Journey of Hindi Cinema:Voyage from Raja HarishChandra,first Hindi film to Frozen,first Black&White film of 21st century.

Bollywood has come of age and has matured in last few decades.If there are two things which people relate to India abroad it is Bollywood and Taj Mahal.After 4 years in 2013 Hindi cinema will be celebrating its Golden Jubilee.Hindi Cinema better known as Bollywood across the globe started its journey with the production of Raja Harish Chandra which is the first silent feature film made in India in 1913   directed and produced by Dadasaheb Phalke. By 30’s film factory was producing close to 200 films per annum.1931 saw a revolutionized change as Alam Ara ,first Indian sound film was produced and was a major hit commercially.

After 6 years of black and white production director of Alam Ara Ardeshir Irani,once again gave a important gift to film industry by producing first colored Hindi feature film,Kisan Kanya but the color concept became popular after 1955.

In 1957 Mother India directed by Mehboob khan which was nominated by Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at Oscars and K Asif’s Mughal-e-Azam wrote a new history in the field of cinema.By 50’s Hindi movies were recognized at Cannes film festival .Legend Filmmakers Satyajit Ray and Guru Dutt were known as best Asian film makers and movie like Pyaasa(1957)by Dutt  and The Apu Trilogy by Ray featured in Time magazine’s “All-TIME” 100 best movies .Actors like Dilip Kumar and Raj Kapoor had a huge fan following at that time.

The most internationally-acclaimed Hindi film of the 1980s was Mira Nair’s Salaam Bombay! (1988), which won the Camera d’Or at the 1988 Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

Parallel cinema also emerged with Satyajit Ray and Shyam Benegal as main contributors.In 21st century Directors like Nandita Das,Anurag Kashyap and Madhur Bhandarkar are continuing the legacy of realistic cinema with movies like Fire, Gulaal and Page3.

It would be unfair if we talk about Hindi Cinema and don’t mention icons like Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan which took Bollywood to new heights.Actresses like Aishwarya Rai Bachchan made a huge impact overseas by her work and films like Slumdog Millionaire gave a new meaning and life to Hindi Film Industry which is expected to cross a turnover of 4 billion$. Bollywood produces around 300  out of a total of 1200 films produced under the umbrella of Indian cinema.

Once again we’re at same place with Frozen as the first Black and white film after a millennium by Shivajee Chandrabhushan filmed at Ladakh, India.Frozen is an epitome of Indian cinema’s maturity.It was featured at the various Interntational  film festivals, including the 2007 London Film Festival.It has won awards at Durban Film festival for best cinematography and was nominated for other prestigious global awards and now it has been released in India recently.

Now it is very usual for a  movie producer  to launch their movies abroad and host a special screening in different parts of the world after all collection from overseas Boxoffice is  making them more and more rich.As audience accepting Indian films abroad with open arms its time Indian cinema should start making a more of meaningful cinema apart from making commercial and Masala flicks.

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