Box office magic
The first film to be made in India was released in 1913. Today, more than a 100 years later, Indian cinema has crossed many milestones and come a long way. In the early years, it was considered taboo for women to act in movies. So, the female lead in the movie Raja Harishchandra had to be played by Dadasaheb Phalke. But, after the release of this movie, there was no dearth of aspiring women.
The term Bollywood, inaccurately referred to as Indian cinema, is but a small fraction of this industry. There are several different regional film industries throughout the country, each in a different language. The most prominent are Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam.
In 1950, the Bengali film Pather Panchali, directed by Satyajit Ray, became the first India film to win the highest number of international awards (11), including Cannes.
Here’s a quick run-through of some of the high points of Indian cinema.