2010-05-22T13:19:00.001+05:30

History Of Tamil Cinema

Tamil Cinema is the Chennai–based Tamil language filmmaking industry of the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is based in the Kodambakkam district of Chennai, where several Tamil language feature films are produced, which has led to a reference to the district and industry as Kollywood , a portmanteau of the words Kodambakkam and Hollywood.

Silent Movies were produced in Chennai since 1916 and the era of talkies dawned in 1931 with the film Kalidas. By the end of the 1930s, the State of Madras legislature passed the Entertainment Tax Act 1939. Tamil Nadu cinema has had a profound effect on the film making industries of India, with Chennai becoming a hub for the filmmaking industries of other languages, including Telugu cinema, Malayalam cinema, Kannada cinema, Hindi cinema, Sinhalese cinema and Sri Lankan Tamil cinema in the 1900s.T amil–language Films are further made in other countries.

Today, Tamil Films are distributed to various theatres around the world such as in Sri Lanka, Singapore, South Korea, Malaysia, Mauritius, South Africa, Western Europe, North America, and other significant Tamil diaspora regions.

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History Of Malayalam Cinema

Malayalam Cinema refers to films made in the Indian state of Kerala in the Malayalam language. Malayalam movies typically portray social or familial issues and are considered more realistic and highbrow than Bollywood movies.In spite of the movies' relatively low budgets, The Malayalam Cinema has pioneered various technical, thematic and production techniques among films in India and South India. For example, the first 3-D film produced in India, My Dear Kuttichathan (1984), was made in Malayalam.The first cinemascope film produced in Malayalam was Thacholi Ambu (1978).

Many Malayalam films have been remade in other languages, including Garam Masala, Kyon Ki, Billu, Bhool Bhulaiyaa, Hera Pheri, Chup Chup Ke (in Hindi), Dindigul Sarathy, Sundara Travels, Friends, Ninaithale Inikkum, Perazhagan, Kuselan, Chandramukhi (in Tamil), Classmates, Chandralekha (in Telugu), Aaptamitra, and Bellary Naga (in Kannada).

'Golden Age'of Malayalam Cinema

Most critics and audiences consider this period as The Golden Age of Malayalam Cinema. The Malayalam cinema of this period was characterised by detailed screenplays dealing with everyday life with a lucid narration of plot intermingling with humour and melancholy. This was aided by brilliant cinematography and lighting as in motion pictures like Perumthachan (1990), directed by Ajayan with Santosh Sivan as the cinematographer. These Films are also remembered for their warm background music by composers like Johnson, as in the motion picture Namukku parkkan munthiri thoppukal (1986) by Padmarajan.

Many of the movies released during this time narrowed the gap between art cinema and commercial cinema in the Malayalam Film Industry, as in Mrigaya (1989, directed by I.V. Sasi and written by Lohithadas), Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha (1989), Kireedam (1989, directed by Sibi Malayil, starring Mohanlal and written by Lohithadas), Mathilukal (1989, directed by Adoor Gopalakrishnan), Amaram (1991, directed by Bharathan), Kaakothikaavile Appoopan Thadikal (1988, directed by Kamal) and Sargam (1992, directed by Hariharan).

The period had an abundance of movies rich in creative humour from directors like Priyadarshan, Sathyan Anthikkad and Kamal. The era also saw well-crafted comedy by the Duo Siddique-Lal, Ramji Rao Speaking (1989) and In Harihar Nagar (1990). The internationally acclaimed Piravi (1989) by Shaji N. Karun was the first Malayalam film to win the Caméra d'Or-Mention at the Cannes Film Festival. Other notable contributions of this period include His Highness Abdullah (1990) directed by Sibi Malayil, Abhayam (1991) directed by Sivan, and the motion picture Daisy (1988) an expressive depiction of separation and longing set in a boarding school, directed by Prathap K Pothan.

Malayalam Industry through the early-mid 1990s
Some examples are Mathilukal (1990), Vidheyan (1993) by director Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Devasuram (1993) directed by I.V. Sasi, Bharatham (1991) by Sibi Malayil, Ulladakkam (1991) directed by Kamal, Manichitrathazhu (1993) by Fazil, Ponthan Mada (1993) by T. V. Chandran, and Desadanam (1997) by Jayaraaj. Swaham (1994), directed by Shaji N.Karun, was the second Malayalam film entry in the CannesInternational Film Festival, where it was a nominee for the Palme d'Or. Murali Nair's Marana Simhasanam later won the Caméra d'Or at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival.

