who in league with city speculators wishes to cheat Shambhu of his ancestral property.  In order to save his land Shambhu has to repay a large debt to the zamindar. To earn this substantial amount of money in a short time, Shambhu along with his son Kanhaiya goes to the city (Kolkata). There, Shambhu becomes a rikshaw puller. Facing numerous hardships and many miseries Shambhu does manage to collect the money and return to his village only to find that a factory has already been built on his land.

The Bengali Film Director Ritwik Ghatak made a number of films, including Meghe Dhaka Tara(1960), Komal Gandhar (1961) and Subarnarekha(1962) in which he addressed the tragedy of partition and expressed his deep distress at and rejection of this unacceptable political imposition. His powerful films deal with the society and social, economic and cultural pressures the individuals and institutions face in changed and insecure situations.

Right through the decades of the sixties and the seventies, Indian cinema, grew by leaps and bounds. With 739 films produced in 1980 as against 318 films in 1960, cinema became the main source of entertainment and mainstream film maker, of Hindi cinema as well as, regional cinema kept experimenting with formulas for making box office hits. Hindi films from Mumbai, Tamil and Telegu films from Chennai and Bengali films from Kolkata had a well-established distribution and marketing network and easily found their producers and financiers. But these films addressed the market demands and were made mainly for profits.  It was obvious that cinema was an immensely popular medium of entertainment that reached out to large sections of the society across the country, and the Indian Government felt that the medium could be used to promote and project Indian art and culture artistically. With such an objective the government established the Film Finance Corporation (FFC) in 1960 to support talented filmmakers. 

INDIAN CINEMA - MORE THEN 100 YEARS

A hundred years ago, on 3rd May 1913, an avid, small-town photographer from Maharashtra, Dhundiraj Govind Phalke (aka Dadasaheb Phalke), who is now known as the father of Indian cinema, became inspired by a movie he had seen about the life of Jesus and produced the first full-length Indian feature film, Raja Harish Chandra.

The movie was based on the legend of King Harishchandra of the Solar Dynasty in Ayodhya, Northern India, who sacrificed his kingdom, wife and son in order to fulfil a promise he once made to a sage named Vishwamitra. The story revolves around Harishchandra’s endeavours and hardships and magnifies two of his most virtuous qualities as a king – he always lives up to his word and never lies, which pleases the Hindu Gods who restore his former glory and bestow him with divine blessings.

To make the movie more realistic, Dadasaheb managed to convince an actor to shave his moustache to act as a woman. Later, he sold off his belongings to fund the project and poured much of his life’s saving into a trip to London, to purchase a special camera for the shoot. His wife, Saraswati, backed him thoroughly and single-handedly cooked for the entire crew of 40, as well as helping to hold up white sheets that functioned as a screen on the sets.

Released at the Coronation Cinema, Girgaon, in Mumbai, Dadasaheb was unaware that his 50-minute long, silent, black and white film that took seven months and 21 days to complete would dazzle audiences across the country and was just a beginning of a long journey that would set the tone for future Bollywood classics in India.

A century later, his dream continues to live on and grow. The Dadasaheb Phalke Award is given annually by the government of India to a personality for his/her lifetime contribution to Indian cinema.

Today, the global footprint of Indian cinema is massive. Churning out more than 1,000 films annually – double the number Hollywood produces in a typical year – figures show the industry sold a record high of three billion cinema tickets last year.

According to reports from professional services company KPMG, it is estimated that the Indian film industry would soon surpass Britain as the world’s fifth largest film market based on sales. Already, in 2010, India was ranked first in its annual film output, followed by Hollywood and China.

Famous for its upbeat numbers, colourful costumes and flamboyant dances, Indian cinema is not limited to Hindi Bollywood movies but also has a vibrant regional language film industry, especially in southern states of the county where film stars are often worshipped as deities.

In the last 100 years, Indian cinema has found a market in over 90 countries, including a big target audience in the UK, US, Australia and Canada, where films from all over India are screened, appreciated and equally criticised.

The booming film market has led several international film makers to invest in India, as the lower number of restrictions in the country makes it much easier for anyone and everyone to create films as they choose. The only other potentially large market is China, which is full of restrictions on how many films foreign groups can make and distribute.

INTRODUCTION

Man or Woman, Old or Young, Middle Class or Lower Class, Business People or Job doing people, College Going Students or School Going Students, or we can say everybody likes "CINEMA".

Indian Cinema where we prefix word "INDIAN" to the word CINEMA comes to a variety of Cultures, Dances, Languages, Folks, Stories, Ideas and other so many things dedicated ti Cinema. Cinema which in means Entertainment, Fun, Pleasure, Learning, Lessons, Knowledge, Relaxation etc to its viewer.

In India, the popularity of Cinema is increased day by day as around 1500 to 1600 files were produces in various languages in a year. India Cinema is also popular with he name "BOLLYWOOD".

Indian Cinema is the largest film industry in the world. Indian Cinema has a large number of awards awarded by States of India and Government of India. There are so many Non-Government award also given by various corporate or business houses or Companies/Firms.

The word "CINEMA" which originally come from the Greek work "KINEMA". Kinema means "MOTION" and it refers to motion Pictures in general. While in general words of Motion Pictures, the term has more widened and in artistic connotations then the term "FILM" or "FILMS" or Motion-Picture.

in Modern age, man has been found to facing number of problems to earn their livelihood. To earn they have to follow a specific busy schedule and to overcome their busyness, temperament, harasses, he requires entertain. This entertainment make changes in the taste and temperament in the masses. This changing help to increase disposable income. The changing lifestyle due to corporate changes has formed the way for the development of healthy entertainment facilities. Opening of a new air-conditioned cinema hall, open air theater, drama centers, music center, pub, club, art and handicraft, painting centers, promoting entertainment services by education and develop knowledge. This focus today is in development of entertainment services a right fashion in the Indian perspective, where majority of the population is illiterate, it is the responsibility of the entertainment services to include awareness even in the rural areas of the country. Earlier the scope of entertainment was narrower unlike today new services are available to entertainment us in other words it is commercialized.

Bollywood refers to the Hindi Language Film Industry based  in Mumbai (Formerly known as Bombay) which is the largest film industry representing 47% of Indian Cinema net box office revenue. The South Indian film industry defines the four film culture of South India as a single entity.Telugu Cinema (Tollywood) is the second large film industry to produce films where Tamil Cinema (Kollywood) is the third highest and the Kannada Cinema (Saldalwood) is the fourth and Malayalam Cinema (Mollywood) is come to fifth position  in Indian Film Industry to produce films.