Bollywood, the largest film industry in the world, will celebrate its centennial in 2013. With a current output of somewhere between 800 and 1000 films annually, it far exceeds Hollywood in the number of productions as well as tickets sold on a weekly, monthly and annual basis. But what are some of the milestones in India's film history that might have contributed to its stellar growth and continued success?
This first entry will look at the early years, from 1896-1930.
1. 1896 - First Projection of a Motion Picture
Just one year after their inaugural screening in Paris, cinematic pioneer siblings Auguste and Louis Lumiere traveled to India, where they direct and screen a handful of their short films. The screening takes place on the 7th of July at the Watson's Hotel, which, while no longer a hotel, is currently India's oldest surviving cast iron building.
2. 1898 - Stevenson, Sen, the Bioscope, and "A Dancing Scene"
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A Professor Stevenson (his first name is lost to history) visiting India en route to Paris brings the first Bioscope to Calcutta, where he screens his film, The Flower of Persia. In the same year, photographer Hiralal Sen borrows a camera from Stevenson and creates the short film, A Dancing Scene.
3. 1902 - J.F. Madan, Pioneer of Exhibition
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Jamshedji Framji Madan, a businessman originally from Bombay sets up a makeshift movie theater in a tent in Maidan, Calcutta, using equipment acquired from the Pathé brothers in Paris. Exhibition soon becomes a regular business proposition.
4. 1907 - Elphinstone Picture Palace
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J.F. Madan moves from screening films in cramped tents to a proper movie theater. The Elphinstone Picture Palace becomes the first permanent cinema in Calcutta. Still standing, it is today known as the Chaplin Cinema.
5. 1913 - First Feature Film
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Pioneering director D.G. Phalke creates the first-ever feature film made in India, Raja Harishchandra. An adaptation of a chapter from The Mahabharata, Phalke's 3700ft/4 reel film opens at the Coronation Theater in Bombay on the 3rd of May to great success.
6. 1918 - First Indian Serial, Birth of Censorship
Director Shree Nath Patankar creates the first filmed serial, Ram Vanwas (Exile of Shri Rama), which is shown in four individual parts. That same year, the Indian Cinematograph Act is passed. Modeled on the British act, it is responsible for setting the terms for censorship and cinema licensing.
7. 1921 - First Social Satire
Dhiren Ganguly directs The England Returned, considered to be the first social satire in Bollywood cinema. A humorous critique of the Western way of life and Indians who are obsessed with Western values, the film tells of a young man who returns to India after living abroad for several years, and feels like a stranger in his own country. The film is sadly considered long lost.
8. 1925 - First Attempt at Social Realism
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Considered to be one of the best silent films from India, Savkari Pash is a social realist melodrama set amongst colonial India's underclass. Directed by Marathi filmmaker Baburao Painter, it tells of a greedy moneylender who cheats a peasant and his family out of his property. Forced out of their home, the family moves to the city, where they live and work under dire conditions. V. Shantaram, who would go on to have a successful career as a director, makes his acting debut as the young peasant.
9. 1929 - New Film Companies & First Foreign Talkie
Prabhat Film Company
1929 saw the birth of two major production companies -- The Prabhat Film Company, based in Kolhapur, and The Ranjit Film Company, in Bombay. The Prabhat Film Company produced 45 films in a span of 27 years, while the Ranjit Film Company was far more successful, remaining an active and thriving studio well into the 1970s. That same year Indian theatergoers experienced their first talkie, the now-lost Hollywood import, Melody of Love. The first Indian-produced talkie was still two years away.