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Parallel cinema, or New Indian Cinema, is a film movement in
Indian cinema The Cinema of India consists of motion pictures produced in India, which had a large effect on world cinema since the late 20th century. Major centers of film production across the country include Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, Ko ...
that originated in the state of
West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fourt ...
in the 1950s as an alternative to the mainstream commercial Indian cinema. Inspired by
Italian Neorealism Italian neorealism ( it, Neorealismo), also known as the Golden Age, is a national film movement characterized by stories set amongst the poor and the working class. They are filmed on location, frequently with non-professional actors. They pri ...
, Parallel Cinema began just before the
French New Wave French New Wave (french: La Nouvelle Vague) is a French art film movement that emerged in the late 1950s. The movement was characterized by its rejection of traditional filmmaking conventions in favor of experimentation and a spirit of iconocla ...
and
Japanese New Wave The is a group of loosely-connected Japanese filmmakers during the late 1950s and into the 1970s. Although they did not make up a coherent movement, these artists shared a rejection of traditions and conventions of classical Japanese cinema in ...
, and was a precursor to the Indian New Wave of the 1960s. The movement was initially led by Bengali cinema and produced internationally acclaimed filmmakers such as
Satyajit Ray Satyajit Ray (; 2 May 1921 – 23 April 1992) was an Indian director, screenwriter, documentary filmmaker, author, essayist, lyricist, magazine editor, illustrator, calligrapher, and music composer. One of the greatest auteurs of fil ...
,
Mrinal Sen Mrinal Sen (''Beng.'' মৃণাল সেন; 14 May 1923 – 30 December 2018) was an Indian film director, and screenwriter known for his work primarily in Bengali, and few Hindi and Telugu language films. Regarded as one of the finest Ind ...
,
Ritwik Ghatak Ritwik Kumar Ghatak (; 4 November 19256 February 1976) was a noted Indian film director, screenwriter, and playwright. Along with prominent contemporary Bengali filmmakers Satyajit Ray, Tapan Sinha and Mrinal Sen, his cinema is primarily rememb ...
,
Tapan Sinha Tapan Sinha (2 October 1924 – 15 January 2009) was one of the most prominent Indian film directors of his time forming a legendary quartet with Satyajit Ray, Ritwik Ghatak and Mrinal Sen. He was primarily a Bengali filmmaker who worked both ...
and others. It later gained prominence in other film industries of
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
. It is known for its serious content,
realism Realism, Realistic, or Realists may refer to: In the arts *Realism (arts), the general attempt to depict subjects truthfully in different forms of the arts Arts movements related to realism include: *Classical Realism *Literary realism, a move ...
and naturalism, symbolic elements with a keen eye on the
sociopolitical Political sociology is an Interdisciplinarity, interdisciplinary field of study concerned with exploring how governance and society interact and influence one another at the micro to macro Level of analysis, levels of analysis. Interested in the ...
climate of the times, and for the general rejection of an inserted dance-and-song routines that are typical of mainstream Indian films.


History


Origins

Realism in Indian cinema dates back to the 1920s and 1930s. One of the earliest examples was
Baburao Painter Baburao Krishnarao Mestry, popularly known as Baburao Painter (3 June 1890 – 16 January 1954) was an Indian filmmaker and artist. He was a man of many talents with proficiency in painting, sculpture, film production, photography, and mechanic ...
's 1925
silent film A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, when ...
classic '' Savkari Pash'' (''Indian Shylock''), about a poor peasant (portrayed by
V. Shantaram Shantaram Rajaram Vankudre (18 November 1901 – 30 October 1990), referred to as V. Shantaram or Shantaram Bapu, was an Indian filmmaker, film producer, and actor known for his work in Hindi and Marathi films. He is most known for films such ...
) who "loses his land to a greedy moneylender and is forced to migrate to the city to become a mill worker. Acclaimed as a realistic breakthrough, its shot of a howling dog near a hut, has become a milestone in the march of Indian cinema." The 1937 Shantaram film ''Duniya Na Mane'' (''The Unaccepted'') also critiqued the treatment of women in Indian society.


