International Cinema Festival of India

Bollywood is the combination of the two words Bombay and Hollywood. It is a misnomer given to the Hindi film industry, which has its base in Mumbai. Bollywood is the largest film industry within India, and one of the largest worldwide, churning out 800 films per annum which are so popular that cinema tickets there have been driven down to a some of the lowest in the world. This is a quick look at the history of Bollywood.

The first film to be made in India was the silent film ‘Raja Harishchandra’ (1913), and people enjoyed it so much that the industry had already grown to a 200 film per year one by the 1930s. Then came sound, and this was so popular that all of the regions of India quickly began to use it in their filmmaking. There were very unfortunate social events in that period of India, including the Great depression and the Partition, and so many of the films were an attempt to escape from reality. Some films, however, were not escapism and did try to address these issues.

The period of the 1940s to the 1960s have been proclaimed the golden age of Hindi cinema, which followed India’s gaining of independence. It was during this period that some of the most internationally acclaimed Hindi films of all time were made, such as the Guru Dutt films ‘Pyaasa’ (1957) and ‘Kaagaz Ke Phool’ (1959) and the Raj Kapoor films ‘Awaara’ (1951) and ‘Shree 420′ (1955). These films contained social themes about the poor working-class of the cities in India.

As of the 1970s Bollywood became dominated by dark gritty action films about gangsters and criminals. Amitabh Bachchan, the actor, grew to fame during this period which lasted until the 90s, famous for acting as angry young men. The film ‘Deewar’ made by Yash Chopra is a story about a real-life smuggler called Haji Mastan, who was played by Bachchan. This film, according the Danny Boyle, is “absolutely key to Indian cinema”.

The Hindi film industry only became more popular as time went by, and then in the year 2000 there was a huge boom in its popularity overseas. This increase in popularity freed up enough funds to make huge advancements in filming techniques, writing and special effects.

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