Malayalam Cinema Industry through the early-mid 2000s
The Malayalam film industry in recent times has been affected by the spread of satellite digital television and film piracy. Slapstick comedy is the predominant theme in the films of this era. C.I.D. Moosa (2003) by Johny Antony , Meesamadhavan (2002) by Lal Jose and Kunjikkoonan directed by Sasi Shankar (2002) are examples. Sequels to a number of successful films have been made. These include Ravanaprabhu (Devasuram) and the sequels made to the 80s hit movie Oru CBI Diarykurippu, named Sethurama Iyer CBI (2004) and "Nerariyan CBI" (2005), which were well received. Many movies during the early 2000s were of low quality. Adding to this crisis, a parallel culture of adult-content movies named "Shakeela films" emerged to be the best grossers for more than a year. Malayalam cinema saw a rare dearth of talent. At the same time, Tamil movies saw a surge of new talent in scriptwriters, directors and actors. This resulted in increased popularity of Tamil and Hindi Movies in Kerala. Several film theatres were closed in rural Kerala and were converted to marriage halls. But by the last of year 2003, it was a happy season for the industry.

Malayalam Film Industry through the late 2000s
Malayalam Movies saw a comeback in 2005. New directors such as Lal Jose, Roshan Andrews, Blessy and Anwar Rasheed brought back original scripts to Malayalam Movies. Notable movies of this era are Udayananu Tharam, Note Book, Classmates, Kazhcha, Keerthi Chakra, Vinoda Yatra, Rajamanikyam, Arabi Kadha, and Kadha Paryumbol. About half of Malayalam movies are remade into other languages. This era has seen new promising actors like Dileep, Kunchako Boban, Prithviraj, Narain, Jayasurya, and Indrajith, along with stalwarts Mammooty and Mohanlal.

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Sunday, May 9, 2010

History Of Kannada Cinema

History Off Kannada Cinema: Kannada is the language predominant in the state of Karnataka in India.The Cinema of Karnataka,sometimes colloquially referred to as Sandalwood encompasses movies made in the Indian state of Karnataka.Most of theKarnataka Movies are made in the Kannada language, with a handful of them in Konkani or Tulu.

The most famous comedians in Kannada cinema have been Balakrishna, Narasimharaju and Dwarakesh.

Music directors who have made their mark in Kannada films include R. Ratna, M. Venkata swamy, M. Ranga Rao, G. K. Venkatesh, Ilaiyaraaja, Vijaya bhaskar, the duo Rajan-Nagendra, Upendra Kumar, Sathyam, C. Aswath, Hamsalekha, Gurukiran, T.G. Lingappa, Mano Murthy, Harikrishna and Anoop Seelin. Lyrics of Kannada Moviessongs have been penned by Chi. Udayashankar, R.N. Jayagopal, Hamsalekha, Jayanth Kaykini and Doddarange Gowda among others.

Playback singers in Kannada films include Dr. K.J. Yesudas, P.B. Sreenivas, S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, Rajesh Krishnan, Anoop Seelin, Udit Narayan, Sonu Nigam, Kunal Ganjawala, Shreya Ghosal, Sunidhi Chauhan, B.R. Chaya, Pallavi, Priyadarshini, Nandita, S. Janaki and P. Susheela. Dr.Rajkumar, has however sung hundreds of very melodious songs in those movies where he himself has starred as the hero, starting from the mid 1970's.

There have been sad patches of Kannada Cinema that is losing the most talented stars at their prime. Kalpana and Manjula of former years and Shankar Nag, Suneel, Nivedita Jain, ShashiKumar of the latter, disappearing at their prime and Aarathi and Sudha Rani fading out due to their personal life. And the recent one with actress Soundarya dying in a tragic plane accident..

1931 saw the emergence of talking pictures in the regional languages of South Indiawith the release of Kalidas. In 1934, the first talky in Kannada, Sati Sulochana,followed by Bhakta Dhruva.

Both Sati Sulochana and Bhakta Dhruva were major successes. But prospective filmmakers in Karnataka were handicapped by the lack of studios and technical crews. Sati Sulochana was shot in Kolhapur at the Chatrapathi studio; most filming, sound recording, and post-production was done in Madras now Chennai. It was difficult, as well, to find financial backing for new film projects in the region; thus, very few movies in Kannada were released during the early years of Indian sound cinema.

Golden Age
1986 to 1990 is Know Golden Age of Kannada Cinema.Malayalam films from 1986 to 1990 Most critics and audiences consider this period as the golden age of Malayalam cinema.Many of the movies released during this time narrowed the gap between art cinemas and commercial cinemas in the Malayalam film industry,as in Mrigaya (1989) directed by I.V. Sasi and written by Lohithadas, Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha (1989), Kireedam (1989) directed by Sibi Malayil and written by Lohitadas, Mathilukal directed by Adoor Gopalakrishnan (1989), 'Amaram'(1991) directed by Bharathan, Kaakothikaavile Appoopan Thadikal(1988) directed by Kamal and 'Sargam'(1992) directed by Hariharan.

