The presentation introduces the early development of cinema in India and gives an overview of Indian Language Cinema

1. EARLY INDIAN LANGUAGE
CINEMA: 1905-1932
Dr JANARDHAN JUVVIGUNTA
Head & Assistant Professor
Digital filmmaking

2. EARLY INDIAN CINEMA 1898
• Two Italians, Colorello and Cornaglia, organise film shows in tents at the Azad Maidan,
Bombay in 1898
• Hiralal Sen starts making films.
• Amritlal Bose screens a package of ‘actualities’ and ‘fakes’ at the Star Theatre, Calcutta,
• The multinational Warwick Trading Co. commissions Panorama of Calcutta newsreel. Other
films include Poona Races and Train Arriving at the Churchgate Station (by
Andersonoscopograph)
• In, 1898, H.S. Bhatavdekar films a wrestling match in Bombay’s hanging gardens
• Documentary on History of Indian Cinema

3. EARLY INDIAN CINEMA 1900-01
• In 1900, Major Warwick establishes a cinema in Madras.
• F. B. Thanawala’s Grand Kinetoscope newsreels establish the genre’s commercial
possibilities. Footage of the Boer War is released at the Novelty Cinema, Bombay.
• In 1901, Hiralal Sen’s Royal Bioscope establishes film exhibition alongside the commercial
theatre in Calcutta, filming extracts from plays.
• Bhatavdekar films the landing of Sir M. M. Bhownuggree and the arrival (returning from
Cambridge University) of Sir Wrangler Mr R. P. Paranjpye

4. EARLY INDIAN CINEMA-1902-03
• In 1902, J. F. Madan launches his bioscope show in a tent on Calcutta’s Maidan,
• The foundation of a massive exhibition and distribution empire which dominated silent
Indian, Burmese and Sri Lankan cinemas.
• 1903 Bhatavdekar and American Biograph film Lord Curzon’s Delhi Durbar, marking the
enthronement of Edward VII
Lord Curzon's Delhi Durbar

5. EARLY INDIAN CINEMA-1904-07
• In 1904 Manek D. Sethna starts the Touring Cinema Co. in Bombay, showing ‘The Life of
Christ’ (two reels).
• In 1905, J. F. Madan turns producer with Jyotish Sarkar’s film of a protest rally against
Partition.
• In 1906, Madan’s Elphinstone Bioscope Co. dominates indigenous film production.
• In 1907. F. Madan opens the Elphinstone Picture Palace in Calcutta, the first of his cinema
chain.
• Pathe establishes an Indian office in the same year

6. EARLY INDIAN CINEMA 1910-1913
• In 1910, Dadasaheb Phalke attends a screening of ‘The Life of Christ’ at P. B. Mehta’s
America-India Cinema
• In 19011, George V visits Delhi. The grand Durbar is India’s first extensively filmed public
event, shot by Hiralal Sen, Bourne & Shepherd, Gaumont, Imperial Bioscope, S. N. Patankar
and Madan.
• Anadi Bose, Debi Ghosh and others start the Aurora Cinema Co. showing films in tents as
part of a variety bill in Kolkata
• D.G. Phalke’s Raja Harishchandra opens on 21st April in 1913, to a select audience;
• On 3 May it opens commercially in Bombay’s Coronation Cinematograph

7. INDIAN LANGUAGE CINEMA
• It is an attempt to create an independent cinema
• With strong cultural roots of various regions
• India is a frame for many cultures
• Every region has its own unique culture and traditions
• The diversity inspired to make films in regional languages

8. INDIAN LANGUAGE CINEMA
• There is a relentless crossover of talents
• Marathi movie makers made the Hindi movies
• Bengali film directors made the Hindi and Oriya movies
• Tamil directors direct the Telugu and Kannada movies
• Telugu directors made Tamil and Kannada movies
• Mythological, folk & social themes are the main subjects

9. HINDI CINEMA
• Hindi cinema is widely spread in India
• It is only a part of the total Indian film industry
• During 1970s, the Hindi cinema became popular as ‘Bollywood’
• it emerged as highest number of film-making industry in the world
• The naming scheme ‘Bollywood’ inspired other film industries
• Telugu and Bengali cinema were used to refer as ‘Tollywood’
• Tamil as ‘Kollywood’, Malayalam as ‘Mollywood’, Kannada as
‘Sandalwood’

10. HINDI CINEMA
• Nanabhai Govind made the first Indian regional film ‘Pundalik’ in 1912
• D.G. Phalke made ‘Raja Harishchandra’ on 21st
April, 1913
• It became a significant contribution to film making in India
• Later, He was honored as the ‘Father of Indian Cinema”
• By 1930, the Hindi industry produced over 200 films
• Ardeshir Irani’s ‘Alam Ara’ (1931), India’s first talkie got major commercial
success

