The Bollywood history
The first indian film was made by Dadasaheb Phalke ( the “father” of Indian cinema) in 1912. This silent feature film was called “Raja Harishchandra” and known a great success. During the 1930's, the industry was producing over 200 films a year. “Alam Ara” was the first Indian sound film,and was shot in 1931 by Ardechir Irani. This film had seven Hindi songs,it became a model for all the other indian films.So, the industry switched to sound and musical films. In 1937, the “Alam Ara”'s director shot the first colour film in Hindi, “Kisan Kanya”, and “Mother India” in 1938. Colour did not had a great success until the late 1950's.
The 1940s was very difficult for India.The country was touched by the World War II, the Indian independence movement, and the violence of the Partition. The Bollywood films were a way to escape of the reality, but also to convey tough social issues.
In the late 1960s to 1980s, romance movies and action films known a well success.
In the mid-1990s, family-centric romantic musicals was very sucessful, like Hum Aapke Hain Kaun (1994) and Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995). These films discovered a new generation of actors (such as Aamir Khan, Salman Khan and Shahrukh Khan) and actresses (such as Sridevi, Madhuri Dixit,Juhi Chawla and Kajol).In that time, action and comedy films were also successful, with actors like Govinda and Akshay Kumar and actresses such as Raveena Tandon and Karisma Kapoor appearing in films of this genre.
In the 2000s Bollywood's popularity grew in the world. There were an increase of the quality in special effects, animation etc..Some of the largest production houses like Yash Raj Films and Dharma Productions were the producers of new modern films. The Bollywood films are broadcast around the world and some of its are including in the box office in India and abroad, like Devdas, Koi... Mil Gaya, Rang De Basanti, Lage Raho Munnabhai, Krrish, Dhoom 2, Om Shanti Om and Ghajini.It discovered a new generation of popular actors (Hrithik Roshan, Abhishek Bachchan) and actresses (Aishwarya Rai, Preity Zinta and Rani Mukerji), and keeping the popularity of actors of the previous decade.