The period had an abundance of movies rich in creative humour from directors like Priyadarshan, Sathyan Anthikkad and Kamal. The era also saw well crafted comedy by the Duo Siddique-Lal, Ramji Rao speaking (1989) and In Harihar Nagar (1990). The internationally acclaimed Piravi (1989) by Shaji N. Karun was the first Malayalam film to win the Caméra d'Or-Mention at the Cannes Film Festival. Other notable contributions of this period include His Highness Abdullah (1990) directed by Sibi Malayil, Abhayam (1991) directed by Sivan, and the motion picture Daisy (1988) an expressive depiction of separation and longing set in a boarding school, directed by Prathap K Pothan.

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History of Marathi Cinema

Marathi Cinema refers to films produced in the Marathi language in the state of Maharashtra, India. It is the Marathi Oldest Film Industry in India. The industry is based in Mumbai,Maharashtra.

The first Marathi Movie was produced in 1920. The film was titled Sairandhari. The cast line contained Balasaheb Pawar , Kamala Devi, and Zunzarrao Pawar. It was a historical movie. The early Maratha movies drew their stories from the life and times of Chhatrapati Shivaji, the great Maratha hero who fought the Mughals in the 17th century.Marathi Cinema Industry has grown in recent years.The film created great enthusiasm among the people and it was a big hit.Kohlapur in Maharashtra played an important role in the making of films of early Indian cinemas of all languages. The small town had a film studio, funded by the Maharaja of Kohlapur .Baburao K Mistry , popularly known as Baburai Painter, formed the Maharashtra Film Company under whose banner the first Marathai movie was released.
Dhiren Ganguly made England Returned in 1921 depicting the false values of western way of life, blindly followed by the English-known Indians. It was the first satiric movie in Indian cinema history. Baburao Painter followed up the film with his next film Savakari Pash in 1925.

Silent Movies Period

Marathi Cinema is as old as Indian Cinema. In fact the pioneer of cinema in Union of India was Dadasaheb Phalke, who brought the revolution of moving images to India with his first indigenously made silent film Raja Harishchandra in 1913, which is considered by IFFI & NIFD part of Marathi cinema as it was made by a Marathi crew.Kolhapur in Western Maharashtra was another centre of active film production in the twenties. In 1919 Baburao Mistry - popularly known as Baburao Painter formed the MaharashtraFilm Co. with the blessings of the Maharaja of Kolhapur and released the first significant historical - Sairandhari (1920) with Balasheb Pawar, Kamala Devi and Zunzarrao Pawar in stellar roles. Because of his special interest in sets, costumes, design and painting, he chose episodes from Maratha History for interpreting in the new medium and specialised in the historical genre.Baburao Painter made many silent movies till 1930 however after a few more silent films, the Maharashtra Film Company pulled down its shutters with the advent of sound. Baburao was not particularly keen on the talkies for he believed that they would destroy the visual culture so painfully evolved over the years.

The Golden Age

Marathi Cinema was in its full bloom by this time with the advent of greats like V. Shantaram, Master Vinayak, Bhalji Pendharkar, Acharya Atre, followed by Raja Paranjpe, Dinkar D Patil, G. D. Madgulkar, Sudhir Phadke. The 60s saw the emergence of directors like Anant Mane who made Marathi Films based on the folk art form Tamasha. Then came directors like Datta Dharmadhikari and Raj Dutt who made traditional family dramas. The early 70s saw the advent of Dada Kondke who captured the audiences with his sense of humour. He later went on to create satirical, pun-ridden films often including social and political commentary, many of which became cult classics. By this time Marathi Cinema was caught in either the Tamasha genre or tragedies revolving around traditional family dramas on one side and the comedies of Dada Kondke.

The 80s saw two comedy heroes catapult to stardom, Ashok Saraf and Laxmikant Berde. Around the mid 80s two young actors, donned the director's mantle: Mahesh Kothare and Sachin Pilgaonkar. Pilgaonkar directed Navri Mile Navryala and around the same time Mahesh Kothare directed Dhumdhadaka. Pilgaonkar's film was a box-office hit while Mahesh Kothare's film not only became a mega hit at the box-office but it also became a trend-setter and brought young audiences to Marathi Cinema. Mahesh Kothare then went on to make comedy films which became major hits. He made the first Marathi film shot on the anamorphic format - Dhadakebaaz. He brought a number of innovations in the technical quality of Marathi films and was also the first to bring Dolby Digital sound to Marathi Cinema with the film Chimni Pakhara. He made the first Marathi Film with Digital Special Effects, Pachadlela in 2004.
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History of Tollywood

Bengali cinema refers to the Bengali language filmmaking industries in the Bengal region of South Asia. There are two major filmmaking hubs in the Tollywood Cinema: one in Kolkata, West Bengal, India and one in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

