Hindi Movies

Bollywood has come a long a way since its establishment in 1913. The film ‘Raja Harishchandra’ was the first silent feature film to have been made in India and the industry was releasing over 200 films per year. In 1931, Irani’s ‘Alam Ara, was released. It was the first Indian sound film and become a major commercial success.

During the 1930s and 1940s, India was going through a lot of difficulties due the Independence movement and the violence caused due to the partition and there were many film makers who portrayed the struggle beautifully. Ardeshir Irani of Alam Ara fame made the first Indian color film in 1937, followed by Mother India. However, color films did not do as well as one hoped and picked up only during the late 1950s.

The period from the late 1940s to the 1960s was considered the ‘Golden Age’ of Hindi cinema. Some of the most epic films of Hindi cinema were produced at that time. For example Raj Kapoor films Awaara (1951), Shree 420 (1955), Guru Dutt films Pyaasa (1957) and Kaagaz Ke Phool (1959). The successful actors of that time were Raj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar, Dev Anand and Guru Dutt and the list for successful actresses include Meena Kumari, Nargis, Madhubala, Waheeda Rahman, Nutan and Mala Sinha.

Romance and action films were now gaining momentum in the industry which starred talented actors and actresses like Dharmendar, Mumtaz, Rajesh Khanna, Sharmila Tagore, Shammi Kapoor and Helen. With time, the stories moved on from romance to films on gangsters and bandits. Amitabh Bachchan was the star of this period of films, famously known as the ‘Angry Young Man’ and rode to super stardom with actors like Mithun Chakroborty and Anil Kapoor with Hema Malini, Rekha and Jaya Bachchan as his leading ladies. This lasted till the early 1990s.

Hindi filmmakers such as Shyam Benegal produced realistic Parallel Cinema throughout the 1970s, alongside Kumar Shahani, Ketan Mehta, Vijaya Mehta, Govind Nihalan, and Mani Kaul. However, the ‘art film’ bent of the Film Finance Corporation came under criticism during a Committee on Public Undertakings investigation in 1976, which accused the body of not doing enough to encourage commercial cinema. The 1970s thus we saw a rise of commercial cinema in the in 1975 with films like Sholay (1975), The devotional classic like Jai Santoshi Ma. Another important film of 1975 was Deewar, which was directed by Yash Chopra and written by Salim-Javed. It was a story about a policeman against his brother, a gang leader based on real-life smuggler Haji Mastan, portrayed by Amitabh Bachchan. It was described by Danny Boyle, as an absolute key to Indian cinema. The Hindi film with most international recognition in the 1980s was Mira Nair’s Salaam Bombay! (1988). The film won the Camera d’Or at the 1988 Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

During the period of 1980s and 1990s family-centric romantic musicals gained popularity once again and movies like Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak (1988), Maine Pyar Kiya (1989), Hum Aapke Hain Kaun (1994) and Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995) came to the fore. With these movies, new and fresh actors such as Aamir Khan, Salman Khan and Shahrukh Khan and actresses such as Sridevi, Madhuri Dixit, Juhi Chawla and Kajol dominated the silver screen. Alongside such romantic movies, action and comedy were also gaining popularity among the audiences. Actors like Govinda and Akshay Kumar and actresses such as Raveena Tandon and Karisma Kapoor were a common face in the movies of this genre.
The film Satya, directed by Ram Gopal Verma and Anurag Kashyap, marked the entry of independent film and managed commercial success. With the success of Satya, a new genre of ‘Mumbai Noir’ emerged reflecting the social problems in the city of Mumbai. These films featured actors like Nana Patekar, Tabu, Manisha Koirala, Manoj Bajpai and Urmila Matondkar. Their performances in these films were very well received.

With the beginning of the new millennium, the nation’s filmmaking was led to a new height. The 2000s saw the growth of Bollywood’s popularity in the world. The quality, the creative storylines and cinematography, as well as the technical aspects such as animation, showed development. Yash Raj Production and Dharma Production were biggest production houses that produced new modern films. Movies like Lagaan (2001), Devdas (2002), Koi… Mil Gaya (2003), Kal Ho Naa Ho (2003), Veer-Zaara (2004), Rang De Basanti (2006), Lage Raho Munnabhai (2006), Krrish (2006), Dhoom 2 (2006), Om Shanti Om (2007), Taare Zameen Par (2007), and Ghajini (2008) created an explosion in the box office in India and also abroad which led to immense success for Bollywood and gained a lot of attention outside India.

The Hindi film industry has always made films that appealed all the segments of the audiences and has never made films that would only capture the interests of only a few people.

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