What is Film Culture?

Indian film industry is one of the oldest film industries in the world. Though first publicity of films in India was done in 1896 through the newspaper The Times of India, it was in 1913 that first Hindi film Raja Harischandra was screened. Alam Ara was the first talkie screened in 1931. Since then Indian cinema has become an important part of Indian culture. Films have been made in India on an array of themes. Mythological, commercial, historical, art films are some of the noteworthy film genres. Commercial films are made for mass entertainment which generally caters to the interests and aspirations of the youth. Film actors get huge fan following. They become the style icons and trend setters in society. Films have helped in mitigating the rigidities of classes and have acted as an effective leveler in the society. Dada Saheb Phalke was the father of Indian cinema. Besides Dada Saheb, P. C. Barua, Shantaram, Himanshu Rai, Raj Kapoor, Guru Dutt, Manmohan Desai, Subhash Ghai, David Dhawan, Sanjay Leela Bhansali are some important names who have furthered the cause of cinema. Manmohan Desai had famously said, “I want people to forget their misery. I want to take them in the dream land where there is no poverty, where there are no beggars, where fate is kind and God is looks after his people”.

Today, film industry has tremendously expanded. Hollywood inspired names such as Bollywood, Tollywood, and Kollywood are indicative of expanding horizons of Indian film industry. Indian films have also proved to be an effective medium of cultural integration. For instance, films cut across regional, linguistic, and religious divide and thus acquire huge mass appeal.

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