The Indian film industry is the oldest and the largest in the world with over 1200 movies released annually. The majority of films are made in the South Indian languages mostly Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam, but Hindi films take the largest box office share. Mumbai (Bombay), Chennai (Madras), Kolkata (Calcutta), Bangalore and Hyderabad are the main film production centers. With more than12000 cinema halls, the Indian film industry turns out more than 1000 films a year to hugely appreciative audiences around the world.
The history of Indian Cinema can be traced back to 1896 when the famous Lumiere Brothers' of France demonstrated six soundless short films in Bombay. By 1899, Harishchandra Bhatvadekar made India's first short film. This was one of the major milestones in Indian Cinema. Throughout the first two decades, the trend continued with filmmakers.
Dhundiraj Govind Phalke produced India's first full-length silent film, 'Raja Harishchandra', in 1913. He laid the foundation for the beginning of a regular feature film industry in India. By 1920 there was a regular industry bringing out films starting with 27 per year and reaching 207 films in 1931. Many new companies and filmmakers came up during that period. The 1930s saw sweeping changes to the industry, technically and stylistically. The most remarkable thing that happened in Indian film industry was in 1931, when India's first talkie, 'Alam Ara', directed by Ardeshir Irani was released. Dubbed into Hindi and Urdu, the film was a smash hit and a new revolution began in the Indian film industry. It's phenomenal success all over India lead to other 'Talking, Singing and Dancing' productions to be hurriedly put into production. At the same time, it marked the beginning of the Talkie era in South Indian film industries also. The first talkie films in Bengali (Jumai Shasthi), Telugu (Bhakta Prahlad) and Tamil (Kalidass) were released in the same year 1931.
The 30's is recognized as the decade of social protest in the history of India films. In the 30's three major film centres developed which were based in Bombay (Mumbai), Calcutta (Kolkata) and Madras (Chennai). Of these centres, Bombay was known for the making of films geared for national distribution, while Madras and Calcutta were known for their regional films.
From the 1940's to the late 1950's, the films with their concentration on vibrant song and dance were for many, the most memorable in Indian film history. Another factor that encouraged truly good Indian cinema was the establishment of National Film Awards, the Film Finance Corporations, the National Film Archives of India and the Film and Television Institute of India. The first International Film Festival in 1952 held at Bombay, Chennai, Delhi and Calcutta had great impact on Indian Cinema.
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