Films or movies are a part of everyday life. Whether it is a date or an evening with family and friends, watching movies can be the best way to spend time. Films have a massive influence on us and our society.
Did you know that the Indian film industry is also the world’s largest film industry? It is an elegant mix of a folk, classical, contemporary, regional and many other artforms.
A brief about the Indian Film Industry:
The Indian film industry is over 100 years old. Veteran director-producer Dadasaheb Phalke is regarded as the ‘Father of Indian Cinema’ for his film Raja Harishchandra, released in the year 1913. It was the 1st Indian full-length silent feature film. Indian films have achieved worldwide recognition for movies like Dangal, Baahubali (sequel 1 and 2), and PK.
The multilingual culture is indeed a blessing to the Indian film industry. Regional films have not just achieved commercial success regionally, but they have also dominated the Indian filmy arena.
In this article, I have mentioned the top 5 film industries of India.
To make a film is easy; to make a good film is war. To make a very good film is a miracle.
Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu
Below are the top 5 Film Industries that India can be proud of:
Bollywood:
We have grown up watching movies, and most of them are of course in the Hindi language. The Hindi film industry is popularly known as Bollywood. It is a portmanteau of Bombay (former name of Mumbai) and Hollywood; Mayanagari Mumbai is the hub of Bollywood.
Bollywood movies are diverse in genre, especially – romance, action, thriller, horror, drama, and comedy. Legendary actors like Dev Anand, Raj Kapoor, Rajesh Khanna, Dilip Kumar, Amitabh Bachchan, etc. have served as the finest actors of all time. The films – Sholay, Mughal-e-Azam, Mother India, Salaam Bombay, and others have shaped the Indian film industry into an enormous entertainment empire.
Kollywood:
The Tamil industry, also known as K-Town or Kollywood, is based in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It is one of the early film industries of India alongside Bollywood. Kollywood has a great influence on other film industries, with many films being dubbed, remade, and released into other languages. Enthiran, the sci-fi action-packed movie was released in Hindi and Telugu with a dubbed version. It became the highest-grossing Indian film of 2010.
Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan are the most loved actors of Kollywood. People worship them like Gods in South India.
Tollywood:
Telugu film industry is based in film nagar, Hyderabad. Tollywood holds the Guinness World Record for the largest movie production facility in the world (Ramoji Film City). Almost all the Tollywood movies are re-released with dubbed versions. It has a very wide audience across India, and with theBaahubali franchise, Tollywood achieved international recognition and Baahubali as the highest-grossing Indian film of all time.
Telugu movies have a separate fan base for their storylines, which is why many Telugu movies are remade into other languages. A recent example is Arjun Reddy, which is remade in Hindi as Kabir Singh.
Sandalwood:
The Kannada film industry is popularly known as Sandalwood and is based in Bangalore, Karnataka. It is also called Chandanavana as the Kannada translation of the name, Sandalwood. Kannada film industry bloomed to its golden age with the brilliance of Dr. Rajkumar, Shankar Nag, and Vishnuvardhan.
The recent blockbuster KGF- Chapter 1 was released in Kannada and dubbed into Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, and Hindi languages. It became the highest-grossing Kannada film of all time and won two National Film Awards.
Mollywood:
Mollywood is the film industry of Kerala that produces films in the Malayalam language. Despite its smaller audience, Malayalam films gain unique recognition in world cinema with their storyline and cinematography. My Dear Kuttichathan was the first Indian 3D film.
Malayalam film Drishyam became a massive hit, starring Mohanlal in 2013. Soon it was remade into Kannada, Telugu, Tamil, and Hindi languages. All the remakes did exceptionally well in the box office.
These are the 5 famous Film Industries of India that have a huge contribution to the Indian Film industry. With all these regional industries, the Indian film industry is growing bigger and better every day.
Great insights! I never realized how diverse the Indian film industry is. The spotlight on regional cinema really highlights the rich culture and storytelling traditions across the country. Looking forward to more posts like this!