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Popular Culture
.UNIT INDIAN CINEMA

Structure

Objectives
Introduction
Introducing Indian Cinema
13.2.1 Era of Silent Films
13.2.2 Pre-Independence Talkies
13.2.3 Post Independence Cinema
Indian Cinema as an Industry
Indian Cinema :Fantasy or Reality
Indian Cinema in Political Perspective
Image of Hero
Image of Woman
Music And Dance in Indian Cinema
Achievements of Indian Cinema
Let Us Sum Up
Answers to Check Your Progress Exercises

A 13.0 OBJECTIVES
This Unit discusses about Indian cinema. Indian cinema has been a very powerful medium
for the popular expression of India's cultural identity. After reading this Unit you will be able
to:

familiarize yourself with the achievements of about a hundred years of Indian cinema,
trace the development of Indian cinema as an industry,
spell out the various ways in which social reality has been portrayed in Indian cinema,
place Indian cinema in a political perspective,
define the specificities of the images of men and women in Indian cinema, .

outline the importance of music in cinema, and

get an idea of the main achievements of Indian cinema.

13.1 INTRODUCTION .p

It is not possible to fully comprehend the various facets of modern Indan culture without
understanding Indian cinema. Although primarily a source of entertainment, Indian cinema
has nonetheless played an important role in carving out areas of unity between various groups
and communities based on caste, religion and language. Indian cinema is almost as old as
world cinema. On the one hand it has gdted to the world great film makers like Satyajit Ray, ,

it has also, on the other hand, evolved melodramatic forms of popular films which have gone
beyond the Indian frontiers to create an impact in regions of South west Asia.

In this Unit we will familiarize you with those characteristics of Indian cinema which enable
a better and fuller understanding of modern India. Although it is not possible to include all
the aspects of Indian cinema in one Unit, we would nevertheless try to introduce you to those
aspects which would provide a background to y~ur~activities in relation to tourism. This Unit,
therefore, focuses on those aspects of Indian cinema which will prove useful in your pursuits
e.g. an overview of hundred years of Indian cinema, its development as an industry,
identifymg Indian social reality as expressed in cinema, and the political context of Indian
cinema. This Unit will also looks at cinema as an art form and highlights those factors, like
Indian film music and dance, which have contributed to its popularity.
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Indian Cinema
13.2 INTRODUCING INDIAN CINEMA
8

When Lumiere brothers invented cinema in the last decade of the 19th century, they did not
quite realize the fact that their invention would, in years to come, entertain millions across
the world in an unprecedented manner. India may have lagged behindother countries in many
fields but has maintained near parity in the field of cinema. Only seven months after its
inauguration (premier show) in France, Lumiere brothers' films were shown in Bombay for
the first time on 7 July 1896. In 1899, Harishchandra Sakharam Bhatwadekar made a film on
a wrestling match in Bombay. In 1901Bhatwadekar made the first news reel. The honour of
making the first feature fdm goes to Dada Saheb (Dhundiraj Govind ) Phalke who made the
first silent film Raja Harishchandra in 1913. Indian cinema has thus completed about a
hundred years and feature Glms have completed a span of more than 80 years. The history of
Indian cinema caa be broadly divided into three phases:

1. The era of silent films: 1913-31.

2. Pre-independence talkies: 1931-47.
3. Post independence films: 1947 till today.

We will now study all these phases separately.

132.1 The Era of Silent Films

The era of silent films lasted for almost two decades. To begin with in only three silent iilms
were made in 1913. This number kept increasing every year. By the end of silent era in 1934
around 1300 films were made. 1931was a year of climax for silent films. When a total of 200
silent films were made it was also the time of the making of first talkie. This number declined
to 64 the next year. In 1934, the last year of silent cinema, only seven silent films were made.
1

In 1916, three years after the making of Raja Harishchandra, R.Natraj Mudliar made
'Keechak Vadham' (The killing of Keechak a character from the epic Mahabharat) in south
India. The very next year J.F.Madan made 'Satyavadi Harishchandra' in Calcutta. In the
same year Babu Rao Painter, a famous film maker and Dada Saheb Falke's disciple, started
aMaharashtriagfilm company. The same year Dada Saheb Phalke made a short film on movie
making itself, called,How Films are Made. Film Censor Boards were established in Bombay,
Calcutta and Madras in 1920. The first film magazine 'Bijoli' was published in bengali from
Calcutta the same year. A film Nal Damyanti was made with Italian collaboration, again in
1920. This was the first Indian film made with foreign collaboration.