The history of cinema in Bengal dates back to the 1890s, when the first "bioscopes" were shown in theatres in Kolkata. Within a decade, the first seeds of the industry was sown by Hiralal Sen, considered a stalwart of Victorian era cinema when he set up the Royal Bioscope Company, producing scenes from the stage productions of a number of popular shows at the Star Theatre, Minerva Theatre , Classic Theatre. Following a long gap after Sen's works, Dhirendra Nath Ganguly also Known as D.G established Indo British Film Co, the first Bengali owned production company, in 1918. However, the first Bengali Feature film, Billwamangal, was produced in 1919, under the banner of Madan Theatre. Bilat Ferat was the IBFC's first production in 1921. The Madan Theatre production of Jamai Shashthi (1931), under Amar Chauduri's direction was the first Bengali talkie . A long history has been traversed since then, with stalwarts such as Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen and Ritwik Ghatak and others having earned international acclaim and securing their place in the movie history.

On the other side of the border, Mukh O Mukhosh was released on 3 August 1956, written and directed by Abdul Jabbar Khan, based on his drama scrip Dacoit, produced by Nuruz Zaman and Shahidul Alam, distributed by Iqbal Films and acted by Inam Ahmed and Zahrat Azra.

Today, there are two Bengali-language Movie industries: the one in Kolkata, West Bengal, India the Cinema of West Bengal, sometimes called Tollywood, a portmanteau of the words Tollygunge ,is one of many centres for Indian regional filmmaking; and the other one in Dhaka, Bangladesh Cinema sometimes called Dhallywood, a portmanteau of the words Dhaka, is the mainstream national film industry of Bangladesh.

Early History

Hiralal Sen is credited as one of Bengal's, and India's first directors. However, these were all silent films. Hiralal Sen is also credited as one of the pioneers of advertisement films in India. The first Bengali Movie was the silent feature Billwamangal, produced by the Madan Theatre Company of Calcutta and released on 8 November 1919, only six years after the first full-length Indian feature film, Raja Harish Chandra, was released.

The early beginnings of the "talking film" industry go back to the early 1930s, when it came to British India, and to Calcutta. The movies were originally made in Urdu or Persian as to accommodate a specific elite market. One of the earliest known studios was the East India Film Company. The first Bengali film to be made as a talkie was Jamai Shashthi, released in 1931. It was at this time that the early heroes of the Bengali film industry like Pramathesh Barua and Debaki Bose were at the peak of their popularity. Barua also directed a number of movies, exploring new dimension in Indian cinema. Debaki Bose directed Chandidas in 1932; this film is noted for its breakthrough in recording sound. Sound recordist Mukul Bose found out solution to the problem of spacing out dialogue and frequency modulation.The 'Parallel Cinema' movement of Indian cinema began in the Bengali Film Industry during the 1950s, and then gained prominence in the other film industries of India.

West Bengal Film Industry

The contribution of Bengali Film industry to Indian film is quite significant. Based in Tollygunge, an area of South Kolkata, West Bengal and is more elite and artistically-inclined than the usual musical cinema fare in India. In the past, it enjoyed a large, even disproportionate, representation in Indian cinema, and produced film directors like Satyajit Ray, who was an Academy Honorary Award winner, and the recipient of India and France's greatest civilian honours, the Bharat Ratna and Legion of Honor respectively, and Mrinal Sen, who is the recipient of the French distinction of Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters and the Russian Order of Friendship. The early nickname for the Tollygunge film industry, "Tollywood", was also the very first Hollywood-inspired name, dating back to a 1932 article in the American Cinematographer by Wilford E. Deming (due to Tollygunge rhyming with Hollywood) and went on to inspire the name "Bollywood" and other similar names.

Other prominent film makers in the Bengali film industry are Bimal Roy, Ritwik Ghatak, and Aparna Sen. The Bengali film industry has produced classics such as Nagarik (1952) The Apu Trilogy (1955–1959), Jalsaghar (1958), Ajantrik (1958), Neel Akasher Neechey (1959), Devdas, Devi (1960), Meghe Dhaka Tara (1960), the Calcutta trilogies (1971–1976), etc. In particular, The Apu Trilogy is now frequently listed among the greatest films of all time.

The most well known Bengali actor to date has been Uttam Kumar; he and co-star Suchitra Sen were known as The Eternal Pair in the early 1950s. Soumitra Chatterjee is a notable actor, having acted in several Satyajit Ray films, and considered as a rival to Uttam Kumar in the 1960s but not at the level of Uttam Kumar. He is famous for the characterization of Feluda in Sonar Kella (1974) and Joy Baba Felunath (1978), written and directed by Ray. He also played the adult version of Apu in The World of Apu (1959), also directed by Ray. One of the most well known Bengali actresses was Sharmila Tagore, who debuted in Ray's The World of Apu, and became a major actress in Bengali Cinema as well as Bollywood.