11. HINDI CINEMA
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12. INTERNATIONAL ACCLAIM
• During 1940-60s is regarded as the ‘Golden Age’
• Most critically-acclaimed Hindi films of all time were produced
• Raj Kapoor’s ‘Awaara’ (1951) and ‘Shree 420’ (1955)
• Guru Dutt’s ‘Pyaasa’ (1957) and ‘Kaagaz Ke Phool’ (1959)
• These films projected Social themes mainly
• Mehboob Khan's ‘Mother India’ (1957)
• It was nominated for the Academy Award from India

13. INTERNATIONAL ACCLAIM
• K.Asif's ‘Mughal-e-Azam’ (1960)
• Bimal Roy’s ‘Madhumati’ (1958) theme of reincarnation in western popular culture
• Commercial Hindi cinema was thrived by
Dev Anand, Dilip Kumar,
Raj Kapoor and Guru Dutt,
Actresses: Nargis, Meena Kumari,
Nutan, Madhubala,
Waheeda Rehman and Mala Sinha

14. PARALLEL CINEMA…
• 1950s ‘New Parallel Cinema’ movement was emerged
• It was led by Bengali cinema and got prominence in Hindi cinema
• Chetan Anand's ‘Neecha Nagar’ (1946) & Bimal Roy's ‘Do Bigha Zamin’ (1953)
• ‘Neecha Nagar’ (1946) won the Grand Prize at the first Cannes Film
Festival-1946
• Hindi films were frequently in competition at the Cannes during 1950-60s

15. INDIAN NEW WAVE
• Mani Kaul, Kumar Shahani, Ketan Mehta, Govind Nihalani, Shyam Benegal and
Vijaya Mehta
• Guru Dutt got international recognition in the 1980s
• Guru Dutt regarded as one of the greatest Asian filmmakers of all time
• Satyajit Ray the much famous Indian filmmaker

16. RAISE OF COMMERCIAL FILM
• 1960-70s witnessed the raise of different genres
• Romance and Action were popular by Rajesh Khanna and Dharmendra and Sharmila
Tagore, Mumtaz, and Leena, Chandavarkar and Helen
• In the mid-1970s, action films were dominates
• Amitabh Bachchan, played ‘angry young man’ roles
• The trend was continued by Mithun Chakraborty and Anil Kapoor into the early 1990s

17. RAISE OF COMMERCIAL FILM
• Early 1990s, family-centric romantic musicals got the success
• ‘Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak’ (1988), ‘Maine Pyar Kiya’ (1989), ‘Hum Aapke Hain
Kaun’ (1994) and ‘Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge’ (1995)
• New generation of actors - Aamir Khan, Salman Khan and Shahrukh Khan and
actresses - Sridevi, Madhuri Dixit, Juhi Chawla and Kajol became popular
• Action and comedy films were also successful with Govinda and Akshay Kumar
and Raveena Tandon and Karisma Kapoor

18. MUMBAI NOIR
• The success of ‘Satya’ led concept of ‘Mumbai noir’
• This led to a resurgence of ‘Parallel Cinema’
• By 2000, Hindi cinema became popular across the world
• Hindi movies were released overseas & witnessed the rapid developing of
multiplexes in big cities
• Industry proved its potential with the big budget films
• ‘Lagaan’ (2001) was nominated for the 74th
Academy Awards
• ‘Devdas’ (2002) ‘Rang De Basanti’ (2006) both were nominated for BAFTA

19. MARATHI CINEMA…
• Marathi cinema is one of the oldest regional cinemas in India
• Marathi cinema was developed along with the Hindi cinema
• Had the credit of making the ‘Pundalik’ (1912) and ‘Raja Harishchandra’ (1913)
• It attained recognition with the emergence of talkies
• Acharya P.K. Atre’s ‘Shyamchi Aai’ (1953) won the National Award

20. MARATHI CINEMA…
• Sandeep Sawant’s ‘Shwaas’ (2004) bagged national award
• It was also nominated for 77th
Academy awards in 2005
• Paresh Mokashi’s ‘Harishchandrachi Factory’ (2009) was also nominated for 82nd
Academy
Awards in 2010.
• Sairat (2016) Marathi-language romantic tragedy film which collected INR 110 Cr.
• The Marathi cinema marked the presence of
Umesh Kulkarni (Vihir Deol)
Sachin Kundalkar (Gandh) and
Rajiv Patil (Jogva)

