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The Indian film industry is the largest in the world in purely volume terms – in 1990, a massive 948 films were registered for classification with the censorship board! There are more than 12,000 cinemas across the country, and at least five times as many ‘video halls’. The vast proportion of what is produced are your average ‘masala movies’ –cheap melodramas based on three vital ingredients; romance, violence and music. Most are dreadful, but it’s cheap escapism for the masses, a chance to dream.
However, for all the dross churned out, Indian has produced some wonderful films from brilliant directors, foremost among them being Satyajit Ray. Ray first came onto the scene in the ‘50s when his film Pather Panchali gained international recognition. For the next 40 years Ray turned out consistently excellent work, and in 1992, shortly before he died, he was awarded an Oscar, which was presented to him at his beside in Calcutta where he was seriously ill. His best films include pather Panchali, Apur Sansar, Ashani Sanket and Jana Aranya.
Shot on the streets of Bombay is the excellent film Salaam Bombay by Meera Nair. It concentrates on the plight of the street children in Bombay, and won the Golden Camera Prize at Cannes in 1989.
Other notable Indian directors include Mrinal Sen, Rotwik Ghatak, Shaji N Karuns, Adoor and ARavindan.
See the section called foreign films in the facts for the Visitor chapter for details on films about India which have been made in the West.
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