Early years

The Parallel Cinema movement began to take shape from the late 1940s, by pioneers such as
Satyajit Ray Satyajit Ray (; 2 May 1921 – 23 April 1992) was an Indian director, screenwriter, documentary filmmaker, author, essayist, lyricist, magazine editor, illustrator, calligrapher, and music composer. One of the greatest auteurs of fil ...
,
Ritwik Ghatak Ritwik Kumar Ghatak (; 4 November 19256 February 1976) was a noted Indian film director, screenwriter, and playwright. Along with prominent contemporary Bengali filmmakers Satyajit Ray, Tapan Sinha and Mrinal Sen, his cinema is primarily rememb ...
,
Bimal Roy Bimal Roy (12 July 1909 – 8 January 1966) was an Indian film director. He is particularly noted for his realistic and socialistic films such as ''Do Bigha Zamin'', ''Parineeta (1953 film), Parineeta'', ''Biraj Bahu'', ''Devdas (1955 film), D ...
,
Mrinal Sen Mrinal Sen (''Beng.'' মৃণাল সেন; 14 May 1923 – 30 December 2018) was an Indian film director, and screenwriter known for his work primarily in Bengali, and few Hindi and Telugu language films. Regarded as one of the finest Ind ...
,
Tapan Sinha Tapan Sinha (2 October 1924 – 15 January 2009) was one of the most prominent Indian film directors of his time forming a legendary quartet with Satyajit Ray, Ritwik Ghatak and Mrinal Sen. He was primarily a Bengali filmmaker who worked both ...
,
Khwaja Ahmad Abbas Khwaja Ahmad Abbas (7 June 1914 – 1 June 1987) was an Indian film director, screenwriter, novelist, and journalist in Urdu, Hindi and English. He won four National Film Awards in India. Internationally, his films won the Palme d'Or (Golden ...
,
Buddhadeb Dasgupta Buddhadeb Dasgupta (11 February 1944 – 10 June 2021) was an Indian filmmaker and poet best known for his Cinema of West Bengal, Bengali-language films like ''Bagh Bahadur'', ''Tahader Katha'', ''Charachar'' and ''Uttara (film), Uttara''. Five ...
, Chetan Anand,
Guru Dutt Vasanth Kumar Shivashankar Padukone (9 July 1925 – 10 October 1964), better known as Guru Dutt, was an Indian film director, producer, actor, choreographer, and writer.Rajadhyaksha, Ashish, and Paul Willemen. 9941998''Encyclopedia of Indian ...
and
V. Shantaram Shantaram Rajaram Vankudre (18 November 1901 – 30 October 1990), referred to as V. Shantaram or Shantaram Bapu, was an Indian filmmaker, film producer, and actor known for his work in Hindi and Marathi films. He is most known for films such ...
. This period is considered part of the 'Golden Age' of Indian cinema. This cinema borrowed heavily from the
Indian literature Indian literature refers to the literature produced on the Indian subcontinent until 1947 and in the Republic of India thereafter. The Republic of India has 22 officially recognised languages. The earliest works of Indian literature were o ...
of the times, hence became an important study of the contemporary Indian society, and is now used by scholars and historians alike to map the changing demographics and socio-economic as well as political temperament of the Indian populace. Right from its inception, Indian cinema has had people who wanted to and did use the medium for more than entertainment. They used it to highlight prevalent issues and sometimes to throw open new issues for the public. Early examples of Indian cinema's
social realist Social realism is the term used for work produced by painters, printmakers, photographers, writers and filmmakers that aims to draw attention to the real socio-political conditions of the working class as a means to critique the power structure ...
movement include ''
Dharti Ke Lal ''Dharti Ke Lal'' ( ''Children of the Earth'') is a 1946 Hindustani film, the first directorial venture of the noted film director Khwaja Ahmad Abbas (K. A. Abbas). It was jointly written by Khwaja Ahmad Abbas and Bijon Bhattacharya, based on ...
'' (1946), a film about the Bengal famine of 1943 directed and written by Khwaja Ahmad Abbas, and ''
Neecha Nagar ''Neecha Nagar'' () is a 1946 Indian Hindi-language film, directed by Chetan Anand, written by Khwaja Ahmad Abbas and Hayatullah Ansari, and produced by Rashid Anwar and A.Halim. It was a pioneering effort in social realism in Indian cinema a ...
'' (1946), a film directed by Chetan Anand and written by Khwaja Ahmad Abbas that won the
Grand Prize A prize is an award to be given to a person or a group of people (such as sporting teams and organizations) to recognize and reward their actions and achievements.
at the first Cannes Film Festival. Since then, Indian independent films were frequently in competition for the
Palme d'Or The Palme d'Or (; en, Golden Palm) is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the festival's highest prize was the Grand Prix du Fe ...
at the
Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films o ...
throughout the 1950s and early 1960s, with some of them winning major prizes at the festival. During the 1950s and the 1960s, intellectual filmmakers and story writers became frustrated with
musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, but in some cases, they serve merely as breaks ...
s. To counter this, they created a genre of films which depicted reality from an artful perspective. Most films made during this period were funded by state governments to promote an authentic art genre from the Indian film fraternity. The most famous Indian " neo-realist" was the Bengali film director
Satyajit Ray Satyajit Ray (; 2 May 1921 – 23 April 1992) was an Indian director, screenwriter, documentary filmmaker, author, essayist, lyricist, magazine editor, illustrator, calligrapher, and music composer. One of the greatest auteurs of fil ...
, followed by
Shyam Benegal Shyam Benegal (born 14 December 1934) is an Indian film director, screenwriter and documentary filmmaker. Often regarded as the pioneer of parallel cinema, he is widely considered as one of the greatest filmmakers post 1970s. He has received ...
,
Mrinal Sen Mrinal Sen (''Beng.'' মৃণাল সেন; 14 May 1923 – 30 December 2018) was an Indian film director, and screenwriter known for his work primarily in Bengali, and few Hindi and Telugu language films. Regarded as one of the finest Ind ...
,
Adoor Gopalakrishnan Adoor Gopalakrishnan (born 3 July 1941) is an Indian film director, script writer, and producer and is regarded as one of the most notable and renowned filmmakers in India. With the release of his first feature film '' Swayamvaram'' (1972), Go ...
,
G. Aravindan Govindan Aravindan (23 January 1935 – 15 March 1991) was an Indian film director, screenwriter, musician, cartoonist, and painter. He was one of the pioneers of parallel cinema in Malayalam. He was known for his unorthodox way of filmma ...
and
Girish Kasaravalli Girish Kasaravalli (born 3 December 1950) is an Indian film director, in the Kannada cinema, and one of the pioneers of the Parallel Cinema. Known internationally for his works, Kasaravalli has garnered fourteen National Film Awards, including f ...
. Ray's most famous films were ''
Pather Panchali ''Pather Panchali'' (; ) is a 1955 Indian Bengali (language), Bengali-language Drama (film and television), drama film written and directed by Satyajit Ray and produced by the Government of West Bengal. It is an adaptation of Bibhutibhushan Ba ...
'' (1955), ''
Aparajito ''Aparajito'' ( bn, অপরাজিত ''Ôporajito''; ''The Unvanquished'') is a 1956 Indian Bengali-language drama film written and directed by Satyajit Ray (1921–1992), and is the second part of ''The Apu Trilogy''. It is adapted from ...
'' (1956) and ''
The World of Apu ''Apur Sansar'' ( bn, অপুর সংসার), also known as ''The World of Apu'', is a 1959 Indian Bengali-language drama film produced, written and directed by Satyajit Ray. It is based on the second half of Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay's ...
'' (1959), which formed ''
The Apu Trilogy ''The Apu Trilogy'' comprises three Indian Bengali-language drama films directed by Satyajit Ray: ''Pather Panchali'' (1955), ''Aparajito'' (1956) and ''The World of Apu'' (1959). The original music for the films was composed by Ravi Shankar. ...
''. Produced on a shoestring budget of
Rs. Rupee is the common name for the currencies of India, Mauritius, Nepal, Pakistan, Seychelles, and Sri Lanka, and of former currencies of Afghanistan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, the United Arab Emirates (as the Gulf rupee), British East Africa, B ...
150,000 ($3000), the three films won major prizes at the
Cannes Cannes ( , , ; oc, Canas) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a communes of France, commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions I ...
,
Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
and
Venice Film Festival The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival ( it, Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica della Biennale di Venezia, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival he ...
s, and are today frequently listed among the
greatest films of all time This is a list of films considered the best in national and international surveys of critics and the public. Some surveys focus on all films, while others focus on a particular genre or country. Voting systems differ, and some surveys suffer ...
. Certain art films have also garnered commercial success, in an industry known for its surrealism or 'fantastical' movies, and successfully combined features of both art and commercial cinema. An early example of this was
Bimal Roy Bimal Roy (12 July 1909 – 8 January 1966) was an Indian film director. He is particularly noted for his realistic and socialistic films such as ''Do Bigha Zamin'', ''Parineeta (1953 film), Parineeta'', ''Biraj Bahu'', ''Devdas (1955 film), D ...
's ''
Do Bigha Zamin ''Do Bigha Zamin'' () is a 1953 Indian Hindi-language drama film directed by Bimal Roy. Based on Rabindranath Tagore's Bengali poem " Dui Bigha Jomi", the film stars Balraj Sahni, Nirupa Roy in lead roles. Known for its socialist theme, it is c ...
'' (1953), which was both a commercial and critical success. The film won the International Prize at the
1954 Cannes Film Festival The 7th Cannes Film Festival was held from 25 March to 9 April 1954. With Jean Cocteau as President of the Jury, the Grand Prix went to the '' Gate of Hell'' by Teinosuke Kinugasa. The festival opened with '' Le Grand Jeu'' by Robert Siodmak. This ...
and paved the way for the Indian New Wave.
Hrishikesh Mukherjee Hrishikesh Mukherjee (30 September 1922 – 27 August 2006) was an Indian film director, editor and writer. He is regarded as one of the greatest filmmakers of Indian cinema. Popularly known as ''Hrishi-da'', he directed 42 films during his car ...
, one of Hindi cinema's most successful filmmakers, was named the pioneer of 'middle cinema', and was renowned for making films that reflected the changing middle-class ethos. According to
Encyclopædia Britannica The (Latin for "British Encyclopædia") is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It is published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.; the company has existed since the 18th century, although it has changed ownership various time ...
, Mukherjee "carved a middle path between the extravagance of mainstream cinema and the stark realism of art cinema". Renowned Filmmaker
Basu Chatterjee Basu Chatterjee ( bn, বাসু চ্যাটার্জ্জী; 10 January 1927 – 4 June 2020) was an Indian film director and screenwriter. Through the 1970s and 1980s, Chatterjee became associated with what came to be known as mi ...
also built his plots on middle-class lives and directed films like ''
Piya Ka Ghar ''Piya Ka Ghar'' ( My beloved's house) is a 1972 Indian Hindi-language comedy set in Mumbai in the 1970s. It is a remake of Raja Thakur's Marathi film ''Mumbaicha Jawai''. It portrays the difficulties of life in India's biggest city during the ...
'', ''
Rajnigandha ''Rajnigandha'' () is a 1974 Hindi film directed by Basu Chatterjee. It is based on the short story "Yahi Sach Hai" by noted Hindi writer Mannu Bhandari.Ek Ruka Hua Faisla ''Ek Ruka Hua Faisla'' (English: ''A Pending Decision'') is an Indian Hindi-language thriller film, directed by Basu Chatterjee. It is a remake of the Golden Bear winning American motion picture ''12 Angry Men'' (1957) directed by Sidney Lumet ...
''. Another filmmaker to integrate art and commercial cinema was
Guru Dutt Vasanth Kumar Shivashankar Padukone (9 July 1925 – 10 October 1964), better known as Guru Dutt, was an Indian film director, producer, actor, choreographer, and writer.Rajadhyaksha, Ashish, and Paul Willemen. 9941998''Encyclopedia of Indian ...
, whose film ''
Pyaasa ''Pyaasa'' (; ) is a 1957 Indian Hindi drama film directed and produced by Guru Dutt, who stars alongside Mala Sinha, Waheeda Rehman, Rehman, and Johnny Walker. Set in Calcutta, it focuses on the disillusioned Urdu poet Vijay (Dutt), whose ...
'' (1957) featured in Time magazine's "All-TIME" 100 best movies list. The most recent example of an impeccable art film becoming commercially successful is Harpreet Sandhu's Canadian Punjabi Film '' Work Weather Wife''; it marks the beginning of Cinema in Punjabi Film Industry. In the 1960s, the Indian government began financing independent art films based on Indian themes. Many of the directors were graduates of the
Film and Television Institute of India The Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) is a film institute under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting of the Government of India and aided by the Central Government of India. It is situated on the premises of the erstwhile ...
(FTII), in
Pune Pune (; ; also known as Poona, (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million ...
. The Bengali film director
Ritwik Ghatak Ritwik Kumar Ghatak (; 4 November 19256 February 1976) was a noted Indian film director, screenwriter, and playwright. Along with prominent contemporary Bengali filmmakers Satyajit Ray, Tapan Sinha and Mrinal Sen, his cinema is primarily rememb ...
was a professor at the institute and a well-known director. Unlike Ray, however, Ghatak did not gain international fame during his lifetime. For example, Ghatak's ''
Nagarik ''Nagarik'' ( bn, নাগরিক), also spelled as ''Nagorik'', ''The Citizen'' in English, was the first feature-length film directed by legendary Indian director Ritwik Ghatak. Completed in 1952, it preceded Satyajit Ray's '' Pather Panch ...
'' (1952) was perhaps the earliest example of a Bengali art film, preceding Ray's ''Pather Panchali'' by three years, but was not released until after his death in 1977. His first commercial release ''
Ajantrik ''Ajantrik'' (known internationally as ''The Unmechanical'', ''The Mechanical Man'' or ''The Pathetic Fallacy'') is a 1958 Indian Bengali film written and directed by revered parallel filmmaker Ritwik Ghatak. The film is adapted from a Bengal ...
'' (1958) was also one of the earliest films to portray an inanimate object, in this case an
automobile A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with Wheel, wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, pe ...
, as a character in the story, many years before the
Herbie Herbie, the Love Bug is a fictional Sentience, sentient 1963 Volkswagen Beetle, who has been featured in several Walt Disney Pictures, Walt Disney motion pictures starting with the 1968 feature film ''The Love Bug''. He has a mind of his own an ...
films. The protagonist of ''Ajantrik'', Bimal, can also be seen as an influence on the cynical cab driver Narasingh (played by
Soumitra Chatterjee Soumitra Chatterjee (also spelt as Chattopadhyay; 16 June 193515 November 2020) was an Indian film actor, play-director, playwright, writer, thespian and poet. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most influential actors in the history of ...
) in Satyajit Ray's '' Abhijan'' (1962). The
Cinema of Karnataka Kannada cinema, also known as Sandalwood, or Chandanavana, is the segment of Indian cinema dedicated to the production of motion pictures in the Kannada language widely spoken in the state of Karnataka. The 1934 film ''Sati Sulochana'' directed ...
saw its first ray of hope of surrealism in N. Lakshminarayan's directorial debut '' Naandi'' (1964). Featuring mainstream actors like Rajkumar, Kalpana and
Harini Harini may refer to: * Harini (singer), South Indian film playback singer * Harini (Kannada actress) Harini is a former actress in the Kannada cinema. She was active during the 1950s and 1960s, retiring at the peak of her career. As of 2006 sh ...
, the film was both a critical and commercial success. Produced by Vadiraj, it set a landmark by being the first ever
Kannada Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...
film to screen at an International film festival. The movement gained significant momentum in the 1970s and 1980s resulting in numerous national awards and international recognition to Kannada cinema.


