Bollywood is a part of the Indian film industry which is located in Mumbai. This industry may also be called the national film industry as the films produced here are mostly in the Hindi language though it is not the one and only film industry in India. Currently, it is not only the most number of movies producing film industry in India but also one in the world. The Bollywood film industry has derived its name from the famous American film industry, Hollywood. Though according to the standard of films, the former is not even near if compared with the latter.
The language used by Bollywood:
Before the 1990s, Bollywood was found to produce films that used Hindi as their main language and they also used poetic Urdu words (though not in every film) frequently.
Bollywood before the 1950s:
Before 1931, Bollywood films did not have any sound. The first Bollywood movie was released in 1913 and was named Raja Harishchandra, directed by Dadasaheb Phalke. The sound was first introduced in 1931 in the film Alam Ara by Ardeshir Irani and it was a huge success commercially. Bollywood was already producing an average of 200 films per year during that time. During and before this period, all the films were in black and white. The first colored Bollywood movie was Kisan Kanya and which was released in 1937 and directed by Ardeshir Irani but was not commercially successful like the introduction of sound. In the 1940s, Bollywood films suffered a lot due to World War II, the independence movement, and the violence during the partition of India and Pakistan.
Bollywood after the 1950s:
Color films became commercially popular in the late 1950s. However, color did not become a popular feature until the late 1950s. This period was also the beginning of a new era in Hindi films. The Bollywood films no longer have static dialogues and songs but also great romantic songs, and music, some of which would be everlasting. This period also saw the birth of successful and great Bollywood actors and actresses like Dilip Kumar, Dev Anand, Raj Kapoor Nargis, Nutan, Meena Kumari, Madhubala, and many others. The late 1960s saw soft dance being introduced with singing. Stars like Rajesh Khanna and Dharmendra ruled this period. Shooting on foreign soil came into existence first from Raj Kapoor’s Sangam. Aradhana in 1969 was probably the best film during this period if songs are taken into account. From the mid-1970s till the 1990s, films started getting packed with violence, gangsters, etc. Amitabh Bachchan (perhaps the most successful Bollywood actor), was the perfect fit for these roles and starred in a good number of hit films like Anand, Zanjeer, Namak Haraam, Deewar, Sholay, Don, etc. He was followed by other actors of the same trend like Mithun Chakraborty (with films like Disco Dancer, Pyaar Ka Mandir, Boxer, Commando, Jallad, Mujrim), Anil Kapoor, etc. with the presence of beautiful actresses like Hema Malini, Jaya Bachchan and Rekha who have also a good number of commercially successful films within their bag.
Playback Singers:
Bollywood films are mainly based on songs. During the 20th century, if a film had hit songs, the film was successful, no matter what its story was. There were some prominent singers during this period like Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle, Geeta Dutt, Talat Mahmood, Mohammed Rafi, Manna Dey, Hemant Mukherjee, Kishore Kumar, and some others.
