They have made us laugh with joy and shed tears of sorrow. They reflect our own innermost fantasies, our broken dreams, our philosophies, and our ever-changing ideas. The stories, the dialogues, the songs and the spectacles that bring a story alive on the big screen are not merely routes of escapism, but confirm something about life itself. Dhanya Nair explores the joy ride that is Indian cinema.
here are movies that tug the deepest chord of your heart; movies that you make you forget all your worries, movies that win all kinds of awards and movies that you cherish for years to come. French-Swiss film maker might have called cinema the most beautiful fraud but it remains one of the most magical and celebrated frauds in the world.
India produces over 1,200 films in more than 25 languages every year hence cinema is an integral part of the Indian culture. In a country where cultural, religion and cast differences have often taken a rough turn, it unanimously unites people. With the Cannes festival inviting India as a guest country for 2013 there is no denial that Indian cinema is going strong despite its 100 years.
Tracing the Trajectory:
On 3rd May 1913, photographer Dada Saheb Phalke released his first feature film—Raja Harishchandra. This epochal feature film made Phalke the father of Indian cinema. But the pioneer director would have never realised that he was unleashing a mass entertainment medium that would enthrall millions and put India on the world map as one of the largest film producers of the world for the next hundred years. Yes, there are vast cultural differences but Indian cinema continues to mark its stamp globally whist still retaining its unique flavour.
“Indian cinema has evolved gradually. In the silent era, cinema was a taboo, so the producers cleverly used religious tales as subjects to gain acceptability. In the talkie-era, cinema inspired the freedom movement clandestinely with songs like Aaj himalay ki choti se from the 1943 film Kismet, the technological innovations were also not far behind Hollywood with the first color film happening as early as 1937,” says S M M Ausaja, film historian and memorabilia collector whose vintage Bollywood posters were auctioned for the Tata cancer hospital by Sotheby’s.
From our first talkies in 1930s to dabbling in animatronics as shown in Robot (2010), Indian cinema has evolved with each decade (See timeline). “Post independence our films saw a Nehruvian influence, the country saw two wars and that too impacted our film making. The seventies saw the birth of the angry young man. Music started shaping our cinema in the eighties. Each decade signified the times we lived in. Today, we are re-inventing our own old stories and giving it a modern twist,” says director Mahesh Bhatt on the ongoing evolution of Indian cinema.
Making a song and dance about it: The song and dance sequences featured in the movies have often faced flak. But some film-makers agree that they remain Indian cinema’s distinguishing point. “Sound came in the 30s and with it came music. The moment we got songs in our movies, our market share rose by 15%. Songs are unique to our narrative and is our biggest strength. Some feel that if you take away songs, then cinema becomes realistic but such films only succeed in art houses. If you want to have Pan-Indian film and touch a larger consciousness as well as the Diaspora abroad you need songs,” says Bhatt.
The lure of our songs and dance have had unexpected effects. For instance, Australian director Baz Luhrmann was inspired by Bollywood dance routines for his movie Moulin Rouge which in turn saw a resurgence of musicals in the West. In the Indian context, songs are a memorable way to convey love, pain, anguish and even success; it also acts as bait for getting more people into the theaters. Unlike the West, where the “musical” is considered to be just one of numerous genres, in the Indian culture music, dance and theatre is inter-linked. This unbroken link goes back to Natya Shastra (2nd century BC), the oldest surviving text on stagecraft in the world.
