Indian Cinema: History, Milestones, Parallel Cinema, CBFC and Film Policy

India has one of the largest film industries in Asia and produces the largest number of films in the world. As of 2014, India produced nearly 3000 celluloid films (~1000 short films + 1969 feature films). Films are produced in Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Bhojpuri, Malayalam, Kannada, and more. Full Foreign Direct Investment (100% FDI) is now allowed in the film sector, attracting studios like 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros.

Two broad types of cinema exist:

• Mainstream/Commercial cinema: entertainment-focused
• Parallel/Alternate cinema: depicts realities of daily life; artistically driven

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Pre-Film Era and Early Beginnings

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Era of Silent Films (1910–1920)

• Silent films were NOT totally mute — accompanied by music and live instruments (sarangi, tabla, harmonium, violin) during screening
• 1912: First Indo-British collaboration for silent film — Pundalik by N.G. Chitre and R.G. Torney
• 1913: Dadasaheb Phalke produced Raja Harishchandra — first indigenous Indian silent film; Phalke = Father of Indian Cinema
• Other Phalke films: Mohini Bhasmasur, Satyavan Savitri
• 1917: Lanka Dahan (Phalke) — first box office hit
• 1918: Kohinoor Film Company + Hindustan Cinema Films Company established
• 1921: Bhakta Vidhur — first film controversy (banned in Madras on censorship grounds)
• 1922: Entertainment tax first imposed in Calcutta; next year in Bombay
• 1926: Fatima Begum — first Indian woman to produce and direct her own film (Bulbul-e-Parastan)

Notable silent-era films:

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Epoch of Talkies (1931 onwards)

• First talking film: Alam Ara (1931)
  • Produced by Imperial Film Company
  • Directed by Ardeshir Irani
  • Screened at Majestic Cinema, Bombay
  • Singer: W.M. Khan — India's first singer
  • First recorded song: "De de khuda ke naam par" by W.M. Khan
• Problem of early talkies: No pre-recording — songs had to be sung live during shooting; singers hidden behind actors
• Studio System: Introduced by big banners — Bombay Talkies, New Theatres, Prabhat
  • First film to use studio system (1935): P.C. Barua's Devdas

Colour Films:

• 1933: Sairandhri (Prabhat) — first Indian colour film (but processed/printed in Germany)
• 1937: Kisan Kanya (Ardashir Irani) — first indigenously made colour film

Other Milestones:

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War-Ravaged 1940s

• Films reflected independence fervour: Dharti ke Lal, Do Aankhen Baarah Haath
• Tragic love stories and historical tales: Chandralekha, Laila Majnu, Sikander, Chitralekha
• Social issue films: Chetan Anand's Neecha Nagar; Mehboob's Aurat; Sohrab Modi's Pukar
• V. Shantaram dominated: Dr. Kotnis ki Atma Katha, Pinjra, Padosi, Geet Gaya Patharo Ne
• 1948: RK Films established by Kapoor family; first film: Aag

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Coming of Age — 1950s

• Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) established to regulate film content
• Trinity of Hindi cinema: Dilip Kumar, Dev Anand, Raj Kapoor
• 1952: First International Film Festival of India (IFFI) held in Bombay
• 1953: First technicolour film — Jhansi Ki Rani by Sohrab Modi
• Bimal Roy's Do Bigha Zameen — first Indian film to win award at Cannes
• Satyajit Ray's Pather Panchali — also won Cannes award
• Mother India — nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at Oscars (1957)
• National Film Awards instituted:
  • First feature film award: Shyamchi Aai
  • First best short film: Mahabalipuram (Jagat Murari)
  • First President's Gold Medal: Mirza Ghalib (Sohrab Modi, 1954)
• 1960: Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) established in Pune

Other 1950s milestones:

