Indian Cinema History:-
After the screening of a few films produced by Lumiere brothers ,
British film makers began scouting for locations in India to shot a few scenes
for their films .With the “The Wrestlers” , the first ever film to be shot in India proving to be a commercial success
, India became a key market for screening of motion pictures.
In 1913 , The first ever feature length Indian
film “Raja
Harishchandra” produced and directed by Dadhasaheb Phalke was released and turned out
to be a commercial success , Establishing Phalke as a reputed producer and
director , he is widely regarded as the pioneer of Indian Cinema.
However after the emergence of sound films
with commercial elements that have more appeal to the masses , Artistic
filmmakers like Phalke began to disappear , the legend directed his first sound
film titled Gangavataram , The film
was released on 1937 , is widely regarded as the biggest commercial failure in his 19
years film career , and subsequently is also the last film he directed before
his death.
Revolution of sound films:-
In 1931 , Ardeshir Irani produced and directed India’s first sound
film with dialogues in Urdu , and 6 years late made Kisan Kanya which happens
to be India’s first color film .But was only a moderate success commercially as the
cost involved in color grading was very expensive at that time , but yet sound
films were still more affordable for producers and audience , hence this marked the beginning of the
expansion of the revolution of sound films in India.
Parallel
Cinema:-
The Parallel Cinema is widely
regarded as one of the significant movements in Indian Cinema which brought
realism , naturalism , content and socio political concepts based films as an counterpart
to mainstream commercial cinema.
It originated in Bengali Cinema led by
acclaimed film maker Satyajit Ray who is regarded as the most realistic Indian
film director of all time. Sathyajit Ray said that the Italian film The Bicycle
Thieves and French film The River were the inspiration for his debut film and
many other films that he went on to make. His Abu Trilogy is considered as the
greatest Indian film Trilogy of all time.
Other
directors like Guru Dutt , Bimal Roy and particularly Chetan Anand also had a
major share in the revolution of parallel cinema , with his film Nechaa Nagar
which won the grand prize at Cannes Film Festival and over the years 1950s and
1960s , several Indian Independent films competed for the prestigious award.
In early 70s era , Parallel Cinema began to
show significant growth in Hindi Cinema . It was led by directors like Gulzar ,
Shyam Benegal and Mani Kaul , the latter’s early films like Uski Roti , Ashahh
Ka Ek Din , Duvidha got rave reviews from International critics and over the years they passed on the torch to
directors like Mahesh Bhatt and Govind Nihalani . The Parallel Cinema was also
responsible for the emergence of a young breed of actors who went to become
legends like Naseeruddin Shah , Om Puri , Pankaj Kapoor etc.
Adoor Gopala Krishnan extended support for
parallel cinema in Malayalam Language with his film Swayamvaram , he is
considered as the Sathyajit Ray of Malayalam Cinema.
However rise of production costs , and
domination of commercial films began to overshadow parallel cinema . Underworld
Financing , Piracy and no guarantee in return of Investment only made things
worse .
A few years later things started to change
as Ram Gopal Varma’s Satya which is considered as one
of the greatest Gangster films ever made was released on July 3rd 1998.The film which starred JD Chakravarthy
in the lead was a critical and commercial success , thus set the ball rolling
for the resurgence of parallel cinema .
Mani Rathnam who was well known for his
directional work in method actor Kamal Haasan’s
Nayagan forayed into Hindi Cinema with Yuva a Neo-Noir Political-Crime-Drama , The film
which was simultaneously made in Tamil Cinema as Ayutha Ezuthu with a different actors released to highly
positive reviews , while the Tamil Version was a financial success , The Hindi
version was a below average at the box office , but is still considered as a
major breakthrough in reestablishing parallel cinema.
The film’s response gave enough confidence
for versatile directors to make artistic films . Among the directors Anurag
Kashyap was considered the best , his Black Friday is a major success both in
Ticket Windows and among film critics.
In
Tamil Cinema Directors like Bala and Mani Rathnam were regarded as pioneers in
spreading the wave. Mani Rathnam’s Roja , Bombay , Kanathil Muthamital
were straight forward takes of terrorism in India . Bala’s Sethu , Nanda , Pithamagan were
noted for its realism involving raw portrayal of anger , fights and dark
emotions . All these films also had a fantastic run in theaters.
After the
downfall of these directors who faced a major setback with their subsequent
films getting hash reviews , panned by critics and audience alike , Vasantha
Balan and Balaji Shakthivel emerged. Vasantha Balan’s debut film Veyil and his second
film Angadi Theru were moderate successes at the box office but universal
acclaim. Balaji Shakthivel who began his career with a semi-commercial film “Samurai” faded from the spotlight after its
disastrous run at the box office , but later returned to direct Kadhal and
Vazhaku En 18/9 , both these films were noted for featuring tales of innocent
people and their suffering because of Anti-social elements .
After Balaji Sakthivel returned , Prabhu
Solomon a director who suffered partially the same fate as Balaji returned with
a film titled Mynaa and later Kumki , both these films went on to have cult
following among the audience notably for its heart warming narration supported
rural folk music , Critics responded positively to his change in style of film
making , as latest offerings were money spinners at the ticket windows ,
Producers were ready to invest their hard earned money in his films.
Economy/Trading:-
India has about 10,020 screens with a average gross income of
about $1.5 billion per year , in which Tamil Cinema produces the most number of
films every year while Hindi Cinema generates the major part of the revenue.
Lets take a look at the production , distribution and exhibition methods of
trading films.
There are three popular
approaches to transfer of distribution rights via distribution contracts:
1.
Minimum Guarantee + Royalty – Here, the producer sells the distribution rights for a defined
territory for a minimum lump sum irrespective of the box office performance of
the film. Any surplus is shared between the producer and distributor, in a
pre-set ratio (typically 1:2) after deducting entertainment tax, show rentals,
commission, print costs and publicity costs. Effectively, the distributor
becomes a "financier" in the eyes of the market. This is the most
common channel available to high budget producers.
2.
Commission – Here, the distributor pays the producer the entire box office
collection after deducting commission. So, the entire risk of box office
performance of the film remains with the producer. This is the most common
channel available to low budget producers.
3.
Outright Sale – Here, the producer sells all distribution and theatrical
rights for a defined territory exclusively to a distributor. Effectively, the
distributor becomes a "producer" in the eyes of the market. So, the
entire risk of box office performance of the film remains with the distributor.
Some of the Important films of Indian Cinema:-
1)The Abu Trilogy(Bengali)
2)Mother India (Hindi)
3)Salaam Bombay(Hindi)
4)Nayagan(Tamil)
5)Lagaan (Hindi)
6)Taare Zameen Par(Hindi)
7)3 Idiots (Hindi)
8)
Harishchandrachi Factory(Marathi)
9)Hum Aapke Hain Koun(Hindi)
10)Roja(Tamil)
11)Shiva(Telugu)
12)Athadu(Telugu)
13)Ninne Pelladata(Telugu)
14)Veera Pandiya Kataboman(Tamil)
15)Swayamvaram(Malayalam)
16)Vazhaku En 18/19(Tamil)
17)Indian(Tamil)
18)Karnan(Tamil)
19)Black Friday(Hindi)
20)Yuva/Ayutha Ezhuthu(Hindi/Tamil)