Growth

During the 1970s and the 1980s, parallel cinema entered into the limelight of
Hindi cinema Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...
to a much wider extent. This was led by such directors as
Gulzar Sampooran Singh Kalra (born 18 August 1934), known professionally as Gulzar, is an Indian Urdu poet, lyricist, author, screenwriter, and film director known for his works in Hindi cinema. He is regarded as one of greatest Urdu poets of this ...
,
Shyam Benegal Shyam Benegal (born 14 December 1934) is an Indian film director, screenwriter and documentary filmmaker. Often regarded as the pioneer of parallel cinema, he is widely considered as one of the greatest filmmakers post 1970s. He has received ...
,
Mani Kaul Mani Kaul (25 December 1944 – 6 July 2011) was an Indian director of Hindi films and a reputed figure in Indian parallel cinema. He graduated from the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) where he was a student of Ritwik Ghatak and ...
,
Rajinder Singh Bedi Rajinder Singh Bedi (1 September 1915 – 1984) was an Indian Urdu writer of the progressive writers' movement and a playwright, who later worked in Hindi cinema as a film director, screenwriter and dialogue writer and he is grandfather Rajat Be ...
,
Kantilal Rathod Kantilal Rathod was an Indian film maker known for his work in Gujarati and Hindi cinema. He directed the 1969 Gujarati film ''Kanku'' which won National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Gujarati at the 17th National Film Awards. Biography Bo ...
and
Saeed Akhtar Mirza Saeed Akhtar Mirza (born 30 June 1943) is an Indian screenwriter and director in Hindi films and television. He is the maker of notable parallel films such as ''Mohan Joshi Hazir Ho!'' (1984), '' Albert Pinto Ko Gussa Kyoon Aata Hai'' (1980), '' ...
, and later on directors like
Govind Nihalani Govind Nihalani (born 19 December 1940) is an Indian film director, cinematographer, screenwriter and producer, known for his works in Hindi cinema. He has been the recipient of six National Film Awards, and five Bollywood Filmfare Awards. In 1 ...
, becoming the main directors of this period's Indian art cinema.
Mani Kaul Mani Kaul (25 December 1944 – 6 July 2011) was an Indian director of Hindi films and a reputed figure in Indian parallel cinema. He graduated from the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) where he was a student of Ritwik Ghatak and ...
's first several films ''
Uski Roti ''Uski Roti'' (English titles: ''Other's bread'', ''His/her bread'', ''A Day's Bread'') is a 1969 Hindi film directed by Mani Kaul. It was Kaul's first feature film, based on a short story of the same name by Mohan Rakesh, who also wrote the dia ...
'' (1971), ''
Ashadh Ka Ek Din ''Ashadh Ka Ek Din'' (Hindi: आषाढ़ का एक दिन, One Day in Ashadh) is a Hindi play by Mohan Rakesh that debuted in 1958 and is considered the first Modern Hindi play. The play received a Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for best p ...
'' (1972), '' Duvidha'' (1974), and were critically appreciated and held to high esteem in the international spotlight. Benegal's directorial debut, '' Ankur'' (Seeding, 1974) was a major critical success, and was followed by numerous works that created another field in the movement.
Kumar Shahani Kumar Shahani (born 7 December 1940) is an Indian film director and screenwriter, best known for his parallel cinema films '' Maya Darpan'' (1972), ''Tarang'' (1984), ''Khayal Gatha'' (1989) and '' Kasba'' (1990). Due to his dedication to forma ...
, a student of
Ritwik Ghatak Ritwik Kumar Ghatak (; 4 November 19256 February 1976) was a noted Indian film director, screenwriter, and playwright. Along with prominent contemporary Bengali filmmakers Satyajit Ray, Tapan Sinha and Mrinal Sen, his cinema is primarily rememb ...
, released his first feature ''
Maya Darpan ''Maya Darpan'' () is a 1972 Indian Hindi-language film directed by Kumar Shahani. It is a significant work of the Indian Parallel Cinema movement which started during the 1950s with filmmakers Satyajit Ray ,Mrinal Sen and Ritwik Ghatak. The fil ...
'' (1972) which became a landmark film of Indian art cinema. These filmmakers tried to promote realism in their own different styles, though many of them often accepted certain conventions of popular cinema. Parallel cinema of this time gave careers to a whole new breed of young actors, including
Shabana Azmi Shabana Azmi (born 18 September 1950) is an Indian actress of Hindi film, television and theatre. One of India's most acclaimed actresses, Azmi is known for her portrayals of distinctive, often unconventional female characters across several ge ...
,
Smita Patil Smita Patil (17 October 1955 – 13 December 1986) was an Indian actress who worked in films, television series and theatres. She appeared in over 80 Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Gujarati, Malayalam and Kannada films in a career that spanned just o ...
,
Amol Palekar Amol Palekar (born 24 November 1944) is an Indian actor, director and producer of Hindi and Marathi cinema. Career Palekar studied fine arts at the Sir JJ School of Arts, Mumbai, and commenced his artistic career as a painter. As a painter, he ...
,
Om Puri Om Prakash Puri (18 October 1950 – 6 January 2017) was an Indian actor who appeared in mainstream commercial Hindi films as well as Bengali, Kannada,English, Punjabi and one Telugu film, as well as independent and art films and also starred ...
,
Naseeruddin Shah Naseeruddin Shah (born 20 July 1950) is an Indian actor. He is notable in Indian parallel cinema. He has also starred in international productions. He has won numerous awards in his career, including three National Film Awards, three Filmfare A ...
,
Kulbhushan Kharbanda Kulbhushan Kharbanda (born 21 October 1944) is an Indian actor who works in Hindi and Punjabi films. He is best known for his role as the antagonist Shakaal in '' Shaan'' (1980), Starting off with the Delhi-based theatre group 'Yatrik' in the 1 ...
,
Pankaj Kapoor Pankaj Kapur (born 29 May 1954) is an Indian actor who has worked in Hindi theatre, television and films. He has appeared in several television serials and films. He is the recipient of several awards, including a Filmfare Award and three Nati ...
,
Deepti Naval Deepti Naval (born 3 February 1952) is an Indian-born American actress, director, and writer, predominantly active in Hindi cinema. Her major contribution has been in the area of art cinema, winning critical acclaim for her sensitive and 'clos ...
,
Farooq Shaikh Farooq Shaikh (25 March 1948 − 28 December 2013) was an Indian actor, philanthropist and television presenter. He was best known for his work in Hindi films from 1973 to 1993 and for his work in television between 1988 and 2002. He returned to ...
, and even actors from commercial cinema like
Hema Malini Hema Malini (born 16 October 1948) is an Indian actress, director, producer, and politician. She is primarily known for her work in Hindi films. Known for starring in both comic and dramatic roles, she is one of the most popular and successful ...
,
Raakhee Raakhee Gulzar (born Rakhee Majumdar on 15 August 1947 and known as Raakhee) is an Indian actress who has appeared in many Hindi films and Bengali films as well. In four decades of acting, she has won three Filmfare Awards and one National Film ...
,
Rekha Bhanurekha Ganesan (born 10 October 1954), better known by her stage name Rekha, is an Indian actress who appears predominantly in Hindi films. Acknowledged as one of the finest actresses in Indian cinema, she has starred in more than 180 fil ...
ventured into art cinema.
Adoor Gopalakrishnan Adoor Gopalakrishnan (born 3 July 1941) is an Indian film director, script writer, and producer and is regarded as one of the most notable and renowned filmmakers in India. With the release of his first feature film '' Swayamvaram'' (1972), Go ...
extended the Indian New Wave to
Malayalam cinema Malayalam cinema is an Indian film industry of Malayalam-language motion pictures. It is based in Kochi, Kerala, India. The films produced in Malayalam cinema are known for their cinematography and story-driven plots. In 1982, ''Elippathayam' ...
with his maiden feature film '' Swayamvaram'' in 1972. Long after the Golden Age of Indian cinema, Malayalam cinema experienced its own 'Golden Age' in the 1980s and early 1990s. Some of the most acclaimed Indian filmmakers at the time were from the Malayalam industry, including
Adoor Gopalakrishnan Adoor Gopalakrishnan (born 3 July 1941) is an Indian film director, script writer, and producer and is regarded as one of the most notable and renowned filmmakers in India. With the release of his first feature film '' Swayamvaram'' (1972), Go ...
,
K. P. Kumaran K. P. Kumaran is an Indian film maker who works in the Malayalam cinema. He co-authored the script of '' Swayamvaram'' directed by Adoor Gopalakrishnan. Kumaran's first directorial venture was ''Athithi''. His major films include ''Rugmini'' (win ...
,
G. Aravindan Govindan Aravindan (23 January 1935 – 15 March 1991) was an Indian film director, screenwriter, musician, cartoonist, and painter. He was one of the pioneers of parallel cinema in Malayalam. He was known for his unorthodox way of filmma ...
,
John Abraham John Abraham (born 17 December 1972) is an Indian actor, film producer, writer and former model working in Hindi films. He has won a National Film Award and received five Filmfare nominations. After modelling for advertisements and companies ...
,
Padmarajan P. Padmarajan (23 May 1945 – 23 January 1991) was an Indian film maker, screenwriter and author who was known for his works in Malayalam literature and Malayalam cinema. He was the founder of a new school of film making in Malayalam cinema, a ...
,
Bharathan Bharathan (14 November 1946 – 30 July 1998) was an Indian film maker, artist, and art director. Bharathan is noted for being the founder of a new school of film making in Malayalam cinema, along with Padmarajan and K. G. George, in th ...
, T. V. Chandran and
Shaji N. Karun Shaji Neelakantan Karun (born 1 January 1952) is an Indian film director and cinematographer. His debut film '' Piravi'' (1988) won the Caméra d'Or – Mention d'honneur at the 1989 Cannes Film Festival. He was the premiere chairman of the Keral ...
. Gopalakrishnan, who is often considered to be
Satyajit Ray Satyajit Ray (; 2 May 1921 – 23 April 1992) was an Indian director, screenwriter, documentary filmmaker, author, essayist, lyricist, magazine editor, illustrator, calligrapher, and music composer. One of the greatest auteurs of fil ...
's spiritual heir, directed some of his most acclaimed films during this period, including ''
Elippathayam ''Elippathayam'' (Translation: The Rat Trap) is a 1981 Malayalam film written and directed by Adoor Gopalakrishnan. It stars Karamana Janardanan Nair, Sharada, Jalaja, and Rajam K. Nair. The film documents the feudal life in Kerala at its twil ...
'' (1981) which won the
Sutherland Trophy The Sutherland Trophy was created in 1958 by the British Film Institute as an annual award for "the maker of the most original and imaginative film introduced at the National Film Theatre during the year". History In 1997, the criteria changed to ...
at the