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The Golden Era — 1960s

• Music became the USP of films: Jis Desh Main Ganga Behti Hai, Guide (Dev Anand), Waqt (Yash Chopra)
• Nationalistic films on 1962/1965 wars: Chetan Anand's Haqeeqat, Aradhana (Shakti Samanta), Sangam (Raj Kapoor)
• 1960: FTII established in Pune (trains writers, directors, actors)
• 1969: Dadasaheb Phalke Award instituted

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'Angry Young Man' Phase — 1970–80

• 'Rags to riches' formula dominated; urban industrial Bombay as backdrop
• Era of Amitabh Bachchan: Zanjeer, Agnipath, Amar Akbar Anthony
• Horror genre: Ramsay Brothers (Do Gaz Zameen ke Neeche) → Censor Board coined term 'B-grade movies'
• Sholay: First film made on 70 mm scale; screenplay by Kaifi Azmi and Javed Akhtar; longest-running film till the 1990s
• Kaifi Azmi: first to write an entire film in rhyming lyrics (Heer Ranjha — adaptation of Punjabi love story)
• National Film Archive of India opened: 1964

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Romantic Cinema Phase — 1980–2000

• Major actors: Anil Kapoor, Jackie Shroff, Govinda (Tezaab, Ram Lakhan, Phool aur Kante)
• Anti-hero genre: Baazigar, Darr → launched Shah Rukh Khan
• LPG (Liberalisation, Globalisation, Privatisation) in 1990s brought foreign money and new audiences
• Aditya Chopra: Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge, Dil to Pagal Hai
• Second triumvirate (the Khans): Shahrukh Khan, Salman Khan, Aamir Khan
• India's first 3D film: My Dear Kuttichatan (Malayalam; dubbed Hindi = Chhota Chetan)
• Dolby sound system introduced via 1942-A Love Story (Vidhu Vinod Chopra)

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• Existed since late 1940s; focused on artistic excellence and humanist perspective
• Formally began with Mrinal Sen's Bhuvan Shome (1969) → opened wave of 'new cinema'

Causative factors:

1. Post-WWII global trend towards neo-realism (e.g., Mother India, Shree 420)
2. Institutions like National Film Archive of India (1964) and FTII
3. India's growing presence at international film festivals

Key Parallel Cinema directors:

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Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC)

• Set up in 1950 under name 'Central Board of Film Censors'
• Renamed under Indian Cinematograph Act, 1952
• Under Ministry of Information and Broadcasting
• Head office: Mumbai; regional offices in Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Guwahati, Cuttack, Thiruvananthapuram, Hyderabad
• Chairman + 12–25 members appointed by Central Government; term of three years or more
• Disagreement resolution: Examining Committee → Revising Committee
• All films (including foreign, dubbed) require CBFC certification
• Exceptions: Films made for Doordarshan; TV programmes and serials

Film Certification Categories

UA and S categories were added in 1983 via Cinematograph (Certification) Rules upgrade.

Film Certification Appellate Tribunal (FCAT)

• Established under Section 5D of the Cinematograph Act, 1952
• Hears appeals from parties dissatisfied with CBFC decisions

Shyam Benegal Committee (2016)

Constituted in 2016 to review CBFC norms. Key recommendations:

• CBFC should ONLY certify (not censor) films based on age and maturity
• Board/Chairman should be a guiding mechanism, NOT involved in day-to-day certification
• Online submission of applications
• Recertification allowed for TV telecast
• UA to be split into UA12+ and UA15+; A to be split into A and AC (Adult with Caution)

Cinematograph Act, 1952

• Main function: flesh out CBFC constitution and functioning
• Film certification = Central Government subject; enforcement = State Government
• Board can direct modifications/excisions; can refuse certificate if changes not made

