Who Started Bollywood?

Hi

Even if you’ve never actually seen a film from India, the word Bollywood immediately

conjures up images of brightly colored productions featuring elaborately

choreographed song and dance numbers, often with 100 or so dancers,

a boy-meets-girl story with a happy ending. But what is the history of India’s national cinema?

The word Bollywood is a play on Hollywood, with the B coming from Bombay (now known as Mumbai), which is the center of the Indian film world.

The word was coined in the 1970s by the writer of a magazine gossip column, though there is disagreement as to which journalist was the first to use it.

However, Indian cinema dates all the way back to 1913 and the silent film Raja Harishchandra, the first-ever Indian feature film. Its producer, Dadasaheb Phalke, was Indian cinema’s first mogul,

nd he oversaw the production of 23 films between 1913 and 1918. Yet unlike Hollywood, initial growth in the industry was slow.

The early 1920s saw the rise of several new production companies and most films made during this era were either mythological or historical in nature.

Imports from Hollywood, primarily action films, were well received by Indian audiences,

and producers quickly began following suit.

Even if you’ve never actually seen a film from India

the word Bollywood immediately conjures up images of brightly colored productions featuring elaborately choreographed song and dance numbers

But what is the history of India’s national cinema?

The word Bollywood is a play on Hollywood,

which is the center of the Indian film world.

Origins

The early 1920s saw the rise of several new production companies and most films made during this era were either mythological or historical in nature.

Imports from Hollywood, primarily action films, were well received by Indian audiences

However, filmed versions of episodes from Indian classics and mythological literature

still dominated throughout the decade.

1931 saw the release of Alam Ara, the first talkie, and the film that paved the way for the future of Indian cinema.

The number of productions companies began to skyrocket, as did the number of films being produced each year—from 108 in 1927, to 328 in 1931.

Birth of the New Wave