Indian film Awards

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The National Film Awards, commonly known as the National Awards, are arguably the most prestigious and prominent film awards in India. The Awards are presented annually, in a ceremony, by the President of India. Declared for films produced in the previous year across the country, they hold the distinction of awarding merit to the best of Indian cinema overall, as well as presenting awards for the best films in each region and language of the country. The National Awards are very prestigious in Indian cinema, and compared favourably to many other awards.Indian films bring export income and foreign prestige to India. In turn, the Indian government gives the Dadasaheb Phalke Award annually as recognition of a lifetime contribution to Indian cinema. The award is in memory of Dadasaheb Phalke, considered the father of Indian cinema.

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Globalization of Indian cinema

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Contact between Indian and Western cinemas was established in the early days of film in India itself. Dadasaheb Phalke was moved to make Raja Harishchandra after watching the film Life of Christ at P.B. Mehta's American-Indian Cinema. Similarly, some other early film directors were inspired by Western movies.
In India at least 80 percent of films shown in the late 1920s were American, even though twenty-one studios manufactured local films, eight or nine of them in regular production. American serials such as Perils of Pauline and Exploits of Elaine, and the spectacular sets of films like Quo Vadis and Cabira were popular and inspiring during the World War I era. Universal Pictures set up an Indian agency in 1916, which went on to dominate the Indian distribution system. J. F. Madan's Elphinstone Bioscope Company at first focussed on distribution of foreign films and organization of their regular screenings Additionally, J.P. Madan, the prolific producer, employed Western directors for many of his films.

A number of Indian films have been accused of plagiarising from Hollywood Movies. Due to the long time taken by courts to decide a case, few cases relating to copyright violations are brought up. One of the reasons Bollywood hesitates in purchasing rights is the assumption that these would run into millions of dollars, though according to some like screenwriter-director Anurag Kashyap, this is incorrect; He argues that while the films may cost millions of dollars in the west, the rights would be less expensive for Hindi remakes because the price would be based on the audience's buying power, the economy and the number of bidders.In 2003, best-selling fiction writer Barbara Taylor Bradford brought a copyright infringement suit against Sahara Television for allegedly making a television series (Karishma: A miracle of destiny) out of her book, A Woman of Substance, without acquiring the legal rights to do so.Today, Indian cinema is becoming increasingly westernised. This trend is most strongly apparent in Bollywood. Newer Bollywood movies sometimes include Western actors (such as Rachel Shelley in Lagaan), try to meet Western production standards, conduct filming overseas, adopt some English in their scripts or incorporate some elements of Western-style plots. Bollywood also produces box-office hit like the films Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge and Kal Ho Naa Ho, both of which deal with the overseas Indian's experience.
However, the meeting between west and India is a two-way process: Western audiences mostly of Indian origin are becoming more interested in India[citation needed], as evidenced by the mild success of Lagaan and Bride and Prejudice. As Western audiences for Indian cinema grow, Western producers are funding maverick Indian filmmakers like Gurinder Chadha (Bride and Prejudice) and Mira Nair (Monsoon Wedding). Both Chadha and Nair are of Indian origin but do not live in India, and who made their names in Western independent films; they have now been funded to create films that "interpret" the Indian cinematic tradition for Westerners. A similar filmmaker is Deepa Mehta of Canada, whose films include the trilogy Fire, Earth and Water.
Indian cinema is also influencing the English and American musical; Baz Luhrmann's Moulin Rouge! (2001) incorporates a Bollywood-style dance sequence; The Guru and The 40-Year-Old Virgin feature Indian-style song-and-dance sequences; A. R. Rahman, a film composer, was recruited for Andrew Lloyd Webber's Bombay Dreams; and a musical version of Hum Aapke Hain Koun has played in London's West End.