London Film Festival The BFI London Film Festival is an annual film festival founded in 1957 and held in the United Kingdom, running for two weeks in October with co-operation from the British Film Institute. It screens more than 300 films, documentaries and shor ...
, as well as ''
Mathilukal ''Mathilukal'' (Malayalam: മതിലുകൾ, meaning ''Walls'') is a Malayalam novel written by Vaikom Muhammad Basheer in 1965. It is one of the most cherished and well-known love stories in Malayalam. Its hero, Basheer himself, and heroi ...
'' (1989) which won major prizes at the
Venice Film Festival The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival ( it, Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica della Biennale di Venezia, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival he ...
. Shaji N. Karun's debut film ''
Piravi ''Piravi'' ( en, italic=yes, The Birth) is a 1989 Indian Malayalam-language drama film directed by Shaji N. Karun. It stars Premji, Archana and Lakshmi Krishnamurthy. The film is based on the life of professor T. V. Eachara Warrier, whose son ...
'' (1989) won the
Camera d'Or A camera is an optical instrument that can capture an image. Most cameras can capture 2D images, with some more advanced models being able to capture 3D images. At a basic level, most cameras consist of sealed boxes (the camera body), with a ...
at the
1989 Cannes Film Festival The 42nd Cannes Film Festival was held from 11 to 23 May 1989. The Palme d'Or went to ''Sex, Lies, and Videotape'' by Steven Soderbergh. The festival opened with ''New York Stories'', anthology film directed by Woody Allen, Francis Ford Coppola, ...
, while his second film '' Swaham'' (1994) was in competition for the
Palme d'Or The Palme d'Or (; en, Golden Palm) is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the festival's highest prize was the Grand Prix du Fe ...
at the
1994 Cannes Film Festival The 47th Cannes Film Festival was held from 12 to 23 May 1994. The Palme d'Or went to the American film ''Pulp Fiction'' directed by Quentin Tarantino. The festival opened with ''The Hudsucker Proxy'', directed by Joel Coen and closed with ''Seri ...
. His third film ''
Vanaprastham ''Vanaprastham: The Last Dance'' (french: Vanaprastham: La Dernière Danse) is a 1999 Indo-French psychological drama period film in Malayalam-language that was directed by Shaji N. Karun. It was produced by Pierre Assouline and co-produced b ...
'' (1999) was also selected to
Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films o ...
, making him the only Indian film maker who could take consecutively three films to Cannes.
K. Balachander Kailasam Balachander (9 July 1930 – 23 December 2014) was an Indian film maker and playwright who worked mainly in the Tamil cinema. He was well known for his distinct film-making style, and the Indian film industry knew him as a master of un ...
, C.V. Sridhar, Mahendran,
Balu Mahendra Balanathan Benjamin Mahendran (19 May 1939 13 February 2014), commonly known as Balu Mahendra, was a Sri Lankan-born Indian cinematographer, director, screenwriter and film editor who worked predominantly in Tamil cinema. Widely regarded as ...
,
Bharathiraja Bharathiraja (born 17 July 1941) is an Indian film director and actor who works mainly in the Tamil film industry. Making his debut in 1977 with ''16 Vayathinile'', he is known for realistic and sensitive portrayals of rural life in his films. ...
,
Mani Ratnam Gopala Ratnam Subramaniam (born 2 June 1956), known professionally as Mani Ratnam, is an Indian film director, screenwriter, and producer who predominantly works in Tamil cinema and few Hindi, Telugu and Kannada films. Ratnam has won six Nat ...
,
Kamal Haasan Kamal Haasan (born 7 November 1954) is an Indian actor, filmmaker, screenwriter, playback singer, television presenter and politician who works mainly in Tamil cinema and has also appeared in some Telugu, Malayalam, Hindi, Kannada and Bengali l ...
, Bala,
Selvaraghavan Selvaraghavan is an Indian film director, screenwriter and actor who has directed and acted predominantly Tamil cinema, Tamil films. His directorial debut had with ''Thulluvadho Ilamai'' (2002) but his father is credited for business reasons, w ...
,
Mysskin Shanmugha Raja, known professionally as Mysskin, is an Tamil film director, screenwriter, actor, singer, and producer. He made his directorial debut in 2006 with ''Chithiram Pesuthadi''. His subsequent films ''Anjathe'' (2008), ''Nandalala'' ( ...
,
Vetrimaaran Vetrimaaran is an Indian film director, screenwriter and film producer, who works in the Tamil film industry. As of 2021, he has won five National Film Awards, eight Ananda Vikatan Cinema Awards, two Filmfare South Awards and the Amnesty Inter ...
and
Ram Ram, ram, or RAM may refer to: Animals * A male sheep * Ram cichlid, a freshwater tropical fish People * Ram (given name) * Ram (surname) * Ram (director) (Ramsubramaniam), an Indian Tamil film director * RAM (musician) (born 1974), Dutch * ...
have done the same for
Tamil cinema Tamil cinema, also known as Kollywood is a part of Indian Cinema; primarily engaged in production of motion pictures in the Tamil language. Based out of the Kodambakkam neighbourhood in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, it is popularly called ''Kollywood' ...
, During the domination of commercial cinema in Telugu, Pattabhirami Reddy, K. N. T. Sastry,
B. Narsing Rao Bongu Narsing Rao (born 1946) is an Indian film director, screenwriter, littérateur, composer, poet, producer, actor and painter known for his works in Telugu cinema, and Telugu theatre. Rao has garnered five National Film Awards, three Nandi ...
, and
Akkineni Kutumba Rao Akkineni Kutumba Rao is an Indian filmmaker in Tollywood, known for his work in Telugu Parallel Cinema. He won two Nandi Awards & one National Film Award. Filmography * Bhadram Koduko (Telugu) *Thodu (Telugu) *Patha Nagaramlo Pasivadu (Telugu ...
pioneered Telugu Parallel cinema to international recognition.
Girish Kasaravalli Girish Kasaravalli (born 3 December 1950) is an Indian film director, in the Kannada cinema, and one of the pioneers of the Parallel Cinema. Known internationally for his works, Kasaravalli has garnered fourteen National Film Awards, including f ...
,
Girish Karnad Girish Karnad (19 May 1938 – 10 June 2019) was an Indian actor, film director, Kannada writer, playwright and a Jnanpith awardee, who predominantly worked in South Indian cinema and Bollywood. His rise as a playwright in the 1960s marked the ...
and
B. V. Karanth Babukodi Venkataramana Karanth (Kannada: ಬಾಬುಕೋಡಿ ವೆಂಕಟರಮಣ ಕಾರಂತ) (19 September 1929 – 1 September 2002) widely known as B. V. Karanth was an Indian film director, playwright, actor, screenwriter, co ...
led the way for parallel cinema in the
Kannada film industry Kannada cinema, also known as Sandalwood, or Chandanavana, is the segment of Indian cinema dedicated to the production of motion pictures in the Kannada language widely spoken in the state of Karnataka. The 1934 film '' Sati Sulochana'' directe ...
. Many literary stalwarts entered or collaborated with cinema in this period. Some of the other notable filmmakers of this period were P. Lankesh,
G. V. Iyer Ganapathi Venkataramana Iyer (3 September 1917 – 21 December 2003) was a well-known Indian film director and actor. He was nicknamed "Kannada Bheeshma", and was the only person who made films in Sanskrit. His film ''Adi Shankaracharya'' (1983 ...
,
M. S. Sathyu Mysore Shrinivas Sathyu ( kn, ಮೈಸೂರು ಶ್ರೀನಿವಾಸ ಸತ್ಯು) (born 6 July 1930) is a leading film director, stage designer and art director from India. He is best known for his directorial ''Garm Hava'' (1973), ...
who were later followed by
T. S. Nagabharana Talakadu Srinivasaiah Nagabharana (born 23 January 1953), commonly known as T. S. Nagabharana, is an Indian film director, in the Kannada film industry and a pioneer of parallel cinema. He is one of the few film directors to have straddled t ...
,
Baraguru Ramachandrappa Baraguru Ramachandrappa (born 18 October 1947) is an Indian essayist, lyricist, screenwriter, film director, socialist, writer, novelist, predominantly works in Kannada language and President of the Textbook Revision Committee, in Karnataka Text ...
,
Shankar Nag Shankar Nagarakatte (9 November 1954 – 30 September 1990) was an Indian actor, screenwriter, director, and producer known for his work in Kannada-language films and television. A popular cultural icon of Karnataka, Nag is often referred to as ...
,
Chandrashekhara Kambara Chandrashekhara Kambara ( kn, ಚಂದ್ರಶೇಖರ ಕಂಬಾರ; born 2 January 1937) is a prominent Indian poet, playwright, folklorist, film director in Kannada language and the founder-vice-chancellor of Kannada University in Hamp ...
in the 1980s. Actors like
Lokesh Lokesh (; 19 May 1947 – 14 October 2004) was an Indian actor who appeared in Kannada plays and films. His wife Girija Lokesh is an actress and film director. His father was Subbaiah Naidu, who is credited to be first hero of Kannada silent mo ...
,
Anant Nag Dr Anant Nagarkatte (born 4 September 1948) is an Indian actor whose predominant contribution has been in Kannada cinema. He has acted in over 300 films which include over 200 Kannada films as well as Hindi, Telugu, Marathi, Malayalam and Eng ...
, L. V. Sharada,
Vasudeva Rao According to Hindu scripture, Hindu scriptures, Vasudeva (Sanskrit language, Sanskrit: वसुदेव, IAST: ''Vasudeva''), also called Anakadundubhi, (''anakas'' and ''dundubhis'' both refer to ''drums'', after the musicians who played th ...
,
Suresh Heblikar Suresh Heblikar ( kn, ಸುರೇಶ ಹೆಬ್ಳೀಕರ) is a Kannada filmmaker, director and actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional med ...
,
Vaishali Kasaravalli Vaishali Kasaravalli (12 April 1952 – 27 September 2010) was a noted Kannada actress, television serial director, and costume designer. Early life She was born on 12 April 1952 in Gulbarga to theatre enthusiast parents Dr. Chitagopi and Ni ...
,
Arundhati Nag Arundhati Nag (née Rao; born 1955/1956) is an Indian actress. She has been involved with multilingual Theatre in India, for over 25 years, first in Mumbai where she got involved with Indian People's Theatre Association ( IPTA), and did various ...
and others rose to fame.
Bhabendra Nath Saikia Bhabendra Nath Saikia (20 February 1932 – 13 August 2003) was a novelist, short-story writer, Editor and a Film director from Assam, India. Dr. Saikia received his doctorate in physics from the University of London. He began his career as a ...
and
Jahnu Barua Jahnu Barua (born 1952) is an Indian film director. He has written and directed a number of Assamese and Hindi films. Some of his notable films are '' Halodhia Choraye Baodhan Khai'' (1987), '' Firingoti'' (1992), ''Xagoroloi Bohu Door'' (1995) ...
did it for
Assamese cinema Assamese cinema, also known as Jollywood, is an Indian film industry of Assamese-language motion pictures. It is based in Assam, India. The industry was born in 1935 when Jyoti Prasad Agarwala released his movie '' Joymoti''. Since then the A ...
, while
Aribam Syam Sharma Aribam Syam Sharma is an Indian filmmaker and composer from Manipur. He debuted in the first Manipuri film '' Matamgi Manipur'' as an actor. In 1974, he directed his first movie '' Lamja Parshuram''. It became the first Manipuri film to run for 1 ...
pioneered Parallel Movies in Manipuri cinema.