'The themes of silent films were invariably religious and mythological and sometimes social.
Sawkari Pash, a film made by Baburao Painter in 1925, is rated by many film critics as the
first Indian art film. V. Shantaram played the role of a peasant whose land is appropriated
by a greedy moneylender. The peasant is forced to become a mill worker in a city. Sawkari
Pash was the first realistic cinema in an era of religious films based on a melodramatic
formula. Both the trends in film making were to culminate^ later into very very different
traditions of film making, broadly classified as art films and commercial films. The
melodramatic and theatrical tradition of film making owed itself to Parsi theatres which were
quite popular among the people when cinema made its entry. (You must have read about it
in Unit-12.)

13.2.2 Pre-Independence Talkies

Foreign talkie films had been screened in India before the first Indian talkie was made. These
films inspired Ardeshir M. Irani to make the first Indian sound feature film (talkie) Alam
Ara. The film was in hindi and had twelve songs in it. It was from here that songs and music
became an integral part of Indian cinema. The year 1931witnessed the making of 28 talkies
,of which there were 23 in hindi, four in bengali and one in tamil. The first tamil talkie Kalidas,
directed by H.M. Reddy, was also made in 1931. The number of talkies increased to 84 the
next year and kept increasing in subsequent years. In 1947 alone a total of 280 films were
screened in as many as 15 languages. Of these 33 in bengali, 11in Gujrati, 183 in hindi,'five
in kannada, six in marathi, three in oriya, 29 in tamil and six in telugu were screened.

The traditions of realistic and melodramatic cinema ran parallel to each other in the era of
talkies also. But the dividing line between them was not as strong and clear as it became after
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independence and particularly in the era of new cinema in the 1970s.Today films are known
for their heroes and heroinesbut the films of 1930sand 1940swere known for their ~roduction
companies. Bombay Talkies, Prabhat Films, New Theatres and Filmistan were some of the
famousfilm companies. In south India A.V.M. (A. V. Meiyappan) f i company and Gemini
Pictures were established. Although Bombaywas the centre of film making, ~alcutta, ~adras
and Pune were also important places for such activity.

The films, to begin with, were not only silent but also devoid of any colours. ~ v e ntalkies
continued to be made only in black and white although attempts were made to impart colours
to filfns. In 1933, Prabhat Films, Pune got their film sairandhri processed Germany and
this was the first coloured indian film. But coloured films did not catch on and during the first
two decades after 1933films continued to be made in black and white only-The decade after
that witnessed both coloured and black and white films. It was not until 1970 that the making
of black and white film virtually came to an end.

During the pre-independence period the Indian cinema did not directly contribute to the
struggle for freedom for fear of being censored. But the ideas of freedom continued to be
expressed indirectly through religious and historical cinema. Often such films had to face
bans and censorship. The second major contribution of cinema during this period was in the
field of social reform. ~ c h h u tKanya, made in 1936 by Bombay Talkies, focused on the
question of social justice. Similarly Sant Tukaram (marathi, 1936) became a classic in the
history of Indian cinema. The year 1936 witnessed the emergence of leftist movements and
this was reflected in the cinema as well. Duniya Na Mane (hindi, 1937),Pukar (hindi, 1939),
Tyagbhumi (tamil, 1939), Roti (hindi, 1942), Ramshastri (hindilmarathi, 1944), Dharti Ke
La1 (hindi, 1946), Doctor Kotnis Ki Amar Kahani (hindi, 1946), Neechanagar (hindi, 1946)
were important films in this direction.

All of them were artistic attempts at portraying existing social contradictions in a ~ealistic
form (manner). Among the main film makers of this era were V.Shantaram. Nitin Bose,
P.C.Barua, Dhiren Ganguli, Himanshu Roy, Sohrab Modi, Chetan Anand, Mehboob Khan,
K.Subramanyam, V.Damle, S.Fattelal and Khwaja Ahmad Abbas.
I

