Have you ever wondered why is the Hindi film industry so popular among the film audiences around the globe? However it wasn’t the same if we go back to our origin. Things have changed a lot in the past 100 years of Hindi Cinema.
It all started from black and white movies era, typically mute and shot on one single frame to now having one of the best cinema infrastructures in the world. With huge sets, advanced camera & light setups to best sound and editing rooms, we have seen Hindi cinema evolving over the years.
What is the history of Bollywood and how it started?
Many experts and facts state that it all started in 1913 with the Bollywood’s first-ever feature film Raja Harishchandra directed by the father of Hindi cinema Dadasaheb Phalke. But if we want to discover its history, we’ll have to go back in the year 1898 when Hiralal Sen made a film called ‘The Flower of Persia’ or when in the year 1899,
S Bhatavdekar made ‘Wrestlers’ although both of them were inspired by Professor Stevenson’s show in Kolkata’s Star Theatre in 1897.
But still, we all know that the first full-length feature film of Bollywood was Raja Harishchandra, so we all should know how Dadasaheb Phalke made this film.
Phalke was watching a French silent film ‘The Life of Christ’ at a theatre in Bombay on April 1911, it inspired him to make a feature film of his own. He then went to London in February 1912 for two weeks to learn the film making techniques and after his return to Bombay, he established Phalke Films Company.
How could we forget the first-ever sound feature film of Bollywood ‘Alam Ara’. Directed by Ardeshir Irani, the movie was released in 1931. Just like Mr. Phalke, Irani also got inspiration from Alam Ara after watching an American feature film part-talkie Show Boat.
Why are the 1950s and 60s said to be the Golden age of Bollywood?
During this period, Bollywood got three of their biggest superstars Raj Kapur, Dev Aanand, and Dilip Kumar and many legendary actresses such as Suraiya, Nargis, Madhubala, Waheeda Rehman, Meena Kumari, Nutan and Vyjayanthimala. During that time, some of the best Hindi movies like Awara, Pyaasa, Shree 420, and Kaagaz Ke Phool were made and got a lot of critical acclaim. Movies like Mother India and Mughal-e-Azam broke all the previous records at the box office paving the way for Bollywood to become a more popular and successful industry as we all know today.
How Bollywood was reshaped in the 1970s and 80s?
The term “Bollywood” was created in the 1970s, which was an important time when the typical features of commercial Hindi films were established.
The early period was dominated by musical romantic movies and the biggest name of this era was Babumoshai himself, industry’s very own Superstar Rajesh Khanna who gave 15 consecutive hit films from 1969 to 1971.
This era saw a shift in the genres with the arrival of Salim-Javed, this duo wrote stories in the different genres like of violence and Bombay underworld stories. They also gave many blockbusters such as Zanjeer, Deewar, and Sholay. They personified Amitabh Bachchan as an ‘Angry young man’. This period also enjoyed success with masala films from Manmohan Desai’s Amar Akbar Anthony to Salim-Javed’s Yaadon Ki Baarat.
In the mid-1980s Bollywood reached a stage where it was generating an annual revenue of 700 Cr Indian rupees, in 1986 India’s per year film output had increased by 741 movies to 833 movies produced per year making India and Bollywood world’s largest film industry.
Bollywood faced a decline at the box office during the late 1980s. Then came the new-age Hindi cinema where the early phase was dominated by actors like Salman Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan, Govinda and many more. Movies also saw a shift with romantic genres garnering more love. Movies like Maine Pyar Kiya, Hum Aapke Hain Kaun, DDLJ, Dil Toh Pagal Hai, Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak and Raja Hindustani made all time high business at the box office.
Lately, Bollywood mastered different genres with movies like Lagaan, Swadesh, Black Friday, Maqbool, A Wednesday, and Gangs of Wasseypur discovering new pathways for the industry. We also witnessed the likes of Cop Universe and Spy Universe movies reach new heights in the form of Singham series, Simba, Tiger series, War, Pathaan and many more.
We should be proud of the fact that Bollywood releases 1500 to 2000 movies annually compared to less than 500 Hollywood movies. Its revenue is projected to reach $ 3.7 billion by 2024 and Indians buy 2.7 billion movie tickets annually, which is more than the population of many other countries in the world.
Over the years this journey has gotten better and better. Not only the Bollywood industry evolved but its audience also evolved and their taste of cinema has forced Bollywood to adopt new genres and get out of their comfort zone. We hope this trend continues and we get to watch many more quality movies from our Hindi cinema.
