Bollywood's Early Roots In A Silent Film
Film festivals around the world are celebrating the 100th anniversary of Indian films this year.
Bollywood today is well known for its over-the-top song-and-dance numbers. (Case in point: In the 1998 Hindi film Dil Se, a troupe of dancers to a love song on top of a moving train.)
But Indian filmmaking began with a quieter start.
Some film historians say Bollywood can trace its roots to Raja Harischandra, a silent film that was first released 100 years ago Friday.
Making Cinema Indian
The black-and-white, 40-minute-long film tells the tale of an ancient king of India who loses his kingdom and family as a test of character by the gods.
The film's creator Dhundiraj Govind Phalke (better known as Dadasaheb Phalke, also known as the father of Indian cinema, knew the story was a popular legend in India. He also saw it as perfect source material for a movie.
Still, when Phalke set out to make his first film a century ago, he was taking on more than creative challenges, according to Indian film scholar S.V. Srinivas.
"The cinema is not an Indian form to begin with. It's not an Indian technology to begin with. The challenge [for Phalke was] to make it Indian," Srinivas says.
Phalke raised Indian financing and hired Indian actors to tell an Indian story on screen. According to Srinivas, it was partly an act of Indian nationalism.
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