The Beginning of Cinema

In 1913, the first Indian silent movie, Raja Harishchandra, was produced. By the 1930s, the Bollywood film industry was producing over 200 films a year. In 1931, the first talkie, Alam Ara, directed by Ardeshir Irani, was released and was a huge success, demonstrating that there was a large market for sound talkie films and musicals, and Bollywood and the entire regional Hindi film industry quickly transitioned to talkie movies quickly. The 1930s and 1940s were tumultuous times, as India was affected by the Great Depression, World War II, the Indian independence movement, and the violence that accompanied the partition of India. Most Bollywood films of the time were escapist, but some filmmakers addressed difficult social issues, or used Indian struggles as a backdrop for their dramatic works. After World War II, the Communist Party of India allied with the British to defend India against Japanese aggression. During that period, leftist organizations were able to enrich the content of Indian films, so that most of them defended the marginalized and the poor, including the film Roti (1942) by director Mehboob Khan and Sikandar (1941) by director Sohrab.