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• Cinema as national identity: Post-independence Hindi cinema shaped India's collective imagination — Raj Kapoor's tramp, Mother India's sacrifice, Sholay's friendship — these are cultural anchors that defined Indian values for generations.
• Parallel cinema ↔ social reform: Directors like Satyajit Ray, Ritwik Ghatak, and Mrinal Sen used film as a tool to document poverty, partition, and inequality — connecting cinema to the same impulse that drove India's reform movements.
• Women in cinema as social barometer: The evolution from the 'restricted woman' of silent films to the 'vamp' of 1960s to parallel cinema's complex female protagonists directly mirrors India's changing gender discourse — a lens for GS Paper I (social issues).
• CBFC ↔ free speech: The Shyam Benegal Committee's recommendation that CBFC should certify, not censor, directly connects to Article 19(1)(a) (freedom of expression) and its reasonable restrictions — a live constitutional debate.
• LPG and cinema: The 1991 economic reforms directly reshaped Indian cinema — foreign funding, multiplex culture, diaspora-targeting films, and 3D technology all flowed from liberalisation, connecting economic history to cultural change.
• India's soft power: Indian cinema (especially Bollywood and South Indian films) is one of India's most powerful instruments of soft power — from the Soviet Union watching Raj Kapoor to Korean-style remakes of Tamil films — relevant for IR and cultural diplomacy questions.

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1. Lumiere Brothers brought cinema to India (1896) — they did NOT make the first Indian film. The first Indian to make a motion picture was Harishchandra Bhatvadekar (1899).
2. Dadasaheb Phalke = Father of Indian Cinema, NOT the first Indian to make a film. The first Indian filmmaker was Bhatvadekar (1899); Phalke made the first indigenous Indian feature film (Raja Harishchandra, 1913).
3. Pundalik (1912) was the first Indo-British collaboration for a silent film — NOT the first Indian film.
4. Alam Ara (1931) = first talking film (by Ardeshir Irani) — NOT the first Indian film. Also note it was directed by Ardeshir Irani who also made Anarkali (1928) and Kisan Kanya (1937).
5. First Indian colour film = Sairandhri (1933, Prabhat) — but processed in Germany. First indigenously made colour film = Kisan Kanya (1937, Ardashir Irani). These are frequently swapped.
6. First cinema house was in Madras (1900, Major Warwick) — NOT Bombay or Calcutta. Jamshedjee Madan's Elphinstone Picture House was in Calcutta (1907).
7. Mother India was nominated for Oscar (1957); it did NOT win. It was nominated in Best Foreign Language Film. Do Bigha Zameen won at Cannes, not Oscar.
8. IFFI was first held in Bombay (1952) — currently held in Goa, but the FIRST was in Bombay.
9. First President's Gold Medal = (Sohrab Modi, 1954) — NOT (which won the first National Film Award for feature film).

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• Lumiere Brothers → 6 soundless films in Bombay (1896)
• First Indian filmmaker: Harishchandra Bhatvadekar (Save Dada) — 1899
• First cinema house: Madras, 1900 (Major Warwick)
• First Indo-British collaboration: Pundalik (1912, Chitre & Torney)
• Father of Indian Cinema: Dadasaheb Phalke; Raja Harishchandra (1913)
• First box office hit: Lanka Dahan (1917, Phalke)
• First Indian woman filmmaker: Fatima Begum — Bulbul-e-Parastan (1926)
• First talking film: Alam Ara (1931, Ardeshir Irani, Imperial Film Company)
• First recorded song: De de khuda ke naam par (W.M. Khan)
• First Indian colour film: Sairandhri (1933); first indigenous colour film: Kisan Kanya (1937)
• First stunt films: Hunterwali (1935, Wadia Brothers); Fearless Nadia = Mary Evans (Australian)
• First film without songs: Naujawan (1937)
• First South Indian film: Premsagar (1939)
• First technicolour film: Jhansi Ki Rani (1953, Sohrab Modi)
• First IFFI: Bombay, 1952
• First Cannes award (Indian): Do Bigha Zameen (Bimal Roy)
• Mother India: Oscar nomination (Best Foreign Language Film, 1957)
• First National Film Award (feature): Shyamchi Aai
• First President's Gold Medal: Mirza Ghalib (1954, Sohrab Modi)
• First film to shoot abroad: Naaz (1954, S.K. Ojha)
• First Indo-Soviet film: (1957, K.A. Abbas)