Decline

By the early 1990s, the rising costs involved in film production and the commercialisation of the films had a negative impact on the art films. The fact that investment returns cannot be guaranteed made art films less popular amongst filmmakers.


Other major reasons for decline

One of the major reasons for the decline of the parallel cinema in India is that the F.F.C. or the
National Film Development Corporation of India The National Film Development Corporation of India (NFDC) based in Mumbai is the central agency established in 1975, to encourage high quality Indian cinema. It functions in areas of film financing, production and distribution and under Ministr ...
did not seriously look into the distribution or exhibition of these films. The mainstream exhibition system did not pick up these films because these films did not have the so-called 'entertainment value' that they were looking for. There was a talk of building small theatres for such film, but there was no serious attempt made to realise this alternative mode of exhibition. Thus, it left to a few Film Societies to screen these film; that too on a single screening basis. The advent of television and its popularity saw the film society movement decline. Gradually, the government reduced the patronage of such films, for they had only unseen films to be shown on their balance sheets. The ''Parallel Cinema'' in its true sense was always on the fringes of the mainstream cinema. Since most of the parallel cinema rejected the regressive worldview that was largely embodied the mainstream cinema they never found acceptance in the mainstream production, distribution and exhibition system. With an absence of an alternative exhibition system or an art house circuit as it is called in the west, many of the off beat films made by present generation film makers like Sushant Mishra, Himanshu Khatua,
Ashish Avikunthak Ashish or Aashish is a male given name. This name is most common in India and Nepal. It literally means blessing from the elderly or from God or Aashirwaad (blessing) in Hindi. Notable people with name 《Aashish/Ashish》 * Aashish Rana, Nepali si ...
, Murali Nair, Amitabh Chakraborty, Paresh Kamdar, Priya Krishnaswamy,
Vipin Vijay Vipin Vijay (born 1977) is an Indian film director and screenwriter. He received his post-graduate degree in filmmaking from the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute SRFTI, Calcutta. He received the Charles Wallace Arts Award for research ...
, Ramchandra PN, Ashwini Mallik, Anand Subramanian, Sanjivan Lal,
Amit Dutta Amit Dutta (born 5 September 1977 in Jammu) is an Indian experimental filmmaker and writer. He is considered to be one of the most significant contemporary practitioners of experimental cinema, known for his distinctive style of filmmaking rooted ...
,
Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni is a Marathi film director. He is an alumnus of the Film and Television Institute of India ( FTII), Pune. He is known for Marathi films such as ''Valu'' (The Wild Bull), ''Vihir'' (The Well), ''Deool'' (The Temple) and ...
,
Gurvinder Singh Gurvinder Singh is an Indian film director. He is best known for his Punjabi language films ''Anhe Ghore Da Daan'', and Chauthi Koot ( The Fourth Direction) which premiered at Venice and Cannes Film Festival respectively. Gurvinder is an alumn ...
, Bela Negi have never had a large audience.


