BollywoodFAQ_galley

1
A Century of Bollywood
In 1910, Dhundiraj Govind Phalke (1870–1944) happened by chance to
attend a screening of an American film, The Life of Christ in Bombay (now
Mumbai) in the Christmas of 1910. Instantly, an idea took shape that led to the
birth of the Indian film industry. Phalke, who went on to become the founding
father of Indian cinema, had noted, “While The Life of Christ was rolling fast
before my physical eyes, I was mentally visualizing the Gods, Shri Krishna,
Shri Ramachandra, their Gokul and Ayodhya. . . . Could we, the sons of India,
ever be able to see Indian images on the screen?” Phalke’s ambition has been
realized as a prolific, living,
breathing, and constantly expanding
industry, with its fair share of
highs and quirks, magic and
mayhem, loves and losses. Here’s
looking at the Bollywood’s century,
through one hundred landmark
dates, events, and exciting
moments of movie-making magic,
along with entertaining anecdotes
about some of its most influential
magicians.
1. 1913—The release of
Dhundiraj Govind Phalke’s
Raja Harishchandra (King
Harishchandra), India’s first
indigenously made feature
film with an all-Indian cast
and crew. The four-reel long
film would be remade by
Phalke in 1917. He also produced
a behind-the-scenes
An advertisement in the Bombay Chronicle calling audiences
to the first screening of Raja Harishchandra in
1913. Courtesy of the National Film Archives of India (NFAI).