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Art cinema in India

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In addition to commercial cinema, there is also Indian cinema that aspires to seriousness or art. This is known to film critics as "New Indian Cinema" or sometimes "the Indian New Wave" (see the Encyclopedia of Indian Cinema), but most people in India simply call such films "art films". These films deal with a wide range of subjects but many are in general explorations of complex human circumstances and relationships within an Indian setting.
From the 1960s through the 1980s, art films were subsidized by Indian governments: aspiring directors could get federal or state government grants to produce non-commercial films on Indian themes. Many of these directors were graduates of the government-supported Film and Television Institute of India. Their films were showcased at government film festivals and on the government-run TV station, Doordarshan. These films also had limited runs in art house theatres in India and overseas. Since the 1980s, Indian art cinema has to a great extent lost its government patronage. Today, it must be made as independent films on a shoestring budget by aspiring auteurs, much as in today's Western film industry.
The art directors of this period owed more to foreign influences, such as Italian neorealism or the French New Wave, than they did to the genre conventions of commercial Indian cinema. The best-known New Cinema directors were Bengali: Satyajit Ray, Ritwik Ghatak, and Bimal Roy. Some well-known films of this movement include the Apu Trilogy by Ray (Bengali), Meghe Dhaka Tara by Ghatak (Bengali) and Do Bigha Zameen by Roy (Hindi). Of these filmmakers, Satyajit Ray was arguably the most well-known: his films obtained considerable international recognition during the mid-twentieth century. His prestige, however, did not translate into large-scale commercial success[citation needed]. His films played primarily to art-house audiences (students and intelligentsia) in the larger Indian cities, or to film buffs on the international art-house circuit in India and abroad.

Art cinema was also well supported in the South Indian state of Kerala. Some outstanding Malayalam moviemakers are Adoor Gopalakrishnan, G. Aravindan, T. V. Chandran, Shaji N. Karun, and M. T. Vasudevan Nair. Some of their films include National Film Award-winning Elippathayam, Piravi (which won the Camera d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival), Vaanaprastham and Nizhalkkuthu (a FIPRESCI-Prize winner).
Starting in the 1970s, Kannada film makers from Karnataka state produced a string of serious, low-budget films. Girish Kasaravalli is one of the few directors from that period who continues to make non-commercial films. He is the only Indian director after Satyajit Ray to win the Golden Lotus Awards four times.
From the 1970s onwards-Hindi cinema produced a wave of art films. The foremost among the directors who produced such films is Shyam Benegal. Others in this genre include Govind Nihalani, Mani Kaul, Kumar Shahani, M.S. Sathyu.
Many cinematographers, technicians and actors began in art cinema and moved to commercial cinema. The actor Naseeruddin Shah is one notable example; he has never achieved matinee idol status, but has turned out a solid body of work as a supporting actor and a star in independent films such as Mira Nair's Monsoon Wedding.

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Conventions of commercial films

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The principal difference between American and Indian commercial cinema is that Indian films usually feature periodic song-and-dance routines which, in a good movie, are expected to move the story forward (in mediocre movies, they are poorly integrated into the story). The uniqueness of Indian Cinema is that songs in Indian films play a role. In generic films, they serve as fillers, often amusing distractions. In artistic commercial films, songs convey emotions and passions of the protagonist or of the situation - ranging from love and pathos to triumph and celebration. The lyrics in the latter type are usually well written and set to music with catchy tunes, that go on to become popular. Songs are sung by professional’s play-back singers and lip-synched by dancing actors and actresses. Most non-Indians would consider the ordinary Indian film a musical, but this would be a mistake. The music and song industry associated with Indian Cinema is a major contender in determining box office hits.Indian commercial films, in whatever regional centre they are made, tend to be long; they are usually two to three hours long, often with an intermission. They tend to be melodramatic, sentimental, and formulaic, but may also feature romance, comedy, action, suspense, and other generic elements. Unlike commercial Western films, there is almost no nudity at all in Indian films. Such scenes are classified as obscene in the Constitution of India and are usually removed by the Indian Censor Board.

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The Telugu film industry

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The Telugu film industry is based in Andhra Pradesh's capital city, Hyderabad. After Bollywood, more movies are produced every year in Telugu than any other language. The state also has what is claimed to be the largest film studio in the world, Ramoji Film City. The first studio for Telugu talkies was Vel Pictures, constructed in 1934 by P.V. Das, located at Madras. The first film made here was Sita Kalyanam. The first film made by a Telugu person, R.S. Prakash, was Bhishma Pratigna (The Pledge of Bhishma, 1922). Another important Telugu personality of this era was Y.V. Rao (1903-1973), an actor and director, whose silent film (directing) credits include Pandava Nirvana (1930), Pandava Agnathavaas (1930) and Hari Maya (1932). The first big movies in Telugu were made by the Surabhi Theatres troupes.They produced the first Telugu talkie, Bhakta Prahlad, directed by Hanumappa Munioappa Reddy in 1931. In the first few years of Telugu talkies, films were all mythological stories, taken from the stage. In 1936, Krittiventi Nageswara Rao made the first Telugu film not based on mythology, Premavijayam. The film influenced other Telugu filmmakers into making such films. Some popular themes of these films (often called 'social' films) were the feudal zamindari system (Raitu Bidda, 1939), untouchability (Mallapilla, 1938), and widow remarriage. Since then, there have been both social (contemporary) and mythological or folk stories in Telugu cinema.Telugu films are released in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, East Maharastra, Orissa and few parts of West Bengal. Telugu movies are released world wide in United States, Canada, parts of Europe, South Africa, Malaysia and Singapore.The film Pokiri (Actor-Mahesh Babu) was released in 2006 collected 67 cores in India, which is second highest in India.The recent movie Stalin (Actor - Chiranjeevi) was released through out the world with approximately 400 prints!