Resurgence

The term "parallel cinema" has started being applied to off-beat films produced in
Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...
, where art films have begun experiencing a resurgence. This led to the emergence of a distinct genre known as '' Mumbai noir'', urban films reflecting social problems in the city of Mumbai. The introduction of Mumbai noir was marked by
Ram Gopal Varma Penmetsa Ram Gopal Varma (born 7 April 1962), often referred to by his initials RGV, is an Indian film director, screenwriter and producer, known for his works in Telugu cinema in addition to Bollywood, Hindi, Kannada cinema, Kannada language ...
's ''
Satya ''Satya'' (Sanskrit: सत्य; IAST: ''satya)'' is a Sanskrit word loosely translated as truth, essence. A. A. Macdonell, ''Sanskrit English Dictionary'', Asian Educational Services, , pp. 330–331 It also refers to a virtue in Indian relig ...
'' (1998). However the Mumbai noir is a genre that is not considered artistic in ambition even though it concentrates on realistic portrayal of the
Mumbai underworld Organised crime in India refers to organised crime elements originating in India and active in many parts of the world. The purpose of organised crime in India, as elsewhere in the world, is monetary gain. Its virulent form in modern times is d ...
; these are generally commercial films. Other modern examples of art films produced in India which are classified as part of the parallel cinema genre include
Rituparno Ghosh Rituparno Ghosh (31 August 1963 – 30 May 2013) was an Indian film director, actor, writer and lyricist. After pursuing a degree in economics, he started his career as a creative artist at an advertising agency. He received recognition for his ...
's '' Utsab'' (2000) and '' Dahan'' (1997),
Mani Ratnam Gopala Ratnam Subramaniam (born 2 June 1956), known professionally as Mani Ratnam, is an Indian film director, screenwriter, and producer who predominantly works in Tamil cinema and few Hindi, Telugu and Kannada films. Ratnam has won six Nat ...
's ''
Yuva ''Yuva'' ( Youth) is an Indian Hindi-language political thriller film directed by Mani Ratnam and released in 2004. The film was simultaneously shot in Tamil as ''Aaytha Ezhuthu'', and it is loosely based on the life story of George Reddy, a ...
'' (2004),
Nagesh Kukunoor Nagesh Kukunoor (born 30 March 1967) is an Indian film director, producer, screenwriter and actor known for his works predominantly in Hindi cinema, and few Telugu language films. He is known for his works in parallel cinema, such as ''Hyderab ...
's '' 3 Deewarein'' (2003) and '' Dor'' (2006),
Manish Jha Manish Jha is an Indian film writer and director. known for film like '' Matrubhoomi.'' Early life and education Born in Dhamaura, in West Champaran district of Bihar, Jha grew up in Delhi where he had moved at an early age. He did his gradua ...
's ''
Matrubhoomi ''Matrubhoomi: A Nation Without Women'' (Hindi: मातृभूमि, translation: ''Motherland'') is a 2003 Indian dystopian tragedy film written and directed by Manish Jha. The film examines the impact of female foeticide and female infan ...
'' (2004),
Sudhir Mishra Sudhir Mishra (born 22 January 1959) is an Indian film director and screenwriter known for directing the films ''Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi'', ''Dharavi (film), Dharavi'' and ''Chameli (film), Chameli''. Mishra has had a 30-year career, with his ...
's ''
Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi ''Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi'' (A Thousand Wishes Like This) is an Indian political drama film made by director Sudhir Mishra in 2003 but released in 2005. Set against the backdrop of the Indian Emergency, the movie tells the story of three young pe ...
'' (2005),
Jahnu Barua Jahnu Barua (born 1952) is an Indian film director. He has written and directed a number of Assamese and Hindi films. Some of his notable films are '' Halodhia Choraye Baodhan Khai'' (1987), '' Firingoti'' (1992), ''Xagoroloi Bohu Door'' (1995) ...
's ''
Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Mara ''Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Mara'' () is a 2005 Indian drama film, directed by Jahnu Barua and produced by Anupam Kher. The film stars Anupam Kher and Urmila Matondkar in lead roles. In the film, a poem by noted Hindi poet, Sohan Lal Dwivedi, '' ...
'' (2005),
Pan Nalin Nalin Kumar Pandya or Pan Nalin is a filmmaker of Indian origin. Nalin is best known for directing award-winning movies like Samsara, Valley of Flowers, and Angry Indian Goddesses. His debut feature SAMSARA (Miramax) was worldwide critical a ...
's ''Valley of Flowers'' (2006),
Onir Onir (born Anirban Dhar, 1 May 1969) is an Indian film and TV director, editor, screenwriter and producer. He is best known for his film ''My Brother…Nikhil'', based on the life of Dominic d'Souza, starring Sanjay Suri and Purab Kohli ''it'' ...
's '' My Brother… Nikhil'' (2005) and ''
Bas Ek Pal ''Bas Ek Pal'' () is a 2006 Bollywood romantic crime thriller film directed by Onir. It stars Juhi Chawla, Sanjay Suri, and Urmila Matondkar with Jimmy Sheirgill, Rehaan Engineer, and Yashpal Sharma in supporting roles. The film's storyli ...
'' (2006),
Anurag Kashyap Anurag Kashyap (born 10 September 1972) is an Indian filmmaker and actor known for his works in Hindi cinema. He is the recipient of several accolades, including four Filmfare Awards. For his contributions to film, the Government of France a ...
's '' Black Friday ''(2007),
Vikramaditya Motwane Vikramaditya Motwane (born 6 December 1976) is an Indian film director, producer and screenwriter who works in Hindi cinema. He is known for films like '' Udaan'' (2010), ''Lootera'' (2013) and ''AK vs AK'' (2020). His directorial debut '' Ud ...
's ''Udaan'' (2009),
Kiran Rao Kiran Rao (born 7 November 1973) is an Indian film producer, screenwriter, and director who works in Hindi cinema. In 2016, Rao co-founded Paani Foundation, a non-profit organisation working towards the mission of fighting drought in Maharashtr ...
's ''
Dhobi Ghat Mahalakshmi Dhobi Ghat is an open air laundry place in Mumbai, India. It is located at Mahalaxmi railway station in southern Mumbai, it is also accessible from the Jacob Circle monorail station. The washers, known as '' dhobis'', work in t ...
'' (2010),
Amit Dutta Amit Dutta (born 5 September 1977 in Jammu) is an Indian experimental filmmaker and writer. He is considered to be one of the most significant contemporary practitioners of experimental cinema, known for his distinctive style of filmmaking rooted ...
's '' Sonchidi ''(2011), and
Anand Gandhi Anand Gandhi (born Anand Modi, 26 September 1980) is an Indian filmmaker, entrepreneur, media producer, innovator and systems researcher. He is also the founder/CEO of the Mumbai-based new media studio and systems think tank Memesys Culture Lab ...
's ''
Ship of Theseus The Ship of Theseus is a thought experiment about whether an object that has had all of its original components replaced remains the same object. According to legend, Theseus, the mythical Greek founder-king of Athens, had rescued the children of ...
''(2013). Independent films spoken in
Indian English Indian English (IE) is a group of English dialects spoken in the republic of India and among the Indian diaspora. English is used by the Indian government for communication, along with Hindi, as enshrined in the Constitution of India. E ...
include
Revathi Asha Kelunni Nair (born 8 July 1966), better known by her stage name Revathi, is an Indian actress and director, known for her works predominantly in Tamil & Malayalam cinema - in addition to Telugu, Hindi & Kannada films. She has won several ...
's ''
Mitr, My Friend ''Mitr, My Friend'' is a 2002 Indian English-language drama film directed by Revathi in her directorial debut, and written by V. Priya and Sudha Kongara Prasad. Set partly in India and the US, the film was also noted for having an all-woman crew ...
'' (2002),
Aparna Sen Aparna Sen (, ''Ôporna Shen'') is an Indian film director, screenwriter and actress who is known for her work in Bengali cinema. She has received several accolades as an actress and filmmaker, including nine National Film Awards, five Filmf ...
's ''
Mr. and Mrs. Iyer ''Mr. and Mrs. Iyer'' is a 2002 Indian English-language drama film written and directed by Aparna Sen and produced by N. Venkatesan. The film features Sen's daughter Konkona Sen Sharma as Meenakshi Iyer, a Tamil Iyer Brahmin who is a Hindu. Rahu ...
'' (2002) and ''
15 Park Avenue ''15 Park Avenue'' is a 2005 English-language Indian film directed by Aparna Sen. It stars Shabana Azmi, Konkona Sen Sharma, Soumitra Chatterjee, Waheeda Rehman, Dhritiman Chatterjee, Rahul Bose and Kanwaljeet Singh.It won the National Film ...
'' (2006),
Homi Adajania Homi Adajania (born 1972) is an Indian film director and writer. He made his directorial debut with ''Being Cyrus'' (2006), an English-language psychological drama. He followed this with the commercially successful Hindi-language romantic comedy ...
's ''
Being Cyrus ''Being Cyrus'' is a 2005 Indian English-language thriller film directed by Homi Adajania. The film revolves around a dysfunctional Parsi family. The film was originally titled '' Akoori'', a reference to a traditional Parsi scrambled-eggs-like s ...
'' (2006),
Rituparno Ghosh Rituparno Ghosh (31 August 1963 – 30 May 2013) was an Indian film director, actor, writer and lyricist. After pursuing a degree in economics, he started his career as a creative artist at an advertising agency. He received recognition for his ...
's ''
The Last Lear ''The Last Lear'' is a 2007 Indian drama film directed by Rituparno Ghosh. The film won the National Award of India for Best Feature Film in English in 2007. The film stars Amitabh Bachchan, Preity Zinta, Arjun Rampal, Divya Dutta, Shefali Shah ...
'' (2007), and
Sooni Taraporevala Sooni Taraporevala (born 1957) is an Indian screenwriter, photographer and filmmaker who is the screenwriter of ''Mississippi Masala'', ''The Namesake (film), The Namesake'' and Oscar-nominated ''Salaam Bombay!'' (1988), all directed by Mira Na ...
's ''
Little Zizou ''Little Zizou'' is a 2008 Indian drama film written and directed by Sooni Taraporevala. ''Little Zizou'' is a comedy about how two battling Mumbai families finally come to terms. ''Little Zizou'' won the "Rajat Kamal" of 'National Film Award f ...
'' (2009). Some of the Indian art film directors active today include
Buddhadeb Dasgupta Buddhadeb Dasgupta (11 February 1944 – 10 June 2021) was an Indian filmmaker and poet best known for his Cinema of West Bengal, Bengali-language films like ''Bagh Bahadur'', ''Tahader Katha'', ''Charachar'' and ''Uttara (film), Uttara''. Five ...
,
Aparna Sen Aparna Sen (, ''Ôporna Shen'') is an Indian film director, screenwriter and actress who is known for her work in Bengali cinema. She has received several accolades as an actress and filmmaker, including nine National Film Awards, five Filmf ...
,
Gautam Ghose Goutam Ghose (also spelled Gautam Ghosh born 24 July 1950) is an Indian film director, Actor, music director and cinematographer, who works primarily in Bengali cinema. He is the only Indian to have received the "Vittorio Di Sica" Award, Italy ...
,
Sandip Ray Sandip Ray (born 8 September 1953) is an Indian film director and music director who mainly works in Bengali cinema. He is the only child of the famous Bengali director Satyajit Ray and Bijoya Ray. Life and education Sandip Ray was born in C ...
(
Satyajit Ray Satyajit Ray (; 2 May 1921 – 23 April 1992) was an Indian director, screenwriter, documentary filmmaker, author, essayist, lyricist, magazine editor, illustrator, calligrapher, and music composer. One of the greatest auteurs of fil ...
's son),
Kaushik Ganguly Kaushik Ganguly (born 4 August 2012) is an Indian film director, screenwriter and actor in Bengali cinema. Multiple National Award winner Actor-Director, Kaushik Ganguly is known for making films that explore various aspects sexuality, like ' ...
, Suman Mukhopadhyay,
Kamaleshwar Mukherjee Kamaleswar Mukherjee, Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery, M.B.B.S. is an Indian film director, actor, and physician known for his work in Bengali language, Bengali-language films. Films directed by him include ''Chander Pahar (film), Ch ...
and
Soukarya Ghosal Soukarya Ghosal ( bn, সৌকর্য ঘোষাল; born 7 June 1986) is an Indian filmmaker, director, screenwriter, illustrator and music composer. He is widely considered for his work in Rainbow Jelly, a food fantasy film for the childr ...
in Bengali cinema;
Adoor Gopalakrishnan Adoor Gopalakrishnan (born 3 July 1941) is an Indian film director, script writer, and producer and is regarded as one of the most notable and renowned filmmakers in India. With the release of his first feature film '' Swayamvaram'' (1972), Go ...
,
Shaji N. Karun Shaji Neelakantan Karun (born 1 January 1952) is an Indian film director and cinematographer. His debut film '' Piravi'' (1988) won the Caméra d'Or – Mention d'honneur at the 1989 Cannes Film Festival. He was the premiere chairman of the Keral ...
, T. V. Chandran, M.P. Sukumaran Nair,
Shyamaprasad Shyamaprasad (born 7 November 1960) is an Indian filmmaker, screenwriter and actor from Kerala. Career Shyamaprasad was born on 7 November 1960 at Palakkad, as the younger son of O. Rajagopal and Santhakumari. He was named after Shyama Prasad ...
,
Dr. Biju Bijukumar Damodaran, known mononymously as Dr. Biju, is an Indian Homoeopathy, homoeopathic medical doctor, doctor turned film director and screenwriter. He is best known for films such as ''Saira (film), Saira'' (2005), ''Veettilekkulla Vazhi'' ...
and
Sanal Kumar Sasidharan Sanal Kumar Sasidharan (born 8 April 1977) is an Indian poet, lawyer, and filmmaker. Personal life Sanal Kumar Sasidharan was born in Perumkadavila village, Thiruvananthapuram district, Kerala on 8 April 1977. He graduated in Zoology from VT ...
in
Malayalam cinema Malayalam cinema is an Indian film industry of Malayalam-language motion pictures. It is based in Kochi, Kerala, India. The films produced in Malayalam cinema are known for their cinematography and story-driven plots. In 1982, ''Elippathayam' ...
;
Kumar Shahani Kumar Shahani (born 7 December 1940) is an Indian film director and screenwriter, best known for his parallel cinema films '' Maya Darpan'' (1972), ''Tarang'' (1984), ''Khayal Gatha'' (1989) and '' Kasba'' (1990). Due to his dedication to forma ...
,
Ketan Mehta Ketan Mehta (born 21 July 1952) is an Indian film director who has also directed documentaries and television serials since 1975. Early life and education Born on 21 July 1952 in Navsari in Gujarat, Mehta did his schooling from Sardar Patel Vid ...
,
Govind Nihalani Govind Nihalani (born 19 December 1940) is an Indian film director, cinematographer, screenwriter and producer, known for his works in Hindi cinema. He has been the recipient of six National Film Awards, and five Bollywood Filmfare Awards. In 1 ...
,
Shyam Benegal Shyam Benegal (born 14 December 1934) is an Indian film director, screenwriter and documentary filmmaker. Often regarded as the pioneer of parallel cinema, he is widely considered as one of the greatest filmmakers post 1970s. He has received ...
,
Amit Dutta Amit Dutta (born 5 September 1977 in Jammu) is an Indian experimental filmmaker and writer. He is considered to be one of the most significant contemporary practitioners of experimental cinema, known for his distinctive style of filmmaking rooted ...
,
Manish Jha Manish Jha is an Indian film writer and director. known for film like '' Matrubhoomi.'' Early life and education Born in Dhamaura, in West Champaran district of Bihar, Jha grew up in Delhi where he had moved at an early age. He did his gradua ...
,
Ashim Ahluwalia Ashim Ahluwalia (born 1972 in Mumbai, India) is a film director and screenwriter. He made his directorial debut with the feature-length documentary ''John & Jane'' (2005), which had a world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival an ...
, Mudasir Dar,
Anurag Kashyap Anurag Kashyap (born 10 September 1972) is an Indian filmmaker and actor known for his works in Hindi cinema. He is the recipient of several accolades, including four Filmfare Awards. For his contributions to film, the Government of France a ...
,
Anand Gandhi Anand Gandhi (born Anand Modi, 26 September 1980) is an Indian filmmaker, entrepreneur, media producer, innovator and systems researcher. He is also the founder/CEO of the Mumbai-based new media studio and systems think tank Memesys Culture Lab ...
, and
Deepa Mehta Deepa Mehta, (; born 1 January 1950) is an Indian-born Canadian film director and screenwriter, best known for her Elements Trilogy, Fire (1996 film), ''Fire'' (1996), ''Earth (1998 film), Earth'' (1998), and ''Water (2005 film), Water'' (2005 ...
in Hindi Cinema;
Mani Ratnam Gopala Ratnam Subramaniam (born 2 June 1956), known professionally as Mani Ratnam, is an Indian film director, screenwriter, and producer who predominantly works in Tamil cinema and few Hindi, Telugu and Kannada films. Ratnam has won six Nat ...
and Bala in Tamil,
Rajnesh Domalpalli ''Vanaja'' is a 2006 Telugu-language drama film written and directed by Rajnesh Domalpalli on a story that constituted his Master of Fine Arts thesis at Columbia University. The film was made on a shoestring budget using a cast of non-profes ...
and Narasimha Nandi in
Telugu cinema Telugu cinema, also known as Tollywood, is the segment of Indian cinema dedicated to the production of motion pictures in the Telugu language, widely spoken in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Telugu cinema is based in Film Nagar, Hy ...
,
Jahnu Barua Jahnu Barua (born 1952) is an Indian film director. He has written and directed a number of Assamese and Hindi films. Some of his notable films are '' Halodhia Choraye Baodhan Khai'' (1987), '' Firingoti'' (1992), ''Xagoroloi Bohu Door'' (1995) ...
in Hindi cinema and Assamese Cinema,
Amol Palekar Amol Palekar (born 24 November 1944) is an Indian actor, director and producer of Hindi and Marathi cinema. Career Palekar studied fine arts at the Sir JJ School of Arts, Mumbai, and commenced his artistic career as a painter. As a painter, he ...
,
Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni is a Marathi film director. He is an alumnus of the Film and Television Institute of India ( FTII), Pune. He is known for Marathi films such as ''Valu'' (The Wild Bull), ''Vihir'' (The Well), ''Deool'' (The Temple) and ...
in Marathi Cinema and
Amartya Bhattacharyya Amartya Bhattacharyya is a filmmaker, writer and artist from eastern India. He was awarded the Silver Lotus (Rajat Kamal) for the Best Cinematography in non-feature film at the 63rd National Film Awards by the president of India for his fantas ...
who makes independent films in Odia and Bengali.
Aamir Khan Mohammed Aamir Hussain Khan (; born 14 March 1965) is an Indian actor, film director and producer who works in Hindi films. Through his career spanning over 30 years, Khan has established himself as one of the most notable actors of Indian ci ...
, with his production studio, introduced his own brand of social cinema in the early 21st century, blurring the distinction between commercial
masala film Masala films of Indian cinema mix multiple genres into one work. Masala films emerged in the 1970s and are still created as of the 2020s. Typically these films freely mix action, comedy, romance, and drama or melodrama. They also tend to be ...
s and realistic parallel cinema, combining the entertainment and production values of the former with the believable narratives and strong messages of the latter. He has helped introduce parallel cinema to mainstream audiences, with his films earning both commercial success and critical acclaim in India and overseas.


