Before attempting to analyse any subject area in India,
it is important to understand that any aspect –whether it be religion,
culture, politics, philosophy, art or science – rarely comes as a rigid,
structured, intimidating subject of study for a common Indian.
Indian Cinema brings all these elements together as a way of life
consciously for the educated and as a tradition for the uneducated.
The Vedas were complete forms of education covering science, sex, arts, magic, spirituality, warfare, psychoanalysis, philosophy, and every other conceivable subject. Vedas became a way of life, a religion. Similarly, going to the cinemas has become a religious activity and a way of life.
During the Vedic period, c. 1500 – c. 1100 BCE, the most significant literary forms were “Gathas (songs), Narasamsi (eulogies of heroes), Akhyana (dramatic narratives), and Purana (ancient lore)” (Chakravarty, 1993, 162). These forms can be found in various epics that generated folk tales and became a part of the Indian mythology. ‘Mahabharta’, the world’s longest epic, though traditionally belonging to the genre of ‘Kavya’ (poems), but containing the above mentioned literary forms, deals with all the social and scientific aspects of the. Mahabharata, remarkable in its universality, is also applicable to societies of the modern world.
During the later part of the British rule, due to the ‘business’ nature of their occupation, Indians were unable to develop and identify with a predominant signifier. Jolted by various crusading and rigid cultures, crippled by illiteracy, poverty and all the evils of casteism and secularism, Indians were looking for ‘something’ as strong and larger than life as ‘Mahabharata’ in terms of its totality, diversity, universality, equality, and a theatrical nature. Indians found the answer in movies. Weeks after the first films were screened in France; films came to India through Bombay. During the initial stages of films in India, attempts were made by educated metropolitans of Bombay and Paris theatre to bring cinema in the style of West, where it was invented, but the majority said ‘no’. Like other previous foreign invasions, India adopted and adapted movies giving them the one-of-a-kind ‘Indianness’ and the stamp of India.
The ‘Indianised’ version of film was remarkable in its universal nature: for the uneducated population, it was an escapist version of their traditional art forms; for the educated population, it was from the west and that was enough; for low castes, they were sharing something with the higher caste; and for everyone, it was their claim to modernity, something which they had been craving for a long time. A culture based on epics, larger than life phenomena, grandeur and craziness had found films, the twentieth century form of universal communication perfectly suitable for the illiterate, poor and class ridden society.
After the Lumiere brothers’ screening sensation in 1898, the first short film in India was directed by Hiralal Sen titled ‘The Flower of Persia’. In 1912, the first Indian feature was released: ‘Shree Pundalik’ by Dadasaheb Torne running for 12 minutes. This was followed by the first full-length film ‘Raja Harishchandra’ produced by Indian film industry pioneer Dadasaheb Phalke, who captured various Sanskrit epics as one film. Quietly and steadily over the next 50 years, films became a phenomenon with a fanatic following and larger than life existence.
Indian Cinema has had a profound effect across India since the early 20th century. It consists of films produced across the Indian cinematic arena and cultures of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Naidu, Jammu, Kashmir, Bihar and other states. Further to this, Indian films came into popularity throughout South Asia and the Middle East.
The turn of the 19th century saw major changes to the themes and styles of Indian Cinema. human race; a concoction of human misery, mirth, escapades, simplicity of domestic life, visual effects, global appeal, the desire for realism, and the lack of utopia which had previously been important.
With the introduction of web series, and world cinema, India has definitely woken up from its dream vacation in an Indian ecstasy (mostly European delights shown as Indian places) to the innate feelings of a protagonist. Additionally, there has been great emphasis on story, cinematography, and the power of its actors to maintain the attention of the audience through a hearty performance.
Producing more than 2,000 films every year in twenty languages, at nearly three times that of Hollywood, India’s film industry continues to be the world’s largest screen powerhouse. From a total revenue of $2.1 billion in 2016, the industry has grown at an enviable 11% CAGR in the past four years. Even the Covid-19 pandemic is unlikely to derail the resilient nature of the Indian film industry and its captive audience.
There are two key factors that are responsible for this convergence of commercial growth and mature storytelling in Indian Cinema. First, the digital revolution and rapid growth in digital infrastructure across India created a tectonic shift in content consumption.
Secondly, Bollywood and other regional film segments have embraced smaller and more independent producers in a predominantly production-house dominated industry, leading to the emergence of independent cinema making an appearance on the big screen, alongside commercial blockbusters. Films such as ‘Wednesday’, ‘Vicky Donor’ and ‘Lunch Box’, successfully demonstrated that gripping content could work without an ensemble cast.