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More Stars Than There are in Heaven...

Ashok Banker on 100 years of Bollywood

Sau saal pehle...

July 7, 1896: The first film screening in India took place at Watson's Hotel, Bombay, presented by Lumiere cameraman Maurice Sestier.

1897: The first films were shown in Calcutta and Madras. In Bombay, to meet the unexpected audience demand, Clifton and Co began daily screenings at their Meadows Street photography studio.

1902: J F Madan launched his Elphinstone Bioscope show which soon became the largest film exhibition and distribution business in India, Burma and Sri Lanka. The medium grew rapidly in popularity and commercial scope. While most of the early film pioneers in the country came from Calcutta, the fascination for this medium in Bombay was equally intense.

1910: A young man named Dadasaheb Phalke attended a screening of The Life Of Christ at P B Mehta's America-India Cinema.

1912: N G Chitre and P R Tipnis's film Pundalik was screened and would later be credited as 'the first Indian film.'

April 2,1913: Dadasaheb Phalke's Raja Harishchandra opened in Bombay and came to be hailed as the first major commercial and critical success. Thus was born Bollywood.

1917: Phalke's popularity is great enough to elicit a short film on the fledgling craft, How Films Are Prepared.

1923: The new medium was considered profitable enough to attract a levy of 12 ˝ per cent entertainment tax.

1925: The first woman producer-director, Fatma Begum, starts her career. The first stunt film company, Sharda Film, was launched in Bombay. Hindi cinema was up and running.

1927: The first Bombay film journal, Kinema, starts publication.

1929: The Wall Street Crash derails plans for a major Hollywood entry into India. In response, a spate of new indigenous movie studios open shop, including Prabhat Film Co and Ranjit Movietone in Bombay.

1931: Alam Ara, the first Indian sound film, is released.

1933: Prabhat Studio Co's Sairandhri becomes India's first colour film. Himansu Rai’s fourth film Karma is premiered in London. Bombay Talkies is established.

1935: India produces a total of 228 feature films. Dhoop Chaon establishes playback singing, which is soon to become a standard practice.

1936: Amar Jyoti is screened in Venice.

1937: J B H Wadia makes the first 'songless' film Naujawan.

1940: Censorship cracks down on films supporting the independence movement.

1948: Raj Kapoor starts R K Films. Nehru freezes construction of new movie theatres.

1949: Entertainment tax is raised to 50 per cent (75 per cent in West Bengal). Theatres strike in response.

1950: Navketan Studios is set up by brothers Chetan and Dev Anand.

1951: The S K Patil Film Enquiry Committee singles out the flow of black market money and the star system for special criticism. The report is ignored for 10 years.

1952: The first International Film Festival of India is held in Bombay, Madras and Calcutta.

1953: Do Bigha Zameen, clearly influenced by Vittorio De Sica's Italian neo-realism, receives a special mention at Cannes. Filmfare magazine (started the year before) inaugurates the first annual film awards.

1954: R K's Awara is a major hit in the USSR.

1955: Festivals of Indian cinema in Beijing and London.

1956: Indian films shown in Edinburgh, Karlovy Vary and Berlin.

1957: Jaagte Raho wins first prize in Karlovy Vary. Mother India is released.

1960: Mughal-e-Azam, the most expensive feature to date, is released.

1964: UNESCO report notes Bombay cinema's impact on the Hindi language.

1969: Aradhana makes Rajesh Khanna the first megastar and catapults playback singer Kishore Kumar and composers S D and R D Burman to fame.

1970: Stardust is launched, pioneering 'Bombay Hinglish.'

1973: Bobby and Zanjeer are the two biggest hits

1975: Sholay and Jai Santoshi Maa are released to phenomenal success.

1976: The Committee on Public Undertakings attacks the Film Finance Corporation's poor results, blaming it on the FFC's 'art-film' policy. The FFC's poor showing also leads to the commercialisation of Doordarshan in time. Sanjay Gandhi's representatives burn the negatives of Amrit Nahata’s Kissa Kursi Ka, a satire on politics during the Emergency.

1978: The net Indian box office earning is estimated at (officially) Rs 247 crore. Less than half of this figure comes from Hindi films.

1979: Malayalam film production peaks at a record 123 films a year, more than Hindi films, mainly because of the influx of 'Gulf money’ from Malayalee workers in the Middle-East.

1981: Aparna Sen's 36 Chowringhee Lane in Indian English achieves commercial success in India and abroad.

1982: Hindi film industry suffers a major setback with the total flop of H S Rawail's highly awaited Deedar-e-Yaar. Doordarshan starts colour transmission April 25 with Satyajit Ray’s Sadgati and Shatranj Ke Khiladi.

1985: Doordarshan becomes fully commercial, starting telecast of sponsored programmes, largely Hindi films, film-based shows and soaps.

1990: The success of Ashiqui's music album brings music company T-Series into the big time. Other music companies enter the production of big-budget Hindi films.

1995: Zee TV is firmly established as India's first successful satellite television channel. Its programming consists mainly of film-based programmes and Bollywood-inspired soaps.

1996: Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park, dubbed in Hindi, grosses over Rs 22 crore, a record for any foreign film in India. Hollywood studios see a lucrative market for dubbed films in India.

1997: Hindi films account for 117 of a total of 697 films made in India, third in number after Tamil and Telugu films.

1998: Hindi films continue to earn record receipts from NRI markets in the US, UK and the Middle-East. Hollywood-made films dubbed into Hindi become a lucrative market. The success of Sony Entertainment Television and the 'Hindification' of Star Plus starts an 'auction' for television rights of Hindi films. The government grants official 'industry status' to feature film production, paving the way for institutional finance and regularisation.

1999: Major Hollywood studios enter the Indian market to produce original Hindi films as well as set up mini-theatre chains across the country. Grossing over Rs 25 crore, dubbed film The Mummy earns more than most Hindi films released in the same year. B4U, the first international Bollywood film channel is set up by a group of NRIs and is instantly successful.