t13.2.3 Post-Independence Cinema

Attempts at combining entertainment and social relevance in the cinema continued even after
independence. Although the censor boards, created during the British period, remained,
movie makers now enjoyed greater liberty in making political and social films than they bad
before. Technically the world of cinema had advanced quite a bit and this was reflected in
Indian cinema too. The movie makers, active during this phase, displayed an acute awareness
of the changes taking place in world cinema. Combined with this was an optimism,
-
determination and a resolve to do something new. Satyajit Ray, Bimal Roy, Ritwik Ghat&,
Guru Dutt, Rishikesh Mukerjee, Raja Paranjpe, L.V.Prasad, K.Balchander, Raj Kapur,
Rajender Singh Bedi, Mrinal Sen, Dutta Dharmadhikari,Anant Mane, Dinkar Patil, B.Naga
Reddy and C.P.Sridhar etc. were the main movie makers of the post independence period
who based their cinema on social realism, aesthetic sophistication (excellence)and healthy
entertainment. Many films of this period were acknowledged and awarded nationally and
internationally. Pather Panchali (bengali, 1955), Charulata (bengali, 1964), Chemmin
(mala~alam,1965), Jagte Raho (hindi, 1956) and Do Bigha Zameen (hindi, 1953) were
distinguished films of this period. Kismat (hindi, 1943) had already created a record for the
longest running at a cinema hall in Calcutta- three and a half years! SimilarlyMughal-i-Azam
( urdu, 1960), Mother India (hindi, 1958) and Ganga Jamuna (hindi, 1%2) credM new
standard in popular cinema. Awara (hindi, 1951) extended the popularity of Indian cinemr
beyond Indian frontiers to U.S.S.R. and West Asia. In South India, N.T.Ramarao (telugu),
Shivaji Ganeshan and M.G.Ramchandran (tamil), Prem Nazir (malayalam) and Rajkumar
(kannada) achieved popularity with their hero centred (hero oriented) films and captured
popular imagination as regional heroes.
Hope, faith and optimism reigned supreme in the Indian society and people in the first two
Satyajit Ray decades of the post-independence India. The newly won freedom had ushered in an era of
hope among the people. They believed that in independent India old promises would be
fulfilledand new changeswill bring about prosperity, equality and a better life for the common
people. This romanticism was reflected fairly clearly in contemporary cinema. Dukh Bhare
Din Beete Re Bhaiya, Ab Sukh Aayo Re ( Gone are the days of sorrow, it's happiness ever
after, a song from the hindi fdmMother India) was really the voice of this cinema. Expressions
26 of pain and agony were also tinged with a hope for a better tomorrow- Woh-Subah Kabhi To
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Aayegi (better days will be here some day, a song from the hindi film Phir Subah Hogi). But
hopes began turning into despair by the seventh decade of the century. Culture of self
aggrandizement and consumerism began to dominate the Indian cinema. The technical
excellence acquired by the cinema during the 1970s was also accompanied by a certain moral
degeneration in the theme selection.

Parallel to this ran another k i d of cinema. Deteriorating social situation motivated people
into collective popular political action. This popular urge for social action found its voice in
the new cinema also. It was called the new cinema or the parallel cinema. As you are aware,
a tradition of realistic cinema had always existed, but now it became a very significant trend
and also created a space for new experiments. This cinema was made possible by
contributions from N.F.F.C. (National Film Financing Corporation) and financial assistance
from stategovernments.This new cinema was of two kinds- the experimental cinema of Mani
Kaul and Kumar Sahni on the one hand, and the 'committed' cinema of Shyam Benegal,
Adoor Gopal Krishnan, Gautam Ghosh, Govind Nihlani, Syed Akhtar Mirza, Ketan Mehta
and Jabbar Patel, on the other. The second category of cinema was essentially an expression I

of social protest. Indian cinema in this phase benefitted immensely by the entry of actors,
directors and technicians trained in the Film Institute of Pune. Bhuwan Shome (hindi, Mrinal
Sen), Uski Roti (hindi, Mani Kaul), Sanskar (kannada, Girish Kasarvalli), Swayamwaram
(Malydam, Adoor Gopal krishnan), Ankur (hindi, Shyam Benegal), Pasi (tamil, Durai), Shyam Benegal
Umbartha (marathi, Jabbar Patel), Bhawani Bhawai (gujarati, Ketan Mehta), Sadgati (hindi,
Satyajit Ray), Paar (hindi, Gautam Ghosh), Maya Miriga (oriya, Nirad Mahapatra), Aakrosh
(hiidi, Govind Nihlani), etc.were some of the important films of this phase.

The new cinema did not flourish for long and had a somewhat premature end in the 1980s.
'Popular cinema also began changing its complexion. The romance of the 1960s gave way to
sexandviolence. But it should be admitted that the number and influence of socially relevant
films, although on a decline, has not disappeared altogether.

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133 INDIAN CINEMA AS AN INDUSTRY

i India tops the list in the number of films made every year. Approximately 800 films in about
25 languages are made every year. In the last eight decades India has made about 25000 films
in about 50 languages. It did look at some point that the expansion of the television might
I
send the cinema into oblivion. On the contrary, the number of films has increased with the
television boom. In 1990 only, a total of 948 films were screened.

