Indian Cinema

It’s Friday evening. You come back from office tired of the past hectic 5-day drawn test match. You have a couple of off days ahead, which you fondly call “weekend”. This slang of a word has turned out to be one of the most adorable words of our generation. So much so that, in a poll for the most beautiful words, “Weekend” came second only to “Mother”. ;)

Now coming back to the point, what do you do to celebrate your weekend?
Yes, you've got it right! Majority of us plan a movie to relieve us of the work-stress & to have some quality time with friends & family.

Cinema has become an extension of our culture and it has taken a lot of perseverance & effort to elevate this medium to a level where it is today. In India, Cricket & Cinema have something in common. i.e, Even if you don't follow Cricket or Cinema, you cannot remain untouched by its impact.

Today, Indian Cinema is completing 100 years of an exhilarating journey. Let us flip pages of the past to dig out the remains of history and understand the impact of those torch bearers whose untiring efforts have led Bollywood to become the biggest film industry in terms of volume.

For brevity sake, I'll discuss the article in a two part series. This is the first one dealing with initial half of our cinematic journey. From Dada Saheb Phalke's humble beginnings to the golden era where storytellers like Satyajit Ray & superstars like Raj Kapoor ensured an Intellectually vibrant as well as a financially sound film industry. Next 50 years of this journey will be covered in my column the next week. Till then, hope you like reading the first fifty years.