21. GUJARATI CINEMA…
• The first Guajarati talkie was Hanubhai Vakil’s ‘Narasimha Mehta’, released on 9th
April,
1932
• ‘Ghar Jmai’ (1935) remains as all time hit of the Gujarati cinema
• Barely 12 movies were produced during 1932- 46
• In1948 alone twenty six movies were produced in Gujarati
• ‘Guna Sundari’ (1927) was re-made for three times
• Kanthilal Rathod’s ‘Kanku’ (1969) brought world reputation
• In 2010, Sixty two movies were produced in Gujarati

22. BENGALI CINEMA…
• Hiralal Sen set up the ‘Royal Bioscope Company’ in 1898
• In1919, the first Bengali feature film ‘Bilwamangal’ was produced by Madan
Theatre Ltd .
• It also had the credited for first Bengali talkie ‘Jamai Shashthi’ in 1931,
directed by Amar Choudhury
• ‘Devadas’ (1935) & ‘Mukti’ (1937) remained as marvels
• In 1954, Satyajit Ray started his career with ‘Pather Panchali’
• He directed 36 films

23. BENGALI CINEMA…
• Played predominant role in the development of Indian cinema
• J.J. Madan, Satyajit Ray, Ritwik Ghatak and Mrinal Sen and others brought new image
• Rituparno Ghosh’s ‘Choker Bali’ (2003) grabbed the national attention
• It also won the national award
• Rustomjee Dotiwala’s ‘Satyawadi Raja Harishchandra’ (1917) was the Bengali feature
film credited as the first remake in Indian cinema

24. MANIPURI &
OTHER NORTH EAST CINEMA
• Manipuri cinema was born with inspiration of Bengali cinema
• It began late and gained thrust in 1936
• Karam Manmohan Singh produced the first Manipuri full length feature film,
‘Matamgee Manipur’ on 9th
April, 1972
• It bagged the National Award in 1973
• Later, ‘Saphbee’ and ‘Olamghtagee Wangmadasoo’ (1979) bagged national awards
• Hundreds of movies are produced in Assamese and Manipuri & its local dialects such as
Karbi, Mishing, Bodo, Monpa, Kokborok and Sadri

25. MANIPURI &
OTHER NORTH EAST CINEMA
• Manju Borah’s film ‘KO: Yad’ (2012) was honoured with the National Best Cinematography
Award
• Mizoram's ‘Khawglung Run’ (2012) received critical acclaim
• Films are accessible in North-East through digital format
• The first North-Eastern fictional film, ‘My Japanese Niece’ was made in 2013
• Prashant Rasaily’s ‘Katha’ (2016) etched all the North-Eastern States

26. ODIA CINEMA
• Oriya cinema has no history of silent film
• In 1936, Sunder Dev Goswami’s ‘Sita Bibah’ was directed the
first talkie in Odiya
• He was honoured as the ‘Father of Odia Cinema’ (Moti
Gokulsing.K. et.al. 2013)
• No one made films over the next fourteen years
• The absence of infrastructure, professionals, non-existence of
an exhibition and distribution systems

27. ODIA CINEMA
• National Award winners Prabhat Mukharjee (Manik Jodi, 1963),
Amar Ganguly (Amada Bata 1964 & Abhinetri 1965),
Nitai Palit (Mala Janhe, 1965) Sidhartha (Kaa, 1966 )
• The Orissa Film Development Corporation Ltd (OFDCL) was established in 1976.
• Susanta Misra, produced ‘Indradhanura Chhai’ (1993) & ‘Biswaprakash’ (1999)
• Since early 80s to till date, number of stars left an unforgettable mark
• Jharana Das, Mahaswatha and Aparajit were heroines of the classic era
• Sabyasachi, Buddhaditya, Aakash, Arindam, Archita and Brunsha Priyadarshini are enjoying the
stardom

28. TELUGU CINEMA
• It has the over 100 years glorious history
• Telugu cinema emerged as one of the flourishing industries in India
• Raghupathi Venkaih and his son R.S.Prakash directed the first silent film ‘Bheeshma
Pratigna’ in 1922
• His inspirational work made him ‘Father of Telugu Cinema’
• Director Chittajallu Pullaih’s ‘Bhakta Markandeya’, was shot in Kakinada town in
1922
• The screening of movies on the walls gained momentum as ‘Godameeda Bomma’

29. TELUGU CINEMA
• H.M.Reddy directed the maiden Telugu talkie ‘Bakta Prahlada’ in 1932.
• It was first released in Bombay on 6th
February, 1932
• Later on, it was released in Vijayawada and Rajahmundry
• In 1931, P.V. Das started the first Telugu talkie studio in Madras
• He remade Shantaram’s first Tamil talkie, ‘Seetha Kalyanam,' into Telugu
• He is also built ‘Minerva’ theater (1925) in Machilipatnam (The Hindu, 2007).
• In 1936, the Nidamarthi brothers established the first Telugu studio in Hyderabad
• ‘Sangeeka Chitralu’ (Social themes) witnessed in first phase of Telugu talkies
• Later on, ‘Janapada Chitralu’ (Folklore themes) were replaced

