SCRIPTING FUTURE HISTORIES - Sun Media Pte Ltd

■ Dance forms in India relate to the different festivals and social
functions such as marriage and rituals. Classical dance forms in India
include Bharatnatyam from Tamil Nadu and South India, Kuchipudi
from Andhra Pradesh, Odissi from Orissa, Kathakali from Kerala,
Kathak from northern India and Manipuri from the north-eastern state
of Manipur.
■ The earliest known texts are the Vedas and the Upanishads. The
Mahabharata and the Ramayana, both written several centuries before
the dawn of the Christian era, are the next in importance. Other major
works include Shankuntala, Nala-Damayanti, Panchatantra, all of which
were written in Sanskrit.
■ Today, Indian literature has undergone a renaissance with the rise of
nationalist writers writing in vernacular languages. Famous writers in
modern day India include Ruskin Bond, VS Naipaul, Nirad Chaudhari,
RK Narayan, Khushwant Singh, Vikram Seth and Salman Rushdie
among others.
■ Each of India’s myriad art forms was born and nurtured in its local
context. Each, however, has its own story to tell of how it travelled down
the ages, always seeking to dialogue with cultures beyond its own.
Indian Cinema
Indian cinema has completed 100 years since its first feature film
‘Raja Harishchandra’ in 1913 by Dadasaheb Phalke. Bollywood, as
the Hindi-language film industry is popularly known, is the largest film
producer in India and one of the largest centres of film production in
the world.
The Indian film industry is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of 10.1% to
touch Rs 150 billion (approx. US$ 2.63 billion) by 2016. The industry is
estimated to have garnered revenues of around Rs 93 billion (approx.
US$ 1.63 billion) in 2011, reflecting a growth of 11.5% vis-à-vis 2010.
Bollywood releases approximately 1,000 films each year, the most in
the world. Bollywood films are multi-million dollar productions, with the
most expensive productions costing up to Rs 100 crore (approx. US$
20 million).
Social Development
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