Just in 2024 alone, India produced over a thousand films across 20 languages. There were as many films produced in the south Indian languages Tamil and Telugu as Hollywood itself in 2024.
In 2023, RRR , a Telugu film directed by Rajamouli, also won the Oscar for Best Original Song with “Naatu Naatu.” With many Indian films crossing borders and reaching different parts of the world, including Japan, China and North America, let’s take a look at the history and origins of Indian cinema. India was very much a part of the initial wave in the origins of cinema, which began in the late 1800s, with many Indian and British artists in colonial India experimenting with different photographic mediums. While many argue that Shree Pundalik (1912) by Dadasaheb Torane is the first Indian film, Raja Harishchandra (1913) by Dadasaheb Phalke takes that honor, as Phalke shot, edited and processed the entire film in Mumbai. Shree Pundalik, however, was shot by a British cameraman and processed in London. This trend continued in south India, with the first Tamil, Malayalam and Telugu films being released between 1917 and 1930. Dadasaheb Phalke is also regarded as the father of Indian cinema, with the Government of India honoring artists in his name since 1969. His role was pivotal in indigenizing film production in India.
The origins of Indian cinema are deeply rooted in musical theatre and street plays. In fact, Shree Pundalik was also a recording of a stage play, while Raja Harishchandra was a popular play adapted to film. With many theatre artists migrating to film media, India’s transition from the silent era was filled with loud performances, music and songs. In an interview with film critic Baradwaj Rangan, Tamil film director Vetrimaran recounts this history when pointing out the uniqueness of Indian cinema. He further references his experience during the Oscar campaign for his film Visaranai (2015), where people were often perplexed by the loud emotions in the movies.
“That’s how our people are. When someone dies, we don’t hold somber funerals; we hit our chests hard and cry out loud,” he said. This brings us to the socio-cultural context in which Indian cinema evolved.
Indian cinema, in its very origins, dealt with many regional ethnicities and issues, along with an overarching colonial trauma. Art was a tool of escapism for the masses for centuries, and the new medium of film took that place in the 1900s. The introduction of songs and tropes such as the victory of good over evil were all part of the stories, emphasizing this aspect. The adaptation of mythology and history was also prominent, especially in the first two decades of independent India. Films like Mayabazar (1957), Mughal-E-Azam (1960), Pazhassi Raja (1964) and Karnan (1964) are still celebrated today. Even now, Indian cinema attempts to reflect the society around it, providing deeper insights to the masses. This was pivotal for a young, independent India in the 1950s and 1960s. For instance, some of the earliest films produced in Bombay were about migrants and their struggles, reflecting the nature of Bombay at that time as a bustling colonial industrial city. In fact, many early workers in the film industry were also migrants who came to the city as textile industry workers.
This extends to south Indian films as well. Vigathakumaran, the first Malayalam film made in 1930 by J. C. Daniel, openly discusses caste issues plaguing colonial India. Mother India (1957) is yet another example of this trend continuing post-independence in 1947.
With new technologies emerging and digital platforms making film-watching more accessible, Indian audiences today are part of a global diaspora. The new wave of larger-than-life pan-Indian films, starting with the Tamil film Enthiran in 2010, connected Indian films to global cinematic sensibilities. For instance, the Hindi film Dangal (2016) made a huge impact in China, while Kevin Feige, during his promotional interviews for Avengers: Endgame, spoke about how Enthiran was one of the inspirations for staging Avengers: Age of Ultron.
This upcoming decade will be important for Indian cinema as both technology and audiences continue to evolve.
Contributed Photo/DVV Entertainment on YouTube
