Bollywood Movies: History and the ‘Bollywood Movement’

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Table of Contents

History of Bollywood
The development processes
A new era of Bollywood: Golden Age
Bollywood model and Parallel Cinema Movement
The Bollywood movement
References

History of Bollywood

Bollywood is an informal term that is popularly used to describe an Indian movie industry that mainly produces films in the Hindi language. It is based in the city of Mumbai, India and although people often incorrectly use the term for referring to the entire Indian cinema, Bollywood only represents a part of the Indian movie industry and not the whole. Not only is Bollywood the largest film producing industry in India, but is also one of the largest in the entire world. The name Bollywood is a portmanteau word that has been created combining the previous name of Mumbai, which was Bombay, and the name for the heart of the American movie industry, being Hollywood. Although Bollywood is normally related to Hindi cinema, many Bollywood movies have been frequently found to use a number of regional languages, including Urdu, Punjabi, Bengali, and so on. There has also been an increase in the usage of Indian English both in the songs and dialogues of the Bollywood movies (Mishra, 2002).

The development processes

In 1913, Dadasaheb Phalke made the 1st silent full-length feature film in India called Raja Harishchandra. Within no time the Indian moviemaking industry had developed into a gigantic film empire. By the 1930s, the film industry had started producing more than 200 movies every year. After numerous experiments in silent movies came Alam Ara in 1931. This was the 1st Indian movie with sound in it and was made by Ardeshir Irani. The movie turned out to be a huge commercial success proving that India had a huge market for musicals and talkies. Later in 1934, Ardeshir Irani made India’s first English feature film called Noor Jahan. Quickly, most of the regional movie industries, and Bollywood, switched over to sound filming (Ganti, 2004). When Bombay Talkies was released in 1934 by Himansu Rai, it spearheaded the development of Indian movies. The late 1930s and 1940s saw India go through tumultuous times as it was battered by a number of major incidences including the Great Depression, the Second World War India’s struggle to win its independence, and the hostility and brutality created by its partition. Most of the Bollywood movies that came out during this time were wishful and unabashedly escapist in nature. (Mishra, 2002) However, most of the filmmakers were able to tackle the tough social times and sometimes even used the Indian Independence Movement as the background of their films. Ardeshir Irani made the first Hindi Indian color feature film called Kisan Kanya in 1957. However, it was only in the late 1950s that the use of colors in Hindi movies gained popularity. Soon, melodramas and lavish romantic musicals became the basic fare of all the cinema halls in India (Ganti, 2004).

A new era of Bollywood: Golden Age

After India gained its independence in 1947, the Indian movie industry never looked back. Film historians regard the period between the late 1940s and 1960s to be Hindi cinemas’ “Golden Age”. This era saw the production of some of India’s most critically acclaimed movies which received recognition not only in India but the world over. This period produced classics like Pyaasa in 1957and Kaagaz Ke Phool in 1959 by Guru Dutt, Awaara in 1951 and Shree 420 in 1955 by Raj Kapoor. These movies dealt with social themes and expressed the lives of the urban working class in India at that time. A number of renowned epic movies of the Indian film industry were also made at this time. The most widely known was Mother India in 1957 by Mehboob Khan, which is still considered to be among the best movies made in India and was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, and Mughal-e-Azam in 1960 by K. Asif. Western cultures were reincarnated in Bimal Roy’s Madhumati produces in 1958. Among the other successful directors of this time were Vijay Bhatt and Kamal Amrohi. The well-known actors of this period were Guru Dutt, Raj Kapoor, Dev Anand, Sunil Dutt and Dilip Kumar. The actresses included Nargis Dutt, Mala Sinha, Madhubala, Meena Kumari and Waheeda Rehman (Mishra, 2002).

Bollywood model and Parallel Cinema Movement

The 1950s also saw the emergence of the Parallel Cinema movement, which although had begun with Bengali cinema, gained a lot of prominence in Bollywood. Hindi movies belonging to this movement include Neecha Nagar of 1946 by Chetan Anand and Two Acres of Land of 1953 by Bimal Roy (Ganti, 2004). Their commercial success and critical acclaim created a path for neorealism Indian filmmakers of the Indian New Wave. Other parallel moviemakers included Shyam Benegal, who continued producing realistic movies all through the 1970s. This period saw a number of action and romance films and was dominated by actors like Dharmendra, Mithun Chakraborty and Rajesh Khanna and actresses like Mumtaz, Sharmila Tagore and Helen. (Mishra, 2002) It also saw the emergence of Amitabh Bacchan, who slowly became a superstar and even today rules not only Bollywood but the hearts of millions of his fans. With movies like Sholay, Jai Shantoshi Ma and Dewar in 1975, Salam Bombay, Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak and Maine Pyar Kiya in the 1980s, and Hum Aapke Hain Kaun and Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge in the 1990s the modern era of Indian cinema had dawned (Ganti, 2004).

The Bollywood movement

Bollywood’s popularity grew with the turn of the century, leading the industry to new heights with actors like Shahrukh Khan, Aamir Khan, Hritik Roshan, Sanjay Dutt and Abhishek Bacchan and actresses like Rani Mukherjee, Kajol, Aishwarya Rai, Juhi Chawla, Madhuri Dixit and Priety Zinta, taking Bollywood to overseas markets and multiplexes having phenomenal success both in India and oversees. The Bollywood movement has been unparalleled all over the world. India has entered into a number of ties up with different nations all over the world, including South Africa, the USA, UK, etc., which has grown stronger over the past few years. The Bollywood Movement has put India on the international movie map forever, single-handedly producing more movies every year than any other film industry in the world. Budding artists from every nook and corner dream of working in Bollywood someday and it is the ultimate dream of every Bollywood fan to catch a glimpse or get a picture with their favorite artists (Mishra, 2002).

In conclusion, it should be mentioned that although some people may say that most Bollywood movies are not very artistic or do not possess esthetic tendencies which could be seen in the films of just a few exceptional Bollywood filmmakers, like Satyajit Ray, the important fact remains that Bollywood actors and filmmakers display a speculative and unique impulse which is reflected by the hearts of millions of its viewers who live not only in India but all over the world. Such is the power and magic of Bollywood.

References

Ganti, T. (2004). Bollywood: a guidebook to popular Hindi cinema. New Delhi: Routledge.
Mishra, V. (2002). Bollywood cinema: temples of desire. New Delhi: Routledge.

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Bollywood Movies: History and the ‘Bollywood Movement’

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