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The Marathi film industry

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The Marathi Film industry is based in Maharashtra. Marathi film industry is one of the oldest in India. Dadasaheb Falke was one of the pioneers of the films in Marathi. Every year there is an award given in the name of "Dadasaheb Falke Award" for exceptional contribution to india cinema. Marathi film industry is now a days overshadowed by presence of Bollywood, but is evolving due to some off-beat movies like Shwaas, Uttarayan, and so on. Old marathi film songs are popular even today also. Old songs are remixed and presented now a day.

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The Tamil film industry

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The Tamil film industry (Kollywood), based in the Kodambakkam area of Chennai is one of biggest and the most successful film industries in India. It is also one of the oldest film industries which popularized cinema in India.
The Kollywood industry is the second largest industry after Bollywood in India. Tamil films have the widest overseas distribution on par with Hindi films. They have enjoyed consistent popularity among Tamil speakers in India, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Malaysia and Mauritius. Tamil films have recently become popular in Japan (Rajinikanth's Muthu, for example, screened for a record period), South Africa, Canada, USA and the UK. Many movies such as Chandramukhi and Anniyan were also simultaneously released] in the USA.

Tamil films enjoy significant patronage in the neighbouring southern States like Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh too. But dubbing into regional languages prefers them.
There is a fair amount of dispersion amongst the Indian film industries. The Hindi has remade many successful Tamil films and Telugu film industries, for example. Kollywood has also remade a fair number of Hindi-, Telugu-, Malayalam-, and other-language films. It is estimated by the Manorama Yearbook 2000 (a popular almanac) that over 5,000 Tamil films were produced in the 20th century. For a complete list of Tamil films, see the List of Tamil-Language Films. Tamil films have also been dubbed into other languages, thus reaching a much wider audience. Examples of those dubbed into Hindi include such hits as Minsaara Kanavu, Roja and Bombay. Anniyan, a recent Tamil film became the first Indian film to be dubbed into French. See popular Tamil films.
The Tamil film industry accounts for approx. 1% of the gross domestic product of the state of Tamil Nadu. Costs of production have grown exponentially from just under Rs.4 million in 1980 to over Rs.110 million by 2005 for a typical star-studded big-budget film. Similarly, costs of processing per print have risen from just under Rs.2,500 in 1980 to nearly Rs.70,000 by 2005.There has been a growing presence of English in dialogue and songs as well. It is not uncommon to see movies that feature dialogue studded with English words and phrases, or even whole sentences. Some movies are also simultaneously made in two or three languages (either using subtitles or several soundtracks). Quite often, Tamil movies feature Madras Bashai, a colloquial version of Tamil spoken in Madras.

The name is a conflation of Kodambakkam (an area of Chennai with a high concentration of film studios and in which many people working in the industry live) with the American film industry capital of Hollywood. In 2003.Tamil cinema is now dominated by four superstars: Rajinikanth (whose title is also Superstar or Thalaivar), Kamal Hasan, Vijayakanth and Vikram, and emerging superstars Ajith, Madhavan and Vijay. These stars command salary more than Rs. 40 million ($950,000) per film and their films are much hyped and receive huge opening upon release. Even films that fail to do well starring these actors gross at least Rs.100 million at the box office. Some of other emerging hero's are Surya, Siddharth, Vishal Reddy,Simbu, Dhanush,Jayam Ravi,Jeeva and Bharat.

