Cinema of India
The Cinema of India, consisting of motion pictures made by the Indian film industry, has had a large effect on world cinema since the late 20th century.[8][9] Indian cinema is made up of various film industries, including Hindi cinema, which makes motion pictures in the Hindi language and is one of the biggest film industries in the country.[9][10] In 2021, Telugu cinema became the largest film industry in India in terms of box-office.[11][10] Major centers of film production across the country include Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kolkata, Kochi, Bangalore, Bhubaneswar-Cuttack and Guwahati.[details 1] For a number of years the Indian film industry has ranked first in the world in terms of annual film output.[31] In 2022, Indian cinema earned ₹15,000 crore at the box-office.[5]
Indian cinema is composed of multilingual and multi-ethnic film art. In 2022, Hindi cinema represented 33% of box office revenue, followed by Telugu representing 20%, Tamil representing 16%, Kannada representing 8% and Malayalam representing 6%.[32] Other prominent film industries are that of Bengali, Marathi, Odia, Punjabi, Gujarati and Bhojpuri.[32] As of 2022, the combined revenue of South Indian film industries have surpassed that of the Mumbai-based Hindi-language film industry (Bollywood).[33][34] As of 2022, Telugu cinema leads Indian cinema's box-office revenue.[35][36][10]
Indian cinema is a global enterprise[37] and its films have attracted international attention and acclaim throughout South Asia.[38] Since the inception of Indian cinema in 1913, Hindi cinema enjoyed the position of top film industry, but in recent years other industries started giving tough competition to it.[39] Overseas Indians account for 12% of revenue for the industry.[40] Major film production houses in India are Arka Media Works, UV Creations, Aashirvad Cinemas, AGS Entertainment, Ajay Devgn FFilms, AVM Productions, Dharma Productions, Eros International, Geetha Arts, Hombale Films, Lyca Productions, Modern Theatres, Reliance Entertainment, Red Chillies Entertainment, Mythri Movie Makers, Salman Khan Films, Sun Pictures, Suresh Productions, UTV Motion Pictures, Yash Raj Films and Zee Entertainment Enterprises.
K. Moti Gokulsing and Wimal Dissanayake identified six major influences that have shaped Indian popular cinema:[248]
Sharmistha Gooptu and Bhaumik identify Indo-Persian/Islamicate culture as another major influence. In the early 20th century, Urdu was the lingua franca of popular performances across northern India, established in performance art traditions such as nautch dancing, Urdu poetry and Parsi theatre. Urdu and related Hindi dialects were the most widely understood across northern India, thus Hindustani became the standardised language of early Indian talkies. One Thousand and One Nights (Arabian Nights) had a strong influence on Parsi theatre, which adapted "Persianate adventure-romances" into films, and on early Bombay cinema where "Arabian Nights cinema" became a popular genre.[254]
Like mainstream Indian popular cinema, Indian parallel cinema was influenced by a combination of Indian theatre and Indian literature (such as Bengali literature and Urdu poetry), but differs when it comes to foreign influences, where it is influenced more by European cinema (particularly Italian neorealism and French poetic realism) than by Hollywood. Ray cited Vittorio De Sica's Bicycle Thieves (1948) and Jean Renoir's The River (1951), on which he assisted, as influences on his debut film Pather Panchali (1955).
International influence[edit]
During colonial rule, Indians bought film equipment from Europe.[59] The British funded wartime propaganda films during the Second World War, some of which showed the Indian army pitted against the Axis powers, specifically the Empire of Japan, which had managed to infiltrate India.[255] One such story was Burma Rani, which depicted civilian resistance to Japanese occupation by British and Indian forces in Myanmar.[255] Pre-independence businessmen such as J. F. Madan and Abdulally Esoofally traded in global cinema.[49]
Early Indian films made early inroads into the Soviet Union, Middle East, Southeast Asia[256] and China. Mainstream Indian movie stars gained international fame across Asia[257][258][259] and Eastern Europe.[260] For example, Indian films were more popular in the Soviet Union than Hollywood films[261][262] and occasionally domestic Soviet films.[263] From 1954 to 1991, 206 Indian films were sent to the Soviet Union, drawing higher average audience figures than domestic Soviet productions,[262][264] Films such as Awaara and Disco Dancer drew more than 60 million viewers.[265][266] Films such as Awaara, 3 Idiots and Dangal,[267][268] were among the 20 highest-grossing films in China.[269]
Many Asian and South Asian countries increasingly found Indian cinema more suited to their sensibilities than Western cinema.[256] Jigna Desai holds that by the 21st century, Indian cinema had become 'deterritorialised', spreading to parts of the world where Indian expatriates were present in significant numbers and had become an alternative to other international cinema.[270]
Indian films frequently appeared in international fora and film festivals.[256] This allowed Parallel Bengali filmmakers to achieve worldwide fame.[271]
Indian cinema more recently began influencing Western musical films, and played a particularly instrumental role in the revival of the genre in the Western world. Ray's work had a worldwide impact, with filmmakers such as Martin Scorsese,[272] James Ivory,[273] Abbas Kiarostami, François Truffaut,[274] Carlos Saura,[275] Isao Takahata and Gregory Nava[276] citing his influence, and others such as Akira Kurosawa praising his work.[277] The "youthful coming-of-age dramas that flooded art houses since the mid-fifties owe a tremendous debt to the Apu trilogy".[95] Since the 1980s, overlooked Indian filmmakers such as Ghatak[278] and Dutt[279] posthumously gained international acclaim. Baz Luhrmann stated that his successful musical film Moulin Rouge! (2001) was directly inspired by Bollywood musicals.[280] That film's success renewed interest in the then-moribund Western musical genre, subsequently fuelling a renaissance.[281] Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire (2008) was directly inspired by Indian films,[137][282] and is considered to be an "homage to Hindi commercial cinema".[283]
Indian cinema has been recognised repeatedly at the US-based Academy Awards. Indian films Mother India (1957), Salaam Bombay! (1988) and Lagaan (2001), were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Indian Oscar winners include Bhanu Athaiya (costume designer), Ray (filmmaker), A. R. Rahman (music composer), Resul Pookutty (sound editor) and Gulzar (lyricist), M. M. Keeravani (music composer), Chandrabose (lyricist) Cottalango Leon and Rahul Thakkar Sci-Tech Award.[284][285]
Filming locations[edit]
A filming location is any place where acting and dialogue are recorded. Sites where filming without dialogue takes place are termed a second unit photography site. Filmmakers often choose to shoot on location because they believe that greater realism can be achieved in a "real" place. Location shooting is often motivated by budget considerations.
The most popular locations for filming in India are the main cities of their state for regional industry. Other locations include Manali and Shimla in Himachal Pradesh; Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir; Ladakh; Darjeeling in West Bengal; Ooty and Kodaikanal in Tamil Nadu; Amritsar in Punjab; Udaipur, Jodhpur, Jaisalmer and Jaipur in Rajasthan; Delhi; Ottapalam in Kerala; Goa and Puducherry.[302][303]