The maximum number of films are made in hindi, tamil, telugu and malayalam. Apart from
these Karnataka, Bengal, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Orissa and Assam have a long tradition of Gaulam Ghosh
good film making. India has a total of 13000'cinema halls catering to a population of 900
million people. Of these, 8000 are permanent cinema halls. They entertain a total of 15million
b movie goers every week. More than half the cinema halls are located in the four states of
South India whereas the seven hindi states, put together, have only 2400 cinema halls. The
single state of Andhra Pradesh has more cinema halls (2600) than all the hindi states put
together.
I

The cinema as a medium has been used, ever since the beginning, for making feature films
mainly. This has been partly because of the ability of this medium to portray a story in its
totality. But this must be borne in mind that makinga feature film is very different fin- writing
a story, novel or poetry. The latter are primarily individual ventures. Film, on the contrary, is
a collective effort which requires investments at a very large plane, both at the level of making
and screening. It is for this reason that film making, distribution and screening have taken the
form of an industry. A total of sixlakh people are involved andemployed, in various capacities,
i a the industry. According to an estimate, approximately seven billion rupees have been
invested in the making of the films, four billion in distribution network, 13billion in the form
of cinema halls, 400 million in laboratories and the same amount in recording studios. A total
of three billion rupees are invested every year in movie making and the expenditure on an
average frlm comes to more than ten million rupees.

The government receives eleven billion rupees annually as tax from the sale of tickets. In the
year 1988-89 the total income from the film industry was to the tune of six and a half billion
rupees after paying all the taxes. Hence, cinema is an important source of governmerit
revenue.
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Cinema has also played an important role in earning money through exports. Indian films are
exported to 50 countries. This includes countries which do not have Indian population. During
1978-80, National Film Development Corporation (N.F.D.C.) received 120 million rupees
from the export of Indian films. In a decade's time this increased to 750 million. The exact
import figures are not available, but the income of N.F.D.C., active in this field, has been on
an increase. Strangely enough, in such a huge industry churning out 800 films every year, the
proportion of commercially successful films is not more that ten percent. Another ten percent
manage to break even and the remaining 80 percent end up commercially unsucessful. This
does not, however, deter movie makers in their ventures. In hindi only, the making of about
300 films is declared every year, although only half of them are made and barely one third
manage to get a screening.

In spite of such losses for a majority of the films, it is the incentive of huge profits which
explains the investment of billions of rupees every year in the Indian cinema. The successful
films at the box office normally return five to ten times the original cost of the film. The
successful film of 1994, Hum Aapke Hain Kaun, with an estimated investment of about
seventy million, earned one and a half billion rupees in one year only.

ICheck Your Progress-1

1. a. Social relevance and aesthetic sophistication being the criteria, which Indian film
can be called the first art film?

b. Which was the first coloured Indian film?

c. Which was the first talkie made in tamil?

d. Who directed the above mentioned film?

e. Which talkie was the first to acquire the status of a classic?

2. a) Name the four languages in which maximum films are made.

...
i) U )ill)_ iv)-

b) Which are the four states with maximum number of cinema halls?
i) ii) iii) iv)
c) What makes following persons famous?
i) Dada Saheb Falke
ii) Babu Rao Painter
iii) Ardeshir M. Irani

3. 80 percent of the films flop at the box office. Why is there so much of investment in the
cinema?

INDIAN CINEMA :FANTASY OR REALITY

Like other art forms cinema is both a part of existing social reality and also a medium of
portraying it. But the way in which the reality is portrayed in cinema is different from other
art forms. This aspect is often ignored while analysing Indian cinema. A great motivating force
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Indian Cinema
behind movie making is the huge ocean of audiences, drawn from the middle and lower middle
classes, located in big cities and small towns. Although not more than one fourth of the
population, it still forms a great bulk of the people. This bulk consists of groups with diverse
habits, priorities, expectations and life styles. The Indian cinema has to, necessarily, cater to
these diverse groups and represent their variety.

The long span of popular Indian cinema over the last 80 years has rested on certain formulae
which have also undergone periodic changes. Films revolving around love story, song and
dance, comic interludes and sex and violence are also a reflection of the time and social
surroundings. Cinema uses various contradictions inherent in our society l i e raw materials.

