The
first Indian sound film, Ardeshir Irani's Alam Ara (1931)
Raja Harishchandra (1913) was the
first silent feature film made in India. It was made by Dadasaheb Phalke. By
the 1930s, the industry was producing over 200 films per annum. The first
Indian sound film, Ardeshir Irani's Alam Ara (1931), was a super hit.
There was clearly a huge market for talkies and musicals; Bollywood and all
the regional film industries quickly switched to sound filming.
In the late 1950s, Bollywood released its first color films;
however, the majority of films continued to be black-and-white until the
mid-1960s. At this time, lavish romantic musicals and melodramas were the
staple fare at the cinema. Successful actors included Dev Anand, Dilip Kumar
and Raj Kapoor and actresses like Nargis, Meena Kumari, Nutan and Madhubala.
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, romance movies and action films starred
actors like Rajesh Khanna and Dharmendra. In the mid-1970s, romantic
confections made way for gritty, violent films about gangsters and bandits.
Amitabh Bachchan, the star known for his "angry young man" roles, rode the
crest of this trend with actors like Mithun Chakraborty and Anil Kapoor,
which lasted into the early 1990s. Actresses from this era included Hema
Malini, Jaya Bachchan and Rekha.