Global discourse

During the formative period of Indian parallel cinema in the 1940s and 1950s, the movement was influenced by
Italian cinema The cinema of Italy (, ) comprises the films made within Italy or by Italian directors. Since its beginning, Italian cinema has influenced film movements worldwide. Italy is one of the birthplaces of art cinema and the stylistic aspect of film ha ...
and
French cinema French cinema consists of the film industry and its film productions, whether made within the nation of France or by French film production companies abroad. It is the oldest and largest precursor of national cinemas in Europe; with primary influ ...
, particularly by
Italian neorealism Italian neorealism ( it, Neorealismo), also known as the Golden Age, is a national film movement characterized by stories set amongst the poor and the working class. They are filmed on location, frequently with non-professional actors. They pri ...
as well as French
poetic realism Poetic realism was a film movement in France of the 1930s. More a tendency than a movement, poetic realism is not strongly unified like Soviet montage or French Impressionism but were individuals who created this lyrical style. Its leading filmm ...
.
Satyajit Ray Satyajit Ray (; 2 May 1921 – 23 April 1992) was an Indian director, screenwriter, documentary filmmaker, author, essayist, lyricist, magazine editor, illustrator, calligrapher, and music composer. One of the greatest auteurs of fil ...
particularly cited Italian filmmaker
Vittorio De Sica Vittorio De Sica ( , ; 7 July 1901 – 13 November 1974) was an Italian film director and actor, a leading figure in the neorealist movement. Four of the films he directed won Academy Awards: ''Sciuscià'' and ''Bicycle Thieves'' (honorary) ...
's ''
Bicycle Thieves ''Bicycle Thieves'' ( it, Ladri di biciclette; sometimes known in the United States as ''The Bicycle Thief'') is a 1948 Italian neorealist drama film directed by Vittorio De Sica. It follows the story of a poor father searching in post- World ...
'' (1948) and French filmmaker
Jean Renoir Jean Renoir (; 15 September 1894 – 12 February 1979) was a French film director, screenwriter, actor, producer and author. As a film director and actor, he made more than forty films from the silent film, silent era to the end of the 1960s. ...
's '' The River'' (1951), which he assisted, as influences on his debut film ''
Pather Panchali ''Pather Panchali'' (; ) is a 1955 Indian Bengali (language), Bengali-language Drama (film and television), drama film written and directed by Satyajit Ray and produced by the Government of West Bengal. It is an adaptation of Bibhutibhushan Ba ...
'' (1955), alongside influences from
Bengali literature Bengali literature ( bn, বাংলা সাহিত্য, Bangla Sahityô) denotes the body of writings in the Bengali language and which covers Old Bengali, Middle- Bengali and Modern Bengali with the changes through the passage of time ...
and classical
Indian theatre Theatre of India is one of the most ancient forms of theatre and it features a detailed textual, sculptural, and dramatic effects which emerged in mid first millennium BC. Like in the areas of music and dance, the Indian theatre is also define ...
.
Bimal Roy Bimal Roy (12 July 1909 – 8 January 1966) was an Indian film director. He is particularly noted for his realistic and socialistic films such as ''Do Bigha Zamin'', ''Parineeta (1953 film), Parineeta'', ''Biraj Bahu'', ''Devdas (1955 film), D ...
's ''
Do Bigha Zamin ''Do Bigha Zamin'' () is a 1953 Indian Hindi-language drama film directed by Bimal Roy. Based on Rabindranath Tagore's Bengali poem " Dui Bigha Jomi", the film stars Balraj Sahni, Nirupa Roy in lead roles. Known for its socialist theme, it is c ...
'' (1953) was also influenced by De Sica's ''Bicycle Thieves''. The Indian New Wave also began around the same time as the
French New Wave French New Wave (french: La Nouvelle Vague) is a French art film movement that emerged in the late 1950s. The movement was characterized by its rejection of traditional filmmaking conventions in favor of experimentation and a spirit of iconocla ...
and the
Japanese New Wave The is a group of loosely-connected Japanese filmmakers during the late 1950s and into the 1970s. Although they did not make up a coherent movement, these artists shared a rejection of traditions and conventions of classical Japanese cinema in ...
. Ever since Chetan Anand's ''
Neecha Nagar ''Neecha Nagar'' () is a 1946 Indian Hindi-language film, directed by Chetan Anand, written by Khwaja Ahmad Abbas and Hayatullah Ansari, and produced by Rashid Anwar and A.Halim. It was a pioneering effort in social realism in Indian cinema a ...
'' won the
Grand Prize A prize is an award to be given to a person or a group of people (such as sporting teams and organizations) to recognize and reward their actions and achievements.
at the inaugural Cannes Film Festival in 1946, Indian parallel cinema films frequently appeared in international fora and film festivals for the next several decades.Desai, Jigna (2004), ''Beyond Bollywood: The Cultural Politics of South Asian Diasporic Film'', p. 38,
Routledge Routledge () is a British multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanities, behavioural science, education, law, and ...
,
This allowed Indian independent filmmakers to reach a global audience. The most influential among them was
Satyajit Ray Satyajit Ray (; 2 May 1921 – 23 April 1992) was an Indian director, screenwriter, documentary filmmaker, author, essayist, lyricist, magazine editor, illustrator, calligrapher, and music composer. One of the greatest auteurs of fil ...
, whose films became successful among European,
American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...
and Asian audiences. His work subsequently had a worldwide impact, with filmmakers such as
Martin Scorsese Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Scorsese emerged as one of the major figures of the New Hollywood era. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominatio ...
,
James Ivory James Francis Ivory (born June 7, 1928) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. For many years, he worked extensively with Indian-born film producer Ismail Merchant, his domestic as well as professional partner, and with screen ...
,
Abbas Kiarostami Abbas Kiarostami ( fa, عباس کیارستمی ; 22 June 1940 – 4 July 2016) was an Iranian film director, screenwriter, poet, photographer, and film producer. An active filmmaker from 1970, Kiarostami had been involved in the production of ...
,
Elia Kazan Elia Kazan (; born Elias Kazantzoglou ( el, Ηλίας Καζαντζόγλου); September 7, 1909 – September 28, 2003) was an American film and theatre director, producer, screenwriter and actor, described by ''The New York Times'' as "one o ...
,
François Truffaut François Roland Truffaut ( , ; ; 6 February 1932 – 21 October 1984) was a French film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film critic. He is widely regarded as one of the founders of the French New Wave. After a career of more tha ...
,
Carlos Saura Carlos Saura Atarés (born 4 January 1932) is a Spanish film director, photographer and writer. Along with Luis Buñuel and Pedro Almodóvar, he is considered to be one of Spain’s most renowned filmmakers. He has a long and prolific career th ...
and
Wes Anderson Wesley Wales Anderson (born May 1, 1969) is an American filmmaker. His films are known for their eccentricity and unique visual and narrative styles. They often contain themes of grief, loss of innocence, and dysfunctional families. Cited by so ...
being influenced by his cinematic style, and many others such as
Akira Kurosawa was a Japanese filmmaker and painter who directed thirty films in a career spanning over five decades. He is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema. Kurosawa displayed a bold, dyna ...
praising his work. The "youthful
coming-of-age Coming of age is a young person's transition from being a child to being an adult. The specific age at which this transition takes place varies between societies, as does the nature of the change. It can be a simple legal convention or can ...
dramas Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been c ...
that have flooded art houses since the mid-fifties owe a tremendous debt to the
Apu trilogy ''The Apu Trilogy'' comprises three Indian Bengali-language drama films directed by Satyajit Ray: '' Pather Panchali'' (1955), ''Aparajito'' (1956) and ''The World of Apu'' (1959). The original music for the films was composed by Ravi Shankar ...
" (1955–1959). Ray's film ''
Kanchenjungha ''Kanchenjungha'' (''Kanchonjônggha'') is a 1962 Indian film directed by Satyajit Ray. The film is about an upper class Bengali family on vacation in Darjeeling, a popular hill station and resort, near Kanchenjunga. Narrative structure The ...
'' (1962) introduced a narrative structure that resembles later
hyperlink cinema Hyperlink cinema is a style of filmmaking characterised by complex or multilinear narrative structures with multiple characters under one unifying theme. History The term was coined by author Alissa Quart, who used the term in her review of the f ...
. Ray's 1967 script for a film to be called '' The Alien'', which was eventually cancelled, is widely believed to have been the inspiration for
Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg (; born December 18, 1946) is an American director, writer, and producer. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, he is the most commercially successful director of all time. Spie ...
's '' ET'' (1982).
Ira Sachs Ira Sachs (born November 21, 1965) is an American filmmaker. His first film was the short ''Lady'' (1993). Biography Sachs was born in Memphis, Tennessee. His films include '' The Delta'' (1997), '' Forty Shades of Blue'' (2005), '' Married Li ...
' ''
Forty Shades of Blue ''Forty Shades of Blue'' is a 2005 independent film directed by Ira Sachs. It tells the story of Alan James (Rip Torn), an aging music producer who lives in Memphis, Tennessee with his much younger Russian girlfriend Laura (Dina Korzun). Their lif ...
'' (2005) was a loose remake of ''
Charulata ''Charulata'' (Spelt as ''Cārulatā''; ) is a 1964 Indian drama film written and directed by Satyajit Ray. Based upon the novel ''Nastanirh'' by Rabindranath Tagore, it stars Soumitra Chatterjee, Madhabi Mukherjee and Sailen Mukherjee. The ...
'', and in
Gregory Nava Gregory James Nava (born April 10, 1949) is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Personal life Nava was born in San Diego, of Mexican and Basque heritage. Nava graduated from St. Augustine High School (San Diego), St. Augustine ...
's ''
My Family ''My Family'' is a British sitcom created and initially co-written by Fred Barron, which was produced by DLT Entertainment and Rude Boy Productions, and broadcast by BBC One for eleven series between 2000 and 2011, with Christmas specials broadc ...
'' (1995), the final scene is duplicated from the final scene of ''
The World of Apu ''Apur Sansar'' ( bn, অপুর সংসার), also known as ''The World of Apu'', is a 1959 Indian Bengali-language drama film produced, written and directed by Satyajit Ray. It is based on the second half of Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay's ...
'' (1959). Similar references to Ray films are found in recent works such as ''
Sacred Evil Sacred describes something that is dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity; is considered worthy of spiritual respect or devotion; or inspires awe or reverence among believers. The property is often ascribed to objects (a ...
'' (2006), the '' Elements trilogy'' of
Deepa Mehta Deepa Mehta, (; born 1 January 1950) is an Indian-born Canadian film director and screenwriter, best known for her Elements Trilogy, Fire (1996 film), ''Fire'' (1996), ''Earth (1998 film), Earth'' (1998), and ''Water (2005 film), Water'' (2005 ...
, and in films of
Jean-Luc Godard Jean-Luc Godard ( , ; ; 3 December 193013 September 2022) was a French-Swiss film director, screenwriter, and film critic. He rose to prominence as a pioneer of the French New Wave film movement of the 1960s, alongside such filmmakers as Fran ...
. Another prominent filmmaker is
Mrinal Sen Mrinal Sen (''Beng.'' মৃণাল সেন; 14 May 1923 – 30 December 2018) was an Indian film director, and screenwriter known for his work primarily in Bengali, and few Hindi and Telugu language films. Regarded as one of the finest Ind ...
, whose films have been well known for their
Marxist Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...
views. During his career, Mrinal Sen's film have received awards from almost all major film festivals, including
Cannes Cannes ( , , ; oc, Canas) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a communes of France, commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions I ...
, Berlin,
Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400  ...
, Moscow,
Karlovy Vary Karlovy Vary (; german: Karlsbad, formerly also spelled ''Carlsbad'' in English) is a spa town, spa city in the Karlovy Vary Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 46,000 inhabitants. It lies on the confluence of the rivers Ohře and Teplá. ...
, Montreal, Chicago, and
Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...
. Retrospectives of his films have been shown in almost all major cities of the world. Another Bengali independent filmmaker,
Ritwik Ghatak Ritwik Kumar Ghatak (; 4 November 19256 February 1976) was a noted Indian film director, screenwriter, and playwright. Along with prominent contemporary Bengali filmmakers Satyajit Ray, Tapan Sinha and Mrinal Sen, his cinema is primarily rememb ...
, began reaching a global audience long after his death; beginning in the 1990s, a project to restore Ghatak's films was undertaken, and international exhibitions (and subsequent DVD releases) have belatedly generated an increasingly global audience. Alongside Ray's films, Ghatak's films have also appeared in several all-time greatest film polls. A number of Satyajit Ray films appeared in the ''
Sight & Sound ''Sight and Sound'' (also spelled ''Sight & Sound'') is a British monthly film magazine published by the British Film Institute (BFI). It conducts the well-known, once-a-decade ''Sight and Sound'' Poll of the Greatest Films of All Time, ongoing ...
'' Critics' Poll, including ''
The Apu Trilogy ''The Apu Trilogy'' comprises three Indian Bengali-language drama films directed by Satyajit Ray: ''Pather Panchali'' (1955), ''Aparajito'' (1956) and ''The World of Apu'' (1959). The original music for the films was composed by Ravi Shankar. ...
'' (ranked No. 4 in 1992 if votes are combined), '' The Music Room'' (ranked No. 27 in 1992), ''
Charulata ''Charulata'' (Spelt as ''Cārulatā''; ) is a 1964 Indian drama film written and directed by Satyajit Ray. Based upon the novel ''Nastanirh'' by Rabindranath Tagore, it stars Soumitra Chatterjee, Madhabi Mukherjee and Sailen Mukherjee. The ...
'' (ranked No. 41 in 1992) and '' Days and Nights in the Forest'' (ranked No. 81 in 1982). The 2002 ''Sight & Sound'' critics' and directors' poll also included the
Guru Dutt Vasanth Kumar Shivashankar Padukone (9 July 1925 – 10 October 1964), better known as Guru Dutt, was an Indian film director, producer, actor, choreographer, and writer.Rajadhyaksha, Ashish, and Paul Willemen. 9941998''Encyclopedia of Indian ...
films ''
Pyaasa ''Pyaasa'' (; ) is a 1957 Indian Hindi drama film directed and produced by Guru Dutt, who stars alongside Mala Sinha, Waheeda Rehman, Rehman, and Johnny Walker. Set in Calcutta, it focuses on the disillusioned Urdu poet Vijay (Dutt), whose ...
'' and ''
Kaagaz Ke Phool ''Kaagaz Ke Phool'' () is a 1959 Indian Hindi-language romantic drama film produced and directed by Guru Dutt, who also played the lead role in the film along with Waheeda Rehman. It is the first Indian film in CinemaScope and the last film off ...
'' (both tied at #160), and the Ritwik Ghatak films '' Meghe Dhaka Tara'' (ranked #231) and ''Komal Gandhar'' (ranked #346). In 1998, the critics' poll conducted by the Asian film magazine ''
Cinemaya ''Cinemaya'' (a blend of ''cinema'' and ''maya'' (illusion)) is a film magazine established in 1988 devoted exclusively to coverage of Asian film. It is published in New Delhi, India and distributed internationally. The present editor-in-chief o ...
'' included ''The Apu Trilogy'' (ranked No. 1 if votes are combined), Ray's ''
Charulata ''Charulata'' (Spelt as ''Cārulatā''; ) is a 1964 Indian drama film written and directed by Satyajit Ray. Based upon the novel ''Nastanirh'' by Rabindranath Tagore, it stars Soumitra Chatterjee, Madhabi Mukherjee and Sailen Mukherjee. The ...
'' and '' The Music Room'' (both tied at #11), and Ghatak's '' Subarnarekha'' (also tied at #11). In 1999, ''
The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the crea ...
'' top 250 "Best Film of the Century" critics' poll also included ''The Apu Trilogy'' (ranked No. 5 if votes are combined). ''The Apu Trilogy'', ''Pyaasa'' and
Mani Ratnam Gopala Ratnam Subramaniam (born 2 June 1956), known professionally as Mani Ratnam, is an Indian film director, screenwriter, and producer who predominantly works in Tamil cinema and few Hindi, Telugu and Kannada films. Ratnam has won six Nat ...
's ''
Nayakan ''Nayakan'' (; ) is a 1987 Indian Tamil-language gangster film written and directed by Mani Ratnam. Produced by Muktha Srinivasan, the film stars Kamal Haasan, Saranya (in her feature debut) and Karthika, with Janagaraj, Vijayan, M. V. Vasu ...
'' were also included in Time magazine's "All-TIME" 100 best movies list in 2005. In 1992, the ''Sight & Sound'' Critics' Poll ranked Ray at No. 7 in its list of "Top 10 Directors" of all time, while Dutt was ranked No. 73 in the 2002 ''Sight & Sound'' greatest directors poll. The cinematographer
Subrata Mitra Subrata Mitra (12 October 1930 – 7 December 2001) was an Indian cinematographer. Acclaimed for his work in ''The Apu Trilogy'' (1955–1959), Mitra often is considered one of the greatest Indian cinematographers. Early life and educati ...
, who made his debut with Ray's ''The Apu Trilogy'', also had an importance influence on
cinematography Cinematography (from ancient Greek κίνημα, ''kìnema'' "movement" and γράφειν, ''gràphein'' "to write") is the art of motion picture (and more recently, electronic video camera) photography. Cinematographers use a lens to focu ...
across the world. One of his most important techniques was bounce lighting, to recreate the effect of daylight on sets. He pioneered the technique while filming ''
Aparajito ''Aparajito'' ( bn, অপরাজিত ''Ôporajito''; ''The Unvanquished'') is a 1956 Indian Bengali-language drama film written and directed by Satyajit Ray (1921–1992), and is the second part of ''The Apu Trilogy''. It is adapted from ...
'' (1956), the second part of ''The Apu Trilogy''. Some of the experimental techniques which Satyajit Ray pioneered include photo-negative flashbacks and
X-ray An X-ray, or, much less commonly, X-radiation, is a penetrating form of high-energy electromagnetic radiation. Most X-rays have a wavelength ranging from 10  picometers to 10  nanometers, corresponding to frequencies in the range 30&nb ...
digression Digression (''parékbasis'' in Greek, ''egressio'', ''digressio'' and ''excursion'' in Latin) is a section of a composition or speech that marks a temporary shift of subject; the digression ends when the writer or speaker returns to the main topic. ...
s while filming ''
Pratidwandi ''Pratidwandi'' ( en, The Adversary, Siddharta and the City, italic=yes) is a 1970 Indian Bengali drama film written and directed by Satyajit Ray based on the novel by Sunil Gangopadhyay. It is the first part of the Calcutta Trilogy. ''Pratid ...
'' (1972).