The pioneers in Bengali film music include Raichand Boral, Pankaj Mullick and K. C. Dey, all associated with New Theatres Calcutta.Other famous playback singers in Bengali film music were Hemanta Mukherjee, Manna Dey, Sandhya Mukhopadhyay and Kishore Kumar.

In the 1980s, however, the Bengal film industry went through a period of turmoil, with a shift from its traditional artistic and emotional inclinations to an approach more imitating the increasingly more popular Hindi Films, along with a decline in the audience and critical appreciation, with notable exceptions of the works of directors like Gautam Ghose. However, even at this time, a number of actors and actresses enjoyed popularity, including Tapas Pal, Prosenjit, Chiranjit, Rituparna Sengupta and others. However, toward the end of the 90s, with the a number of directors coming increasingly into prominence, including Rituparno Ghosh, Gautam Ghose, Aparna Sen, Sandip Ray among others, a number of popular and critically acclaimed movies have come out of the Bengali film industry in recent years. These include, Unishe April, Titli, Mr. and Mrs. Iyer, Bombaiyer Bombete, etc and signal a resurgence of the Bengali film industry.Now after 2000 their rise another group of actor (Jeet, Dev, Parambrata, Rudranil), actress(Koel Mallik, Paoli Dam), Director(Anirudha Roychodhury, Raj chackrobarty), musicians (Jeet Ganguly).Jahar Kanungo’s 'Nisshabd' made in 2005 has been critically acclaimed for its originality in the treatment of image and sound.

The market for Bengali Cinema has expanded to a 340-million-strong Bengali audience in Bangladesh, West Bengal, Tripura and Assam. The industry could truly flourish if films from this state have a proper distribution network. While around 50 films are produced in West Bengal every year, only 30 make it to the theatres.

Bangladeshi Film Industry

The Bangladeshi Film Industry is based in Dhaka. As of 2004, it produced approximately 100 movies a year. The average movie budget was about 12 crore Bangladeshi taka.

Although the majority of the films made in Bangladesh are strictly commercial in nature, a handful of directors from Bangladesh have attained critical acclaim for their outstanding work. Zahir Raihan, Khan Ataur Rahman, Salahuddin, Alamgir Kabir, Amjad Hussain, Moshiuddin Shaker, Sheikh Niyamat Ali, Humayun Ahmed, Morshedul Islam, Tanvir Mokammel, Tareque Masud are among those prominent directors. One of the first films produced in Bangladesh after independence was Titash Ekti Nadir Naam (A River Called Titas) in 1973 by acclaimed director Ritwik Ghatak, whose stature in Bengali Cinema is comparable to that of Satyajit Ray and Mrinal Sen.

Bangladesh Cinema has been officially submitting nominations for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film from 2003. Masud's Matir Moina (The Clay Bird) was the first film to be submitted, and won a number of other international awards from the Edinburgh, Palm Springs, Montreal, Marrakech, Cairo and Cannes Film Festivals. Another internationally acclaimed filmmaker from Bangladesh is Morshedul Islam, who won major awards at the International Filmfestival Mannheim-Heidelberg and other international film festivals.

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History Of Hollywood

Hollywood is a district in Los Angles, California, U.S.A., situated west-northwest of Downtown.The word "Hollywood" is often used as a metonym for the American Film and Television Industry.The cinema of the Hollywood has a profound effect on cinema across the world since the early 20th century. Its history is sometimes separated into four main periods the silent film era, classical Hollywood Cinema, New Hollywood, and the contemporary period after 1980. Since the 1920s, the American film industry has grossed more money every year than that of any other country in the World.

In 1878, Eadweard Muybridge demonstrated the power of photography to capture motion. In 1894, the world's first commercial motion picture exhibition was given in New York City, using Thomas Edison's Kinetoscope. The United States was in the forefront of sound film's development in the following decades. Since the early twentieth century, the U.S. Film Industry has largely been based in and around Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. Picture City, FL was also a planned site for a movie picture production center in the 1920s, but due to the 1928 Okeechobee hurricane, the idea collapsed and Picture City was returned back to the original name of Hobe Sound. Director D. W. Griffith was central to the development of film grammar and Orson Welles's Citizen Kane (1941) is frequently cited in critics' polls as the greatest film of all time. American screen actors like John Wayne and Marilyn Monroe have become iconic figures, while producer/entrepreneur Walt Disney was a leader in both animated film and movie merchandising. The major film studios of Hollywood are the primary source of the most commercially successful movies in the world, such as Star Wars (1977), Titanic (1997), and Avatar (2009), and the products of Hollywood today dominate the global film industry.

In the earliest days of the American Film industry, New York was the epicenter of film-making. The Kaufman Astoria Studios in Queens, built during the silent Film or Moviesera, was used by the Marx Brothers and W.C. Fields. Chelsea, Manhattan was also frequently used. Mary Pickford, an Academy Award winning actress, shot some of her early films in this area. Other major centers of film production included Chicago, Florida, California and Cuba.