A central contradiction, used by the cinema, is the one between the rich and the poor. Apart
from this, the rural and the urban, different generations, Hindus and Muslims, upper caste
and lower caste, man and woman often form the core of the films' story. Situations of conflict,
harmony and struggle are created out of these contradictions. Also, an attempt to transcend
differences of religion, caste, language and region to adopt a humanitarian view and position
has also been central to Indian cinema. This is, however, not to imply that popular cinema
provides any meaningful and socially creative alternative to the real contradictions of our
society. On the contrary, popular cinema, in its ideological moorings, does not posit any
radical solutions to societal problems.
There is also a sense in which hiidi cinema is different from their regional counterparts. hindi
films try to express forms of pan-Indianism in their stylistic representations. Regional films,
on the other hand, are able to portray their specific regional cultural flavour without diluting
it in anyway. In spite of this difference, popular films in all languages use social contradictions
like raw material. Reality is moulded to such an extent that.it acquires the+,hape of a fantasy,
in harmony with middle class aspirations and fantasies. Popular cinema, thus, on the one
hand, becomes contextual and credible by establishing a link with reality, and, on the other,
constructs a world of fantasy, providing the audiences a certain release (escape) from their
'real' world, full of sorrow and agony.

i 13.5 INDIAN CINEMA IN POLITICAL PERSPECTIVE

Indian cinema has developed primarily as a source of entertainment and has, therefore, been
unable to play an important role in bringing about basic political transformation. On the
contrary, popular cinema has tended to avoid political tension to be able to establish a larger
social base. But it is generally not possible for any source of entertainment to make itself
popular without taking into cognition the existing social reality. Therefore, Indian popular
cinema has, paradoxically enough, used the existing social reality and sought to escape it, at
the same time. Cinema before independence, maintained a safe distance from the freedom
struggle and avoided echoing, after independence, popular aspirations. Although, on the one
hand, Indian films expressed and upheld positive values of democracy, nationalism and
communal harmony; on the other hand, t h y also lent legitimacy, directly or indirectly, to the
feudal structure of the family, deep religiosity and male domination in the society. If hindi
cinema tended to promote national chauvinism, regional cinema promoted, though
unconsciously, regionalism. Quite often, a condemnation of westernisation also became, in
popular cinema, an attempted resurrection of the rotten feudal structure.

Along with being a source of entertainment, India's popular cinema has also acted like opium
for the people, thus tranquilising their consciousness into deep slumber. The politics of
cinema has always been a supporter of status quo. Through a fantasisation of the social reality, .
the popular cinema has prevented the exposure of the popular consciousness towards the
naked truth of their own lives and has often trapped them into an unreal, fantastic world.
Admittedly,cinema is not the only medium to be doing this and not every cinema is misleading
the popular consciousness in this manner. B.R.Painter, V.Shantaram, Satyajit Ray, Bimal
Roy, Guru Dutt, Shyam Benegal and Adoor Gopal Krishnan etc. have provided a better
alternative to Indian cinema by making pro-people films.
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EIIl
Check Your Progress-2

1) What is the identity of the audiences of the Indian films?

.................................................
.................................................
.................................................

2) 'Give one important difference between hindi cinema and regional cinema?

3. What kind of a value system has been portrayed in the popular Indian cinema?

13.6 IMAGE OF HERO ,

The prevalence of hero centred cinema is merely a reflection of the male dominated society
of ours. The pre-independence hero was well aware of his social responsibility and fully
committed to change the society. But his own life had nothing but pain and sorrow. The
post-independence hero, by contrast, was a romantic who nurtured softer emotions. He
dreamt of setting up a home with the beautiful girl he loved. This was interrupted by the entry
of the villain who was a bad man, with dubious morality and motivated by greed. His singular
mission was to capture and win the heroin by hook or crook. The hero- villain conflict reached
its climax in the fight between the two and the film ended with the defeat of the villain. The
fight between the hero and the villain provided the only instance of violence in film full of
romantic scenes, softer emotions and a musical environment. Such were the films of Dilip
Kumar, Raj Kapur, Guru Dutt and Ashok Kumar.

The films from south followed more or iess the same pattern expect that their hero behaved
in a more heroic fashion than their counterpart in the hindi films. He also had strong regional
roots unlike heroes from the hindi films. M.G.Ramachandran, Shivaji Ganeshan,
N.T.Ramarao and Prem Nazir etc. represented this regional hero. This was the product of
the optimism generated during the Nehru era.

The 1970s came up with crude versions of this romantic hero. The romance became shallow,
almost verging on consumerism. By now the optimism of Nehru era had begun evaporating
in thin air. It was this c1ima:e which productd a new hero. This was a rough, tough and angry
man motivated by vengeance. His motto in life was an eve for an eve. Needless to sav this was
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Amitabh Bachchan era. In regional cinema this image was carried mainly by Rajnikant. In
their hasic attributes these heroes were so different from their predecessors that they were
called anti-heroes.

The crisis of the Indian society deepened in the decades of 1980s and 1990s.Greed for wealth
increased among the middle and upper classes. Idealism became a thing of the past.
Degeneration in values became rampant. Distinction between good and bad got blurred.
Violence and intolerance were on an ascent. Increasing communalism, separatism,
regionalism and consumerism were indicators of the decay that had set in the society.

