Bollywood the greatest movie industry. Placed after the Hollywood. Bollywood has a memorable history behind today's industry. The Lumiere Brothers in 1899 introduced soundless movie clips to India which inspired Dadasaheb Phalke in 1913 to be the first Indian director to produce a soundless Indian film called Raja Harishchandra. The film had subtitles in both Hindi and English. The industry soon took off and the 1920s saw the rise of several film directors trying their hand at making silent Indian movies. It was in 1931 when the first sound film Alam Ara was produced and its success inspired directors in South India and various other parts of India like Bengal to also start producing films in these regions. Gradually the rest of India joined in the bollywood race and films started to be produced with political and social themes of the era. The name bollywood was inspired by Hollywood and Bombay(Mumbai)being at the heart of Indian film production.
In 1932 Bombay hosted the first Indian film festival and this inspired the Indian directors to produce better films with directors like Satyajit Ray and Mrinal Sen introducing Indian films to the world cinematic audiences. Gradually colour films were produced and the director K.Asif directed the classic film Mughal-E-Azam which was based on the life of the great Mughal Emperor Akbar and his son Salim (Jehangir). Film actors like Raj Kapoor, Dalip Kumar, Manoj Kumar and actresses like Nargis, Vyjantimala and Saira Banu became household names in the 1960s. Not only the film actors but the playback singers who sang the songs for these films like Lata Mangeshkar and Mohammed Rafi became popular all around the world.
Events in Indian history were reflected in Bollywood films and the Independence of India from Britain and the resulting partition of India and Pakistan and its effects were shown in patriotic films like Shaheed which was directed by Ramesh Sehgal. Subjects of poverty of the rural Indians and the power of family values was the subject of the film 'Mother India' starring the actress Nargis. This film made by Mehmoob Khan was an outright success and broke all box office records in India. The film industry was the ideal media not only to entertain but to educate the masses about all sorts of issues that affected India and its people.
The 1980s brought in films with lots of violence and Amitabh Bachan became the 'angry young man' fighting injustices against corrupt leaders and politicians. Films were churned out in large numbers with over 800 films being produced in this period. Gradually themes changed and family issues and social values were brought back again into the Indian films. Films showing the lives of Indians living abroad and how they coped in Western societies were brougt into the Bollywood scene. Many people recognised such issues and the Bollywood industry gained even more popularity in the US and Britain with Shahrukh Khan acquiring the title of King Khan' with his ever increasing popularity.
Recent Indian film directors like Deepa Mehta have approached subjects which are considered taboo like female sexuality, racism and class divisions in India with films like Fire, Water and Earth. It has inspired Indians living in Western countries to direct films with a different take on life and the result has been Mira Nair's Monsoon Wedding and Gurinder Chada's Bride and Prejudice and Bend it like Beckam.
Today the Bollywood film industry is the largest film industry in the world. In June 2007 Yorkshire hosted the International Indian Film Academy Awards (Bollywood Oscars) an event watched by 500 million people in 110 countries around th globe. The latest Indian films have become a lot slicker and are technically better than their previous counterparts. The film 'Krish' and the remake of 'Don' have used this technology very effectively and gradually Bollywood is improving itself to be able to compete on the world stage. Story lines could be improved a lot more and unnecessary drama reduced to make the films appear credible but meanwhile the songs, the elaborate costumes and sets, the dances, the emotions and drama give Bollywood the entertainment value that make its audiences come back for more and more.