The film patents wars of the early 20th century led to the spread of film companies across the U.S. Many worked with equipment for which they did not own the rights, and thus filming in New York could be dangerous; it was close to Edison's Company headquarters, and to agents the company set out to seize cameras. By 1912, most major film companies had set up production facilities because of the location's proximity to Mexico, though the region's optimal year-round weather is generally cited as the primary reason.

Golden Age of Hollywood

During the so-called Golden Age of Hollywood, which lasted from the end of the silent era in American cinema in the late 1920s to the late 1950s, thousands of movies were issued from the Hollywood studios. The start of the Golden Age was arguably when The Jazz Singer was released in 1927, ending the silent era and increasing box-office profits for films as sound was introduced to feature films. Most Hollywood pictures adhered closely to a formula - Western, slapstick comedy, musical, animated cartoon, biopic (biographical picture) - and the same creative teams often worked on films made by the same studio. For example, Cedric Gibbons and Herbert Stothart always worked on MGM films, Alfred Newman worked at 20th Century Fox for twenty years, Cecil B. De Mille's films were almost all made at Paramount, and director Henry King's films were mostly made for 20th Century Fox. At the same time, one could usually guess which studio made which film, largely because of the actors who appeared in it; MGM, for example, claimed it had contracted "more stars than there are in heaven." Each studio had its own style and characteristic touches which made it possible to know this — a trait that does not exist today. Yet each movie was a little different, and, unlike the craftsmen who made cars, many of the people who made American Movies were artists. For example, To Have and Have Not (1944) is famous not only for the first pairing of actors Humphrey Bogart (1899 to 1957) and Lauren Bacall (1924) but also for being written by two future winners of the Nobel Prize in Literature: Ernest Hemingway (1899 to1961), the author of the novel on which the script was nominally based, and William Faulkner (1897 to1962), who worked on the screen adaptation.

After The Jazz Singer was released in 1927, Warner Bros. gained huge success and was able to acquire their own string of movie theaters, after purchasing Stanley Theaters and First National Productions in 1928. MGM had also owned the Loews string of theaters since forming in 1924, and the Fox Film Corporation owned the Fox Theatre strings as well. Also, RKO a 1928 merger between Keith-Orpheum Theaters and the Radio Corporation of America responded to the Western Electric/ERPI monopoly over sound in US Films , and developed their own method, known as Photophone, to put sound in Movies .Paramount, who already acquired Balaban and Katz in 1926, would answer to the success of Warner Bros. and RKO, and buy a number of theaters in the late 1920s as well, and would hold a monopoly on theaters in Detroit, Michigan.By the 1930s, all of America's theaters were owned by the Big Five studios - MGM, Paramount Pictures, RKO, Warner Bros., and 20th Century Fox. .

Movie-making was still a business however, and motion picture companies made money by operating under the studio system. The major studios kept thousands of people on salary actors, producers, directors, writers, stunt men, craftspersons, and technicians. And they owned hundreds of theaters in cities and towns across the nation, theaters that showed their films and that were always in need of fresh material. In 1930, MPDAA President Will Hays created the Hays Code, which followed censorship guidelines and went into effect after government threats of censorship expanded by 1930 . However, the code was never enforced until 1934, after the Catholic watchdog organization The Legion of Decency - appalled by Mae West's very successful sexual appearances in She Done Him Wrong and I'm No Angel - threatened a boycott of motion pictures if it didn't go into effect .Those Hollywood Films that didn't obtain a seal of approval from the Production Code Administration had to pay a $25,000.00 fine and could not profit in the theaters, as the MPDDA owned every theater in the country through the Big Five studios .

Throughout the 1930s, as well as most of the golden age, MGM dominated the film screen and had the top stars in Hollywood Movies , and was also credited for creatingThe Hollywood star system altogether . Some MGM stars included "King of Hollywood" Clark Gable, Lionel Barrymore, Jean Harlow, Norma Shearer, Greta Garbo, Jeanette MacDonald and husband Gene Raymond, Spencer Tracy, Judy Garland, and Gene Kelly. Another great achievement of US cinema during this era came through Walt Disney's animation company. In 1937, Disney created the most successful film of its time, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs . Also in 1939, MGM would create what is still, when adjusted for inflation, the most successful film of all time, Gone with the Wind .

