Cinematic phenomena - that, happened in India

Those born before millennials will vouch for the  impact that Indian Cinema made in our growing years. Going to Movie theaters, was a staple diet of entertainment for the whole family.  Arranging tickets in advance booking / standing in queue for tickets in sweltering summer/ purchasing in "Black" from touts  or else keeping good relations with Theater Managers were the few options. Men-folks used to show off their skills in arranging tickets.

With tickets in place, the whole family wore its best outfit and moved to Theater hall to be ensconced in the ever capturing dark environs with tantalizing  dream-world, that was to be unveiled before them, with sequences of emotions, laughter, tension, fights and the law catching wrongdoers in the last scene. 

We were thrilled to see the song sequences and the machinations of villains- how they were failed at last by the Hero. 

As a child, I was amazed with few stereotypes - 

a) How the song sequences appeared so real in the films, whereas, the same looked stupid if anyone aped them in the real life.

b) Last fight between Hero and Villain was always with fists and feet, despite villain amassing even nuclear missiles.

c)  Infidelity  was un-excusable. The culprit if lady had to die, by the last reel.

d) The dialogues like " I will kill him by Liquid Oxygen - as "Liquid" will not let him live and "Oxygen" will not let him die, were cheered up by masses.

e) Scenes like Blood Transfusion to the mother by three sons simultaneously or restoring of eye sight by the snake bite/ or by the God were the clap earners.

That was the Magic of Main stream Indian Commercial Cinema -

Let us  take brief stock of the evolution process of the Cinema in India:

The history of Indian Cinema can be traced back to 1896 when the famous Lumiere Brothers' of France demonstrated six soundless short films in Bombay. By 1899, Harishchandra Bhatvadekar made India's first short film. This was one of the major milestones in Indian cinema.

The first Indian talkie Alam Ara produced by the Imperial film company and directed by Ardershir Irani was released on March 14, 1931 at the Majestic Cinema in Bombay; The talkie had brought revolutionary changes in the whole set up of the industry. The year 1931 marked the beginning of the talking ear in Bengal and South India. The first talkie films in Bengali (Jamai Shasthi), Telugu (Bhakta Prahlad) and Tamil (Kalidas) were released in the same year.

While a number of other film-makers, working in several Indian languages, pioneered the growth and development of Indian cinema, the studio system began to emerge in the early 1930s. Its most successful early film was Devdas (1935), whose director, P.C. Barua also appeared in the lead role. The Prabhat Film Company, established by V. G. Damle, Shantaram, S. Fatehlal, and two other men in 1929, also achieved its first success around this time. Damle and Fatehlal's Sant Tukaram (1936), made in Marathi was the first Indian film to gain international recognition. 

The emergence and growth of film studios, which acted as huge magnates, attracted a horde of talented and promising filmmakers and technicians into the business of film making. The films of this period exhibit undercurrents of patriotism, zeal for social reform, advocacy of democracy, peasant and industrial concerns and desire to attain independence.

During the Second World War, the circulation of black money in the film industry gave rise of 'star-system' and collapse of the 'studio-system.' The roots of the formula films of today can be traced back to the Second World War. The new class of capitalists and financiers hired big stars, directors and music directors and started making the formula film of song, dance and star-appeal that continues even today.

Impact of Partition (1947)- The effect on the Film industries of the two countries was radically different. While India lost some good talent like Noor Jehan, Saadat Hasan Manto  and others, it was Business as usual in Bombay. 

Regional culture and craving to see-hear a film in one's own language caused the mushrooming of the regional film industries beginning with Bengali, Tamil and Telugu followed by Marathi, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Oriya, Assamese,

The social films of V. Shantaram, more than anything else, paved the way for an entire set of directors who took it upon themselves to interrogate not only the institutions of marriage, dowry, and widowhood, but the grave inequities created by caste and class distinctions. Some of the social problems received their most unequivocal expression in Achhut Kanya ("Untouchable Girl", 1936), a film directed by Himanshu Rai of Bombay Talkies. The film portrays the travails of a Harijan girl, played by Devika Rani, and a Brahmin boy, played by Ashok Kumar. 

The next noteworthy phase of Hindi cinema is associated with personalities such as Raj Kapoor, Bimal Roy, and Guru Dutt. The son of Prithviraj Kapoor, Raj Kapoor created some of the most admired and memorable films in Hindi cinema. Awaara (The Vagabond, 1951), Shri 420 (1955), and Jagte Raho (1957) were both commercial and critical successes. Bimal Roy's Do Bigha Zamin, which shows the influence of Italian neo-realism, explored the hard life of the rural peasantry under the harshest conditions.

In the meantime, the Hindi cinema had seen the rise of its first acknowledged genius, Guru Dutt, whose films critiqued the conventions of society and deplored the conditions which induce artists to relinquish their inspiration. From Barua's Devdas (1935) to Guru Dutt's Sahib, Bibi aur Gulam, the motif of "predestined love" looms large: to many opponents, a mawkish sentimentality characterizes even the best of the Hindi cinema before the arrival of the new or alternative Indian cinema in the 1970s. 

Onwards, the Commercial Cinema as Dream Merchant and the Art Cinema as soul searcher of the Indian psyche both flourished.

Mainstream commercial releases, however, continue to dominate the market, and not only in India, but wherever Indian cinema has a large following, whether in much of the British Caribbean, Fiji, East and South Africa, the U.K., United States, Canada, or the Middle East.

The Indian film industry, famously known as Bollywood, is the largest in the world, and has major film studios in Mumbai (Bombay), Calcutta, Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad. Between them, they turn out more than 1000 films a year to hugely appreciative audiences around the world. For nearly 50 years, the Indian cinema has been the central form of entertainment in India.

Takeaways:

a) Indian Cinema (including regional films) has evolved with aspirations of the largest democracy in the world.

b) It has evolved as a Brand Ambassador of India and has promoted national and international tourism ( by depicting exotic locales in story line)

c) With arrival of OTT ( Over the Top) platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime, it has entered in our homes. World wide Sharing of the content is possible. A new format is emerging....

d) Nevertheless, The Media and Entertainment industry, which is worth $9.4 Billion today, is rising at CAGR of plus 12% has a lot for future.

Courtesy - Hindustan Times, M/S Deloitte, FICCI

# Films # Indian Cinema # manojwcl