30. TELUGU CINEMA
• K.V. Reddy’s 'Pathala Bhairavi' (1951) was the only entry from South India in first
edition of IFFI in 1952
• In 1963, C. Pullaiah directed the first full-length Telugu colour film ‘Lava Kusa’
• NTR & ANR established studios such as
‘Ramakrishna Studio’ (1970)
‘Annapurna Studio’ (1975) in Hyderabad
• K.Viswanath’s ‘Sankarabaranam’ (1980) won the Golden Lotus Award
• Telugu cinema stood in third place with its share in film market in India

31. TELUGU CINEMA
• ‘Baahubali-the Beginning & The conclusion’ emerged as the highest grosser from
India
• Brahmanandam acted in the highest number of films
• S.P. Balasubrahmanyam sang the highest number of film songs in various Indian
languages
• Vijaya Nirmala was the first female director who made 47 movies in the world
• Dadasaheb Phalke awardee, Dr. D. Ramanayudu produced films in fourteen Indian
regional languages

32. TAMIL CINEMA
• It began with producing of more number of silent feature films b/w 1912-1931
• Nataraja Mudaliar established ‘Indian Film Company’ in Madras in 1915
• He also directed the first Tamil feature film ‘Keechaka vatham’ in 1915
• In 1931, H.M.Reddy directed the first South Indian talkie, ‘Kalidas’ both in Tamil and Telugu
• Tamil films portrayed the local culture
• Madras became the hub of the South Indian film production
• Tamil cinema occupies top place in film marketing in South India

33. TAMIL CINEMA
• Tamil Nadu is the only state having more number of Chief Ministers from film industry such as
Conjeevaram Natarajan Annadurai
Muthuvel Karunanidhi
Marudhur Gopalan Ramachandran
and Jayalalitha
• Sundar Balachander and Kailasam Balachander revolutionized Tamil cinema with ‘Andha Naal’
(1954)
• K. Balachander introduced two super stars, Kamal Hassan with ‘Arangetram’ in 1973 & Rajinikanth
with ‘Apoorva Raagangal’ in 1975

34. MALAYALAM CINEMA
• Kerala is having the tradition of theatre
• The first Malayalam talkie, ‘Bulan’ was directed by S. Notani in 1938
• In 1948, ‘Nirmala’ was produced by P.J. Cheria
• it remained as the first film to employ Malayali play back singer
• ‘Jeevitha Nouka’ was directed by K. Vembu and produced by K. V. Koshi Kunchako in 1951
• It registered as the first super hit movie in Malayalam.
• P. Bhaskaran and Ramu Kariat together made ‘Neelakuyil’ in 1954.
• It won the President’s Silver Medal in 1954.
• ‘Newspaper boy’ (1955) was also marked for its realistic theme.

35. MALAYALAM CINEMA
• Malayalam film industry acclaimed its own tradition in artistic cinema
• Exemplified by the works of Adoor Gopalakrishnan and G. Aravindan.
• Adoor Gopalakrishnan’s first film ‘Swayam Varam’ put the Malayalam cinema on
global map.
• Mohanlal and Mamooty drew mass fan following in Malayalam industry

36. KANNADA CINEMA
• Kannad Industry started film production 11 years after making the first full-length Indian
feature film ‘Raja Harishchandra’ (1913)
• Gubbi Veeranna, Kannada greatest theatre artist, attempted to shoot ‘Bhakta Kabir’ in
1924
• In the late 1920s though a few more successful silent films were made in Kannada
• The Telugu Director Y.V.Rao made the first Kannada talkie ‘Sati Sulochana’ in 1934
• ‘Bhakta Dhruva’ was the very first Kannada talkie which started to shoot under direction
by P.V. Atlekar

37. KANNADA CINEMA
• Mysore Sound Studio was established in 1936
• Kannada movies were made by Tamil filmmakers like as K. Subramanyams, Stri
Ratna, S. Soundara Rajan and Telugu director like Y.V. Rao
• R. Nagendra Rao’s ‘Premada Putri’ (1957) was bagged the National Award
• Girish Karnad, B.V. Karanth and Prema Karanth are popularly known as ‘3K’
• Actor Girish Karnad became stalwart
• Prema Karanth became the first ever woman director with ‘Phaniyamma’ (1983)

38. THANK YOU