Many Hollywood Film historians have remarked upon the many great works of cinema that emerged from this period of highly regimented film-making. One reason this was possible is that, with so many movies being made, not every one had to be a big hit. A studio could gamble on a medium-budget feature with a good script and relatively unknown actors: Citizen Kane, directed by Orson Welles (1915 to 1985) and often regarded as the greatest film of all time, fits that description. In other cases, strong-willed directors like Howard Hawks (1896 to 1977), Alfred Hitchcock (1899 to 1980) and Frank Capra (1897 to 1991) battled the studios in order to achieve their artistic visions. The apogee of the studio system may have been the year 1939, which saw the release of such classics as The Wizard of Oz, Gone with the Wind, Stagecoach, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Wuthering Heights, Only Angels Have Wings, Ninotchka, and Midnight. Among the other films from the Golden Age period that are now considered to be classics: Casablanca, It's a Wonderful Life, It Happened One Night, the original King Kong, Mutiny on the Bounty, City Lights, Red River and Top Hat.Today Hollywood Top in the Film Industry.

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History Of Bollywood

Bollywood is formally referred to as Hindi Cinema and 7 July 1896 is a Landmark in the history of Indian cinema.Bollywood is the informal term popularly used for the Hindi language Cinema Industry based in Mumbai (India).Today Bollywood is the largest film producer in India and one of the largest centers of film production in the world.Now ,There has been a growing presence of INDIAN English in dialogue and songs as well.The name "Bollywood" is aPortanteau of Mumbai or Bombay (India) and Hollywood the center of the American Films Industry.The term "Bollywood" has origins in the 1970s, when India overtook America as the world's largest film producer. Credit for the term has been claimed by several different people, including the lyricist, filmmaker and scholar Amit Khanna and the journalist Bevinda Collaco.

RAJA HARISHCHAMDRA (1913), by DADASAHEB PHALKE was the first silent feature film made in India. By the 1930s, the industry was producing over 200 Movies per annum in Indian Cinema.It was 3700 feet long and was based on the Mahabharata. The movies were black and white with no sound in the beginning. Then came the movies with sounds.Alam Ara was the first movie with sound and it was released in 1931. This movie was a super hit.In 1937, Ardeshir Irani, of Alam Ara fame, made the first colour film in Hindi, Kisan Kanya. The next year, he made another colour film, Mother India.Then emerged the films in colours. This happened only in the late 1950s.Colours brought in tremendous growth in this industry.

Bollywood Golden Age

The late 1940s to the 1960s are regarded by film historians as the "Bollywood FilmsGolden Age" of Hindi cinema. Some of the most critically-acclaimed Hindi films of all time were produced during this period. Examples include the Guru Dutt films Pyaasa(1957) and Kaagaz Ke Phool(1959) and the Raj Kapoor films Awaara(1951) and Shree 420(1955).These films expressed social themes mainly dealing with working-class urban life in India.

Modern Cinema

1960-1970 is know as Indian Modern Cinema.In the late of 1960s and the early 1970s, romance movies and action films starred actors like Rajesh Khanna ,Dharmendra and actresses like Sharmila Tagore, Mumtaz, Leena Chandavarkar and Helen. Amitabh Bachchan, the star known for his "angry young man" roles, rode the crest of this trend with actors like Mithun Chakraborty and Anil Kapoor, which lasted into the early 1990s. Actresses from this era included Hema Malini, Jaya Bachchan and Rekha.

The 1970s thus saw the rise of commercial cinema in the form of enduring films such as Sholay (1975), which solidified Amitabh Bachchan's position as a lead actor.During the late 1980s and early 1990s, the pendulum swung back toward family-centric romantic musicals with the success of such films as Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak (1988), Maine Pyar Kiya (1989), Hum Aapke Hain Kaun (1994) and Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995), making stars out of a new generation of actors (such as Aamir Khan, Salman Khan and Shahrukh Khan) and actresses such as Sridevi, Madhuri Dixit, Juhi Chawla and Kajol.In that point of time, action and comedy films were also successful, with actors like Govinda and Akshay Kumar and actresses such as Raveena Tandon and Karisma Kapoor appearing in films of this genre.

The 2000s saw a growth in Bollywood's Popularity in the world. This led the nation's filmmaking to new heights in terms of quality, cinematography and innovative story lines as well as technical advances in areas such as special effects, animation, etc.Some of the largest production houses, among them Yash Raj Films and Dharma Productions were the producers of new modern films.The opening up of the overseas market, more Bollywood releases abroad and the explosion of multiplexes in big cities, led to wider box office successes in India and abroad, including Lagaan (2001), Devdas (2002), Koi... Mil Gaya (2003), Kal Ho Naa Ho (2003), Veer-Zaara (2004), Rang De Basanti (2006), Lage Raho Munnabhai (2006), Krrish (2006), Dhoom 2 (2006), Om Shanti Om (2007), Chak De India (2007), Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi (2008), Ghajini(2008) and 3 Idiots (2009), delivering a new generation of popular actors Hrithik Roshan, Abhishek Bachchan) and actresses Aishwarya Rai, Preity Zinta, Rani Mukerji, Kareena Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra), and keeping the popularity of actors of the previous decade. Among the mainstream Bollywood Fims, Lagaan won the Audience Award at the Locarno International Film Festival and was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 74th Academy Awards, while Devdas and Rang De Basanti were both nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

Major Influences

Gokulsing and Dissanayake identify major influences that have shaped the conventions of Indian popular cinema:

1.The ancient Indian epics of Mahabharata and Ramayana which have exerted a profound influence on the thought and imagination of Indian popular cinema, particularly in its narratives. Examples of this influence include the techniques of a side story, back-story and story within a story. Indian popular films often have plots which branch off into sub-plots; such narrative dispersals can clearly be seen in the 1993 films Khalnayak and Gardish.