Directors

;A *
Adoor Gopalakrishnan Adoor Gopalakrishnan (born 3 July 1941) is an Indian film director, script writer, and producer and is regarded as one of the most notable and renowned filmmakers in India. With the release of his first feature film '' Swayamvaram'' (1972), Go ...
* Aditya Vikram Sengupta *
Ashim Ahluwalia Ashim Ahluwalia (born 1972 in Mumbai, India) is a film director and screenwriter. He made his directorial debut with the feature-length documentary ''John & Jane'' (2005), which had a world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival an ...
*
Anurag Kashyap Anurag Kashyap (born 10 September 1972) is an Indian filmmaker and actor known for his works in Hindi cinema. He is the recipient of several accolades, including four Filmfare Awards. For his contributions to film, the Government of France a ...
*
Aparna Sen Aparna Sen (, ''Ôporna Shen'') is an Indian film director, screenwriter and actress who is known for her work in Bengali cinema. She has received several accolades as an actress and filmmaker, including nine National Film Awards, five Filmf ...
*
Apurba Kishore Bir Apurba Kishore Bir (born 1948), also known as A. K. Bir, is an Indian film cinematographer, screenwriter and director. An alumnus of the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune, he worked in various Ad-films and documentaries before mak ...
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Atanu Ghosh Atanu Ghosh is an Indian filmmaker. His Bengali film ''Mayurakshi'' (2017) was awarded the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Bengali. His film Angshumaner Chhobi, Mayurakshi, Binisutoy, Abby Sen and Rupkatha Noy, bagged multiple Awar ...
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G. Aravindan Govindan Aravindan (23 January 1935 – 15 March 1991) was an Indian film director, screenwriter, musician, cartoonist, and painter. He was one of the pioneers of parallel cinema in Malayalam. He was known for his unorthodox way of filmma ...
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Amit Dutta Amit Dutta (born 5 September 1977 in Jammu) is an Indian experimental filmmaker and writer. He is considered to be one of the most significant contemporary practitioners of experimental cinema, known for his distinctive style of filmmaking rooted ...
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Amol Palekar Amol Palekar (born 24 November 1944) is an Indian actor, director and producer of Hindi and Marathi cinema. Career Palekar studied fine arts at the Sir JJ School of Arts, Mumbai, and commenced his artistic career as a painter. As a painter, he ...
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Anand Gandhi Anand Gandhi (born Anand Modi, 26 September 1980) is an Indian filmmaker, entrepreneur, media producer, innovator and systems researcher. He is also the founder/CEO of the Mumbai-based new media studio and systems think tank Memesys Culture Lab ...
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Anant Balani Anant Balani (1962 – 29 August 2