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The Malayalam film industry

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The Malayalam film industry, based in Kerala. Malayalam movies are known for their artistic nature and they frequently figure in the national film awards. It is also currently known for being the most conservative out of the different film industries in India, despite the fact that it went through a liberal phase in the 80's. Notable personalities: filmmakers, Padmavibhushan Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Bharathan, Aravindan, Padmarajan, John Abraham; scriptwriter, M.T. Vasudevan Nair, Sreenivasan; cinematographer, Azhagappan, Santhosh Sivan, Shaji; actors, Bharath Gopi, Tilakan, Padmabhushan Prem Nazeer, Satyan, Padmasree Bharath Mammootty, Padmasree Bharath Mohanlal, Padmasree Bharath Balachandra Menon; playback singers, Padmabhushan Dr.K.J Yesudas, Padmasree K.S. Chitra and Sujatha.
The first 3D film which has produced in India was in Malayalam. Its name is My Dear Kuttichatthan produced by Navodaya. Padayottam, the first 70MM film which has done its full work in India was in Malayalam which was also produced by Navodaya. The fist Cinemascope film in the world was produced in Malayalam. Chemmeen is the first film which bring a gold medal from the President in South India. Mohanlal's "Guru", directed by Rajiv Anchal, is the only malayalam film which is nominated for Oscar Award.
Malayalam film Industry has been nicknamed as Malluwood. Mohanlal's "Narasimham" has got the highest profit till 2005. Mammootty has got 3 times National Award for best actor with Kamal Hasan. The industry contributed many best directors, actors, writers etc. A.R. Rahman's first film which he give music was in Malayalam. Vanaprastham produced by Mohanlal is the first Indo-French production movie. It has been dubbed into English (International & Europe), French & German. Mohanlal's Kalapani tells the story about the life of people in Indian prison in Andaman.

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The Kashmiri film industry

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The Kashmiri film industry, which had been lying dormant since the release of Habba Khatoon in 1967, was revived after a 39-year hiatus with the release of Akh Daleel Loolech in 2006. Cinema halls had been shut down for a long time in Kashmir, by militants protesting against the New Delhi based Government. There are few cinema halls and a handful of directors have been returning to shoot in the region. Though the region was favoured by many producers as a scenic locale in pre-militancy era Bollywood movies as a romantic backdrop, the regional industry was not very strong, due to lack of finances and infrastructure.

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The Kannada film industry

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The Kannada film industry, based in Karnataka, is sometimes called 'Sandalwood', as Karnataka is known for its sandalwood; however, this term does not seem to be in widespread use. The Gubbi Veeranna Company, or Veeranna's Sri Chennabasaveshwara Krupa Poshita Nataka Sangha and other groups established themselves first as theatre troupes, and later went on to dominate kannada cinema into the 1960s. "They provided all its key directors like H.L.N . Simha, B. R. Panthulu and G. V. Iyer, its stars led by Rajkumar and Leelavathi and most of its early commercial hits: Bedara Kannappa (1953), for instance. The first big success in Kannada cinema adapted a Gubbi Company stage play written by G. V. Iyer to introduce the mythological adventure movie into that language.". Kannada films has become very popular after the recent hits like Jogi (2005) & Mungare Male (2007).Kannadigas have now started watching more Kannada movies and slowly quitting Bollywood movies. Dr Rajkumar(Widely called Annavaru) remains the best south indian cinema actor ever to be produced

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The Hindi film industry

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The Hindi film industry, based in Mumbai (formerly Bombay), is the largest branch of Indian cinema. Hindi film Industry is often called 'Bollywood' (a melding of Hollywood and Bombay). The word "Bollywood" is sometimes applied to Indian cinema as a whole, especially outside South Asia and the South Asian diaspora, but this usage is incorrect. Bollywood has been recently greatly criticized for what critics see as a violation of Indian cultural values and its discussion of controversial topics. It is considered the most liberal out of the Indian language film industries.

Regional movies are distinctively different from Bollywood (Hindi) movies, as the stories and themes of these movies portray the culture of the region from which they originate, while most Bollywood movies nowadays are greatly influenced by Western culture.Although Bollywood does not distribute a lot of films, it can be considered to be largest in terms of viewers. It is believed that 95% of the Indian population watches Bollywood. It also has international recognition, especially in Western countries such as the UK, USA and Australia where there is a large South Asian community. Despite having the widest coverage, Bollywood movies fail to impress South Indians especially in Tamil Nadu & Kerala because of anti-Hindi feelings and hence it is not preferred in South India.

