The Indian film industry, it has been the most loved industry. Our industry has completed 100 years now. It started with a silent film called Raja Harishchandra in 1913 and ever since it has created history. This industry has given India a huge number of legends, be it Raj Kapoor – the showman, Mother India – Nargis, the handsome – Rajesh Khanna, the beautiful Madhubala, the angry young man – Mr. Amitabh Bachchan , the charming – Shah Rukh Khan , the nightingale of India – Lata Mangeshkar, and the list goes on and on.
The Indian film industry has always been praised for portrayal of real to life stories and the morals embedded inside these beautiful stories. The stories earlier were more close to society than they are today.The cinema then was pure and gave out good messages in society. There have been classic movies like Sholay, which gave out the message of true friendship, Mughal-e-Azam, which portrayed the depth of true love and there are tons of such examples.
There was a time when the cinema industry was not known as Bollywood, which is indeed because of the word rhyming to Hollywood. It was purely called as the Indian Film Industry, starting with its very first movie called “Alam Ara” directed by – Ardeshir Irani.
Now, if we throw some light on the technological changes, earlier there was only the cardboard and projector – “magic” which showed movement when cars were driven, snow covered mountains and scenes like those. Films with more visual effects made more money. So, just as it is in human nature, which is to do better than one another, every producer started to invest in high quality of cameras and visual effects. All this technological upgradation moulded our industry into a money making business, films are now made to make money and not give out any kind of messages as such. The point to note is that Hindi cinema has come a long way from the caricature of lead actors singing and dancing around trees. The caricature may have been unfair and the more recent lot may have their fair share of insufferable movies, but the trend is clear.
While the commercial movies today are raking up huge revenues, capital is also available for risky ideas. A number of producers are willing to put money into projects that would have been deemed unviable a decade ago. The stress on good acting and powerful content though may not have completely eliminated the importance of star value, but the movement is discernibly in the right direction. Digital cinema is the new technological revolution sweeping the film and entertainment industry across the world. The examples are many, be it, Dilwale, Chennai Express, Bajirao Mastaani, Prem Ratan Dhan Paayo etc. All these movies show the amazing change in the technology of film making.
The Industry has moved ahead of the old tricks of the camera and has now started to invest in new digital editing and film- making ideas to give the viewers a better visual experience. It has given an edge to the Indian film industry. The pure and relatable cinema has now become more fictional and commercial. This is the new face of Bollywood after 100 years. The industry and its people are still loved madly by the whole of India and the world too. Many of our actors have now started becoming a part of Hollywood. The biggest examples are Irrfan Khan, Aishwarya Rai Bacchan, Priyanka Chopra and the newest entry is Deepika Padukone. Some say that, Indian actors entering Hollywood is the biggest upgrade in any actor’s life but in my view it’s the upgradation of the industry which is now being represented in different parts of the world. In any which way it makes India proud of the Indian Film Industry.
By Antra Sinha,Writer – DU Times
