In part two we finished by describing the effect Indian cinema was beginning to have on world cinema – it had already been a regular winner and finalist at international film festivals and a prime example of this was Satyajit Ray’s Apu Trilogy. This trio of films not only won several awards around the world, the first part of the trilogy is regarded by some critics as one of best films ever made and the storyline is thought to have influenced several Hollywood writers.
Technically, the Indian film industry had been playing catch-up with other international centres of movie-making but from the late 1950s to the early 1970s several innovative techniques were pioneered here. The most well-known is now referred to as bounce lighting and is used to recreate daylight in a studio that lacks it. Other techniques developed during this period were photo-negative flashbacks and x-ray digressions.
As the Indian film industry moved into the 1970s it was still being subsidised by the Film Finance Corporation. Indira Ghandi had given this organisation a boost in the 1960s but in the early 1970s it was perceived to be somewhat ‘arty’. Following the 1976 Committee on Public Undertakings Investigation, the Film Finance Corporation was advised to encourage commercial cinema more strongly. Two notable, influential commercial films that had been produced in 1975 (before the Committee ruling) were Sholay and Deewar. The latter was described by Scottish director Danny Boyle as “absolutely key to Indian cinema”.
A. R. Rahman became an influential figure in the 1990s. You can read about him and his ground breaking studio elsewhere on this site but for the purposes of this article he was a prolific composer of soundtracks and his Slumdog Millionaire (2008) theme won him two Oscars. Here’s a clip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRC4QrUwo9o
Today the Indian film industry is the production and technological equal of virtually any industry around the world. Films are still regionally and somewhat religiously distinct with Hindi films currently the most prolific. This is also an industry that does not need global acclaim – it’s own billion plus population can propel it forward into the future.
In our previous article we’d just about reached the post-Second World War period after describing how during the previous decade and the rise to prominence of Ghandi and Indian nationalism films had mostly been about one of two subjects. They either reflected the struggle for independence or they offered the viewer a world of escapism. A prime example of the independence genre was R. S. D. Choudhury’s Wrath (1930) which features Indian actors playing Indian leaders. It was banned at the time by the Raj.
Independence eventually came of course in 1947 and partition brought with it it’s own set of problems (aside from the violence which accompanied it). Several prominent studios ended up in what would become Pakistan and the centre of the Indian Film Industry gravitated towards Southern India.
Thousands of films were produced in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s and this period came to be known as the golden age of Indian cinema. There’s very little point listing these films as they’re available in many other locations but the most notable ones are Mehboob Khan’s Mother India (1957), Raj Kapoor’s Awaara (1951) and Shree 420 (1955). Check out this clip from Mother India:
New movements in the genre were appearing constantly and probably the most notable originated in Bengal in the 1940s and it would later be termed neo-realism and eventually Indian New Wave. Examples of this period are Chetan Anand’s Neecha Nagar (1946) and Bimal Roy’s Two Acres of Land (1953). However the most famous set of films from this movement is The Apu Trilogy by Satyajit Ray, made between 1955 and 1959. The first part of the trilogy – Pather Panchall – won prizes at many international film festivals and in turn led to a resurgence in confidence within India regarding their abilities. This in turn translated into more government finance and support for the already prolific industry. In fact The Apu Trilogy is regarded as influential films not just in India but around the world for the coming-of-age subject matter.
In this set of posts we’re going to move on to discussing not just one record label or movie
Alam Ara Poster
production studio but a whole industry. It’s one of the oldest centres of film production in the world and of course I’m talking about the Indian Film Industry.
Bollywood is not a geographic location, the word is a combination of Bombay and Hollywood and it’s a descriptive term for the Bombay (Mumbai) film industry, not the entire Indian film industry. It’s not a word liked by everyone because of the connotations that it some sort of offshoot of the American film industry but it has stuck anyway. It was first used in the 1970s as the rest of the world became aware that Indian film production had overtaken that of the USA.
In fact an earlier version, Tollywood, had been in existence since the 1930s when the Indian film industry had been based in the Bengali city of Tollygunge. Bombay eventually took over and hence Bollywood.
The first feature film made in India was in 1913 and entitled Raja Harishchandra. This was a silent movie and the first film made with sound was not until 1931 and entitled Alam Ara. This is something of an iconic film in the history of the Indian film industry as its success proved that sound was the way forward. By this point, India was already producing around 200 films per year.
The first colour film was made in 1937 by Ardeshir Irani, the producer of Alam Ara but there was no real appetite or success for colour movies until the 1950s. The film industry persevered throughout the years of the Second World War and of course the struggle for independence from British rule and many films of this era reflected these events. Not all did however and there was a definite theme of escapism running through much of the film production of that time. Have a look at a clip of the first colour film – Kisan Kanya (1937):
There’s no reason why we need to stick to the tried and tested studios of the United Kingdom and the U.S.A for these articles. Similarly one can study Kasino Strategy everywhere. Recording of film and music takes place in every country around the world. It may be primitive in some and state of the art in others but it happens nonetheless. India is a fascinating example of a country with a massive domestic market for it’s movies and recordings as well as it’s Internet Casinos so this post will introduce one of the most famous establishments in Asia – the Panthachan Recording Inn and AM Studios.
The driving force behind this studio indisputably A. R. Rahman, Indian film producer, composer, musician and singer. His biography is worthy of a post all of it’s own but we’ll try and narrow it down a bit here for the sake of brevity.
From a young age Rahman, who was born in 1966, had been a musician and his formative years were spent in a variety of bands and a period studying at Trinity College of Music in London. In 1989 he set up Panchathan Record Inn in a building joined to his property in Chennai and after some years spent improving and updating the recording equipment, Panchathan began to release records by other artists. The list of musicians recording is an impressive roll of Indian superstars from the last two decades but there names will be largely unfamiliar to Western readers.
In fact A.R. Rahman himself will be a name unknown to many outside India and those countries where Indian music is prominent. He is one of the best selling recoding artists ever with estimated unit sales of between 300-400 million rivaling the usage of Online casino. This of course does not take into account the ubiquitous availability of copies which go unrecorded as sales in ccountries such as India where copyright controls are not enforced effectively.
But back to the studio and in 2004 AM Studios was added to Panchathan as a genuine commercial enterprise. Rahman also owns studios in London, Mumbai (Bombay) and Los Angeles.
years were spent in a variety of bands and a period studying at Trinity College of Music in London. In 1989 he set up Panchathan Record Inn in a building joined to his property in Chennai and after some years spent improving and updating the recording equipment, Panchathan began to release records by other artists. The list of musicians recording is an impressive roll of Indian superstars from the last two decades but there names will be largely unfamiliar to Western readers.