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The Bengali (Bangla) film industry

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The Bengali film industry has long centred in the Tollygunge district of Kolkata (Calcutta). Its most famous film director is Satyajit Ray, who won an Oscar for lifetime achievement in cinema.

Regional film industries

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India is a large country where many languages are spoken. According to the 1991 Census of India there are about 10,400 'raw mother tongues' in India. If closely related and mutually comprehensible dialects are grouped, the number can be reduced to 1576 ‘rationalized’ mother tongues, or with even more consolidation, 114 main languages. These 114 languages are the ones surveyed in the Indian census. Indian film producers have made films in thirty of the largest languages. However, only the very largest language groups support major regional industries. These are: Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Kannada, Tamil, Telugu,Odiya,Malayalam. Official statistics categorise Indian films according to the languages in which they are distributed.

There is a great deal of mobility between the regional industries. Many workers in other regional industries, once their talent and popularity is established, move on to work in other film industries, nationally as well as internationally. For example, A. R. Rahman, one of the best known film music composers in Indian cinema, started his career in Tamil cinema in Chennai but has since worked in Bollywood, London, and New York. Similarly, films that succeed in one language are often remade or dubbed in others. Films like Padosan and Roja, for example, were re-made or dubbed from their original Bengali and Tamil versions respectively, into Hindi.

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Indian Cinema

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The Indian film industry is the largest in the world in terms of the number of films produced annually (877 feature films and 1177 short films were released in the year 2003 alone). In contrast, 473 films were produced in the US in 2003. Movie tickets in India are among the cheapest in the world. India accounts for 73% of movie admissions in the Asia-Pacific region, and earnings are currently estimated at US$2.9 billion. The vast cinema-going Indian public mainly supports the industry. The Central Board of Film Certification of India cites on its website that every three months an audience as large as India's billion-strong population visits cinema halls. Indian films are popular in various parts of the world, especially in countries with significant Indian communities.

The commercial potential of cinema was also tested during the time. F.B. Thanewala's "Grand Kinetoscope Newsreels" is one successful case. J.F. Madan was another highly successful film producer, who released hit films like Satyavadi Raja Harishchandra and Bilwamangal; also, he launched Madan Theatres Limited, which became India's largest film production-distribution-exhibition company and the biggest importer of American films after World War I. His films were marked by a high degree of technical sophistication, facilitated by his employment of experienced foreign directors like Eugenio De Liguoro and Camille Legrand. This expertise was complemented by grand sets and popular mythological storylines, which ensured good returns.

Cinema houses were set up in major Indian cities in this period, like one in Madras (in 1900 by Major Warrick), the Novelty Cinema in Bombay (where newsreels from the Boer Wars were shown) and the Elphinstone Picture Palace in Calcutta (set up by J.F. Madan in 1907). Apart from these, a number of film shows were arranged in tents; examples are: shows arranged by two Italians, Colorello and Cornaglia, in tents at the Azad Maidan Bombay, J.F. Madan's tent cinema at the Calcutta Maidan. Another popular mode of broadcasting films was the touring cinema. In 1904, Manek Sethna started the Touring Cinema Co. in Bombay and a year later, Swamikannu Vincent, a draughtsman for the railways set up a touring cinema going around small towns and villages in the South of India. Pathe, the famous film production company set up an Indian Office in 1907.

The first feature film made in India was a narrative named Pundalik, by N.G. Chitre and R.G. Torney. The first full-length Indian feature film was Raja Harishchandra (3700 feet as compared to 1500 for Pundalik), made in 1913 and released commercially in May that year, by Dadasaheb Phalke. Phalke had attended a screening of The Life of Christ at P.B. Mehta's American-Indian Cinema and was inspired to make films himself. He was convinced of the possibility of establishing an indigenous film industry by focussing on Indian themes. In this regard, he said Like the life of Christ, we shall make pictures on Rama and Krishna. The film was about an honest king who for the sake of his principles sacrifices his kingdom and family before the gods, who are impressed with his honesty and restore him to his former glory. The film was a success, and Phalke went on to make more mythological films till the advent of talkies, and commercialization of Indian films lessened his popularity.
In 1916, Universal Pictures set up Hollywood's first Indian agency (see Hollywood meets India, below). The first South Indian feature was Rangaswamy Nataraja Mudaliar's Keechaka Vadham, released in 1918. The following year, he made the film Draupadi Vastrapaharanam, featuring Anglo-Indian actress Marian Hill who played the role of Draupadi.

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