A Beginner’s Guide to Indian Cinema

Sneha BagchiDec 20, 2009

General Inspirations• Indian Epics: Mahabharata, Ramayana• Sanskrit Drama• Folk Theatre of India• Parsi Theatre

• Hollywood• Western Music TV shows (MTV)• Indian Diaspora

Bollywood - Love your First Impressions• Bollywood is predominantly

escapist and full of entertainment, no matter how artistic it is.

• Full of music, dancing, colors- part of Indian culture

• Romance will always be a key factor-whether focus or a subplot

• Family is a key role in lives, friendship is filled with crazy times, and marriage always occurs in ultimate romance

• Bonus points for always having a rain scene (mostly past films)

A Typical Bollywood Impression…

The Beginning: Tollywood• Believe it or not, Bengalis were the

first ones to be exposed to cinema• Tollywood: Blending of “Tollygunge”

and “Hollywood”• First began in 1890’s, with the

introduction of “bioscopes” by the British.

• First Bengali movie, “Billwamangal” produced in 1919

• First talkie, Jamai Shashthi, produced in 1931, the same year as “Alam Ara”, first Hindi talkie.

The Eras Of Tollywood• The Silent Era: 1919-1930

– India still under British rule at this point

– Hiralal Sen: Bengali director– Heroes: Pramathesh Barua

& Debaki Bose• Rising of the Talkies

– 1932 film “Chandidas” breakthrough for recording sound for Bengali film

– More artistically inclined than rising Hindi movies

Tollywood Eras: Cont.

• The Golden Age: 1952-1972– Rise of Directors: Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen, Bimal

Roy, and Ritwik Ghatak– Rise of Actors: Uttam Kumar, Suchitra Sen,

Soumitra Chatterjee– Rise of Playback Singers :Hemanta Mukherjee,

Manna Dey, Sandhya Mukhopadhyay, and Kishore Kumar

– Rise of ‘Parallel Cinema’ movement

Notable Films• The Apu Trilogy (1955-1959)

– Pather Panchali– Aparajito– Apur Sansar

• The Calcutta Trilogies:– Pratidwandi (1971)– Seemabaddha (1971)– Jana Aranya (1976)

• Nayak (1966)• Mrigaya (1976)• Sonar Kella (1974)• Paroma (1984)• Mr. and Mrs. Iyer (2002)

Some Bengali Films You Might Know

Bollywood

• Largest producer of movies in the world• Large part of mass Indian culture, whether for

escapism or social commentary• Masala movies-mix of all different genres in

one movie • In their history, has swung between family-

friendly romance and social commentary

Going to Bollywood

• Developed around the same time as Tollywood

• Made up of “Bombay” and “Hollywood”, which was based off of Tollywood

• Raja Harishchandra (1913) was first silent feature film

• Alam Ara (1931) is first Hindi talkie film made• Color became popular in Bollywood in late

1950’s

Before Independence

• Lots of silent movies about Indian epics• Based on Parsi plays and Indian stories• By 1930’s, India was producing 200 films per

year

Key Movies/Actors

• Raja Harishchandra (1913)

• Alam Ara (1931)• Kisan Kanya (1937)

• Notable Actors:– Prithviraj Kapoor– Ashok Kumar

The BW to Color Age – some say the Golden Age

• From the 1950’s until about 1970• Story-centric, focusing on realism• Social commentary and global recognition• Epic films become a genre• Social themes with urban working-class

and/or rural India

Notable Films• Awaara (1951)• Devdas (1955)• Shree420 (1955)• Mother India (1957)• Pyaasa (1957)• Mughal-e-Azam (1960)• Madhumati (1958)• Guide (1965)• Aradhana (1969)• Sangam (1964)• Jis Desh Me Ganga Behti Hai (1960)

Clips

Notable Actors• Raj Kapoor• Rajesh Khanna• Sharmila Tagore• Guru Dutt• Nutan• Dilip Kumar• Vaijayantimala• Dev Anand• Nargis• Sunil Dutt• Shammi Kapoor• Mumtaz• Madhubala• Rajendra Kumar

Notable Singers/ Songs• Lata Mangeshkar and Mohammed Rafi

reigned supreme• Rise of :

– Kishore Kumar– Asha Bhosle

• “Mere Sapna Ki Rani”• “Koi Mujhe Junglee Kahe”• “Mere Saamne Wale Khirki Main”• “Tere Mere Sapne”• “Chori Chori”• “Mera Joota Hai Japani”• “Yeh Duniya Yeh Mehephil”

From Romance to Masala (1970s-early 1980s) - “dishum dishum”

• Represented the struggles of lower class• Represented corruption in society• Hoped for the “knight in shining armor” to solve the miseries• Male actor dominated movies – very few meaningful roles for

women actors• Rajesh Khanna started the 1970s as the romantic hero and • Amitabh Bachchan - the angry young man - reigns supreme• Some art movies break-through

Actors• Amitabh Bachchan• Rekha• Sanjeev Kumar• Amjad Khan• Zeenat Aman• Rishi Kapoor• Shashi Kapoor• Jeetendra• Mithun Chakraborty• Sridevi• Naseerudin Shah• Hema Malini• Shabana Azmi

Clips

The Low Years

• Late eighties to early nineties• Affected by the rise of VCRs and piracy• Return to family-friendly films, but little effort

made towards quality• Some good films rise out introduce actors of

tomorrow• Searching for the right mix between action,

romance, social, violence

Movies

• Baazigar • Daar• Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak • Maine Pyaar Kiya• Tezaab• Parinda• Mr. India• Khal Nayak

Clip

Key Actors• Shahrukh Khan• Kajol• Madhuri Dixit• Karishma Kapoor• Tabu• Anil Kapoor• Amir Khan• Salman Khan• Sanjay Dutt

The Phoenix Rises Again

• From 1995 to current era• Triggered by the release of Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge

(1995)• Rise of independent films and artistically inclined• Rise of genre Mumbai noir• More focus on youth, with college students becoming

increased subjects• Newer generation of actors and actresses coming into

prominence• Even commercial cinema becoming more artistically inclined

Key Movies

• Dilwale Duhania Le Jayenge (1995)• Satya (1998)• Lagaan (2001)• Devdas (2002)• Munnabhai M.B.B.S.(2003) • Lage Raho Munnabhai (2006)• Rang De Basanti (2006)

Key Actors-Gen. Next

• Hithrik Roshan• Shahid Kapoor• Abhishek Bachchan• Ranbir Kapoor• Aishwarya Rai • Rani Mukherji • Kareena Kapoor• Konkona Sen Sharma

Key Songs• “Chaiyya Chaiyya”• “Dhoom Machale”• “Chand Sifarish” • “Tadap Tadap Ke”• “Ek Pal Ka Jeena”• “Ghanan Ghanan”• “Dola Re”• “Kajra Re”• “Rang De Basanti”

Clips

Key Composers and Singers• Composers

– A.R. Rahman– Jatin-Lalit– Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy

• Playback Singers– Udit Narayan– Kavita Krishnamurthy– Alka Yagnik– Shreya Ghoshal– Sunidhi Chauhan– Sonu Niigam– Shaan

What about the rest of India?

• All regions make movies – and they make a lot of them

• Telegu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam films have created many award winning and masala movies

• Other regions also make many movies, every year

• My focus today was on Tollywood and Bollywood – which I am most familiar with

Thank You