Indian cinema was merely the reflection of the increasing violence in the society. The
anti-hero of the earlier decade became a proper Khalnayak (villain) now. The distinctions
between the hero and the villain almost disappeared. Sanjay Dutt, Shahrukh Khan and
Nagarjun are the heroes of this villain era. A challenge to this 'villain' era is the unprecedented
success of the heroine centred, romantic musical Hum Aapke Hain Kaun which perhaps
shows that it is still possible for the society to overcome its degeneration of social values.

13.7 IMAGEOF WOMAN ,

The image of woman, like that of the hero, has been constantly changing in the Indian cinema.
This is also related to the changing roles of woman in the society. During the silent cinema
the movie makers had questioned the feudal restrictions on a woman's life. Dhiren Ganguli,
Baburao Painter and V.Shantaram opposed child marriage through their films and promoted
widow remarriage, women's education, freedom to choose their own husbands, and working
along with men outside the house.

Indian cinema continued to embrace and espouse this reformative attitude towards woman
but also glorified motherhood, and fidelity among women. An ideal woman was a devoted
wife and a loving mother who would make any sacrifice for the family. Even now it is virtually
impossible to show the ideal woman resorting to divorce, remarriage or marriage with a man
of other religion.

In order to highlight the orthodox image of the devoted wifE, the Indian films have
counterposed this image with that of the vamp who is just the opposite. She is a westernised
woman, smokes and drinks, and is cruel, selfish and unscrupulous. In other words, she is the
anti-thesis of the 'womanly' attributes- soft, polite and sacrificing. Needless to say the real
woman's image did not correspond to any of these extremities. The real picture of the woman
has been portrayed very powerfully by movie makers endowed with a strong sense of social
awakening. They have also posited the alternative of woman's liberation in a commendable
manner. V.Shantaram, Ritwik Ghatak, Guru Dutt, Satyajit Ray, Bimal Roy, Shyam Benegal
and Jabbar Pate1 etc. have emphasised the real plight of the woman through some of their
important films. Simultaneously she has also been upheld for her courage and the capacity
to struggle.

Whether it is the traditional woman or the modern liberated one, Indian actresses have
enacted these roles and images very powerfully. Devika Ran;, Durga Khote, Nargis, Meena
Kumari, Nutan, Waheeda Rehman, Sharda, Smita Patil and Shabana Azmi are some of India's ,
all time greats.

13.8 MUSIC IN INDIAN CINEMA ,'

During €he days of silent cinema, the cinema halls used to keep an orchestra in front of the
screen facing the audience. The orchestra would provide the viewers an outline of the story
and background music along with the film. In between the scenes they would also entertain
the viewers with songs. Music, song and dances had been the integral part of the popular
theatres, and so it was assumed that cinema, too, should be accompanied by songs and music.
In the Parsi theatres the dialogues, too, used to be delivered in a lyrical manner. Indian cinema
inherited this tradition. Whereas the first talkie Alam Ara (1931) had twelve songs in it,
Indrasabha had 70. Films in other languages maintained this tradition. The non theatrical
(realistic) films, in which songs were avoided owing to respect for realism, were invariably
rejected by the people. Even today films with as many as fourteen songs are box office hits.
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Pop& Culture In fact, music has been a major factor in the recent hits Roja, Bombay and Mum Aapke Main
Kaun.
The 60 years' march of filmy music has gone through many stages. In the initial days when
dubbing was not possible, songs had to be recoided along with shooting. The entire orchestra
used to be present at the shooting sight. The actual singing had to be done by the actors and
actresses themselves, as background sicging was not possible. Noorjahan, Suraiya, Surendra,
Ashok Kumar, M.S.Subbalakshmi and K.L.Sehga1were all actors/actresses cum singers. With
dubbing came a new tradition of playback singers.

Music in Indian films is generally not conceived as an autonomous entity within itself, but has
Lo be intimately connected to the storyline. Songs and music are created in accordance with
the requirements of the film and are woven into the various situations of the film. In spite of
these limitations, the melodious music produced by the Indian cinema is an example in itself
and has few parallels.

Film music has derived its melodies from three diverse sources- Indian classical music, folk
music from different regions and western classical and popular music. Initial music directors
did not copy this music but adapted and modified it to create a music tradition suitable to the
common man.