2.The traditional folk theatre of India, which became popular from around the 10th century with the decline of Sanskrit theatre. These regional traditions include the Yatra of Bengal, the Ramlila of Uttar Pradesh, and the Terukkuttu of Tamil Nadu.

3.The Parsi theatre, which "blended realism and fantasy, music and dance, narrative and spectacle, earthy dialogue and ingenuity of stage presentation, integrating them into a dramatic discourse of melodrama. The Parsi plays contained crude humour, melodious songs and music, sensationalism and dazzling stagecraft.

4.Western musical television, particularly MTV, which has had an increasing influence since the 1990s, as can be seen in the pace, camera angles, dance sequences and music of 2000s Indian films. An early example of this approach was in Mani Ratnam's Bombay (1995).

Bollywood Song and Dance

Bollywood film music is called filmi music (from Hindi, meaning "of films"). Songs fromBollywood Movies are generally pre-recorded by professional playback singers, with the actors then lip synching the words to the song on-screen, often while dancing. While most actors, especially today, are excellent dancers, few are also singers. One notable exception was Kishore Kumar, who starred in several major films in the 1950s while also having a stellar career as a playback singer. K. L. Saigal, Suraiyya, and Noor Jehan were also known as both singers and actors. Some actors in the last thirty years have sung one or more songs themselves; for a list, see Singing actors and actresses in Indian cinema.

Playback singers are prominently featured in the opening credits and have their own fans who will go to an otherwise lackluster movie just to hear their favourites. Going by the quality as well as the quantity of the songs they rendered, most notable singers of Bollywood are Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle, Geeta Dutt, Shamshad Begum and Alka Yagnik among female playback singers; and K. L. Saigal, Talat Mahmood, Mukesh, Mohammed Rafi, Manna Dey, Hemant Kumar, Kishore Kumar, Kumar Sanu, S.P.Balasubramanyam, Udit Narayan and Sonu Nigam among male playback singers. Mohammed Rafi is often considered arguably the finest of the singers that have lent their voice to Bollywood songs, followed by Lata Mangeshkar, who, through the course of a career spanning over six decades, has recorded thousands of songs for Indian Movies. The composers of film music, known as music directors, are also well-known. Their songs can make or break a film and usually do. Remixing of film songs with modern beats and rhythms is a common occurrence today, and producers may even release remixed versions of some of their films' songs along with the films' regular soundtrack albums.

The dancing in Bollywood films, especially older ones, is primarily modeled on Indian dance: classical dance styles, dances of historic northern Indian courtesans (tawaif), or folk dances. In modern films, Indian dance elements often blend with Western dance styles (as seen on MTV or in Broadway musicals), though it is not unusual to see Western pop and pure classical dance numbers side by side in the same film. The hero or heroine will often perform with a troupe of supporting dancers. Many song-and-dance routines in Indian Films feature unrealistically instantaneous shifts of location or changes of costume between verses of a song. If the hero and heroine dance and sing a pas de deux, it is often staged in beautiful natural surroundings or architecturally grand settings. This staging is referred to as a "picturisation".

Songs typically comment on the action taking place in the movie, in several ways. Sometimes, a song is worked into the plot, so that a character has a reason to sing; other times, a song is an externalization of a character's thoughts, or presages an event that has not occurred yet in the plot of the movie. In this case, the event is almost always two characters falling in love.

Bollywood films have always used what are now called "item numbers". A physically attractive female character (the "item girl"), often completely unrelated to the main cast and plot of the film, performs a catchy song and dance number in the film. In older films, the "item number" may be performed by a courtesan (tawaif) dancing for a rich client or as part of a cabaret show. The dancer Helen was famous for her cabaret numbers. In modern films, item numbers may be inserted as discotheque sequences, dancing at celebrations, or as stage shows.

For the last few decades Bollywood Producers have been releasing the film's soundtrack, as tapes or CDs, before the main movie release, hoping that the music will pull audiences into the cinema later. Often the soundtrack is more popular than the movie. In the last few years some producers have also been releasing music videos, usually featuring a song from the film. However, some promotional videos feature a song which is not included in the movie.

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