In the fourth and the fifth decades, the use of the orchestra was minimal and the music director
displayed his musical abilities with the help of very few musical instruments. This did not,
however, take away from the music its melody and charm. R.C.Bora1, Pankaj Malik,
K.L.Sehga1, Kanan Devi, K.C.Dey, Pahari Sanyal, Saraswati Devi and Khem Chandra
Prakash were some of the greatest singers and music directors of this period whose melodious
voices and lyrical music is very popular even today,

Many new and promising music directors emerged during the 1950s. Anil Biswas, Vasant
Desai, Naushad, C.Ramchandra, S.D.Burman, Jaidev, Madan Mohan, Roshan,
M.S.Baburaj, S.Bal Chander, Salil Choudhry, Bhupen Mazarika, Hemant Kumar,
P Nageshwar Rao and Sudhir Phadke were some of them. Part of the credit for their success
should also go to a whole generation of immensely talented lyrists, dfawn from the world of
poetry and literature. Sahir Ludhianvi, Majrooh Sultanpuri, Shailendra, Ka5Azmi, Pradeep
and Gopal Das Neeraj were some of the leading lyrists of the 1950s. Apart from these, Lata
Mangeshkar, Geeta Dutt, Asha Bhonsle, Mohamrnad Rafi, Talat Mehmood, Mukesh,
Kishore Kumar, Manna Dey and Hemant Kumar were great singers who, in company with
the music directors and the lyrists, produced ever lasting melodies. These singers sang not
only in hindi and urdu but in various other Indian languages. Lata Mangeshkar alone is
credited to have sung about 25000 songs in fifteen different languages. Not only that, the magic
of her voice has completely mesmerised and captivated the Indian people for five full decades.
This duration must be a record in the history of singing.

The golden phase of film music began fading by the 1970s when violence began to dominate
the Indian films. Romance and soft emotions, fodder for good music in the films, received a
set back in the popular films of the 1970s and 1980s. In trying to keep pace with life, softness
and subtle nuances of music gave way to fast, loud and orchestral forms. R.D.Burman, Ilia
Raja, Laxmikant Pyarelal and Bappi Lahiri were some of the popular music directors of this
period though occasionally they gave pleasing music also. The cacophonic tradition of music
continues even today but the 1990s has brought reminders of the golden period of film music.
A.R.Rahman, the.famous young director from south, and some budding music directors from
hindi films are trying to revive the glorious past.

Like music dance has also been an integral part of Indian films. Music and its strong presence
in the films is actually rooted in India's rich cultural tradition. Classical dance forms like
Bharat Natyam, Kathak, Odissi, Kuchipuri and Manipuri etc. are a part of this tradition.
Apart from these ,the tradition of folk dances is no less rich and diverse. It is indeed a truism
to say that the dance and music form an important part of Indian life.

The dance forms in Indian cinema have borrowed very heavily from Indian classical tradition,
folk tradition and the western dance tradition. But film dances do not use them in their
original, pure form. Thematically speaking, dances are used in films in three ways. F i s t is a
solo performance by the heroine or the vamp on the stage or at a party. The dance form
employed here is often a classical one. Second is a chorus at a festival or some big occasion.
Sit~lationsfor these dances are somehow woven into the theme of the film. These are often a
combination of folk and western dance traditions. The third form is often employed by the
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Indian Cinema
hero and the heroine to express their love for each other. The mod intimate moments between
the hero and the heroine are portrayed through songs and music in the films. No specific
dance form is resorted to, by the hero or the heroine.

The combination of songs and music is generally used to convey a sense of happiness, elation
or sorrow. The focus is generally not on its pure and classical form but on its popular
manifestations. Sometimes it becomes quite difficult to decipher the exact dance form in the
films.Of late, there has been an increase in vulgarity in film dances which is nothing but a
part of increasing vulgarity in Indian cinema in general. There is not much to distinguish
regional films from their hind counterparts, as far as dance is concerned. The regional cinema
generally does not use the specific dance form and music of that particular region.
Nonetheless, it can not be denied that dance and music have played a very crucial role in
popularising Indian cinema.

13.9 ACHIEVEMENTS OF'INDIAN CINEMA

Indian cinema may not have played a revolutionary role but has definitely contributed to the
welding together of 900 million Indians from different languages, religions and cultures.
, Different parts of the country have contributed to the development of the film industry.
Interestingly, people from the non hindi areas have contributed to popular hindi cinema,
more than the hindi speaking people. Paradoxically Tamilnadu, where hindi as a language
has never been popular, has played an important role in the promotion of hindi films. Film
produc~ngunits A.V.M., Gemini Films, Vijaya pictures and Prasad Productions from
Madras have constantly made films in hindi and thereby provided the much needed bridge
between north and south. South has also given a number of famous heroines to hindi cinema.
Waheeda Rahman, Vyjayanti Mala, Hema Malimi, Jaya Prada, Shri Devi and Rekha have
dominated the silver screen for a long time. Great film makers like Dada Saheb Phalke,
Hiralal Sen and Baburao Painter of the silent era and V.Shantaram, Himanshu Roy, Nitin
Bose, Guru Dutt, Bimal Roy, Rishikesh Mukerjee, SohrabModi, Mrinal Sen, ShyamBenegal,
Ketan Mehta, Raj Kapur and Jabbar Pate1 have all come from non-hindi areas. Even today
Mani Ratnam's films, A.R.Rehman's music, S.P.Bala Subramanyam's voice and Sridevi's
acting have brought together millions from across the regions. This contribution from
non-hind areas in the development of hindi cinema has not only helped popularise hindi all
over the country but has also helped in creating a pan indian scenario which has been equally
acceptable to people from different religions, regions and languages.

The other major contribution of Indian cinema has been towards developing and preserving
a composite culture for India.

Indian cinema has always espoused love and good will among hindus, muslims, sikhs and
christians. Even while upholding religious faith Indian cinema has always condemned
religious bigotry and communal animosity. Themes in popular cinema have been replete with
instances of inter-religious friendships particularly those between Hindus and Muslims. This
has resulted in both Hindu and non-Hindu actors becoming the idols of cinema lovers. The
dt of non-Hindu idols is very long and stretches from Dilip Kumar (YusufKhan) to Shahrukh
Khan, Naushad to A.R.Rehman, Nargis to Shabana Azmi, Sahir Ludhianvi to Kaifi Azmi,
Noorjahan to Mohammad Rafi and K.Asif to Jabbar Patel. The importance of this
contribution of Indian cinema, in providing idols cutting across cultures and religions, should
not be under estimated.

Yet another contribution of Indian cinema is its music about which you have read in Section
13.7. Indian cinema has also given to the worldsatyajit Ray whose films have been appreciated
the world over and who has been honoured with a special Oscar award.

Apart from making the maximum number of films in the world, India has other records also.
Lata Mangeshkar (for singing 25000 songs in fifteen languages), famous malayalam actor
Prem Nazir (for playing the leading role in 600 films) and hindi actor Jagdish Raj (for
maximum roles as a police officer) have all figured in the Gueniss Book of World Records.

lndian cinema has retained its popularity even in the age of television. The number of film
watchers has increased manifold thanks to dish antenna. Television channels like movie club,
zee cinema and other regional frlm channels show films round the clock. It is thus that Indian
cinema-has become the most popular medium of India's popular cultural expression.
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CzzIl
Check Your Progress3

What are the dominant characteristics of the hero in the Indian cinema after 1970?

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How has the woman been portrayed in popular Indian cinema?

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3. Which different sources did the film music derive itself from?

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- 13.10 LET US SUM UP b

In this Unit you have learnt about the main achievementsof a hundred years of Indian cinema.
You also know how Indian cinema entertains million by making 800 to 900 films in more than
25 languages every year. Cinema has been portraying contemporary reality and fantasy
through silent films and then through talkies over decades. It has also protected the composite
culture of the country and played an important role in establishing unity among Indian people.
However the political perspect~veof popular cinema has been that of the ruling classes of the
country. That Indian cinema has reflected and responded to the societal changes becomes
evident when we see the changing image of its heroes and their changing attitudes towards
women. The most outstanding feature of Indian cinema has been its music. It is virtually
impossible to imagine Indian cinema without music, songs and dances. This symbolises the
vitality, not only of popular Indian cinema, but also of different Indian cultures and
communalities and their deep faith in life. Lata Mangeshkar is a product of this great
tradition. Finally the contribution of Indian cinema should be seen not only in the field of
entertainment but also in achieving excellence in the field of popular art. All the glory and
greatness of Indian cinema issymbolised in the contributions of Satyajit Ray.
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Indian Cinema
13.11 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS EXERCISES

.I
Check Your .Progress-1

I) a) Sawkari Pash b) Sairandhri c) Kalidas d) H.M.Reddy e) Sant Tukaram.

2) a) i) tamil ii) telugu iii) hindi iv) malayalarn

b) i) Andhra Pradesh ii) Tamilnadu iii) Karnataka iv) Kerala
c) i) For making the first feature film k j a ~arishchindra
ii) For making the first realistic art film, iii) For making the first talkie

See Sec. 13.3.

nCheck Your Progress-2

See Sec. 13.4.

See Sec. 13.5.

See Sec. 13.5.

ICheck Your Progress3

1) See Sec. 13.6.

2) See.+Skc.13.7.

3) Indian classical music, folk music from different Smilq Patiie A versatile actress
regions and western classic and popular music
have all influenced film music.

IUtwik GhaIPk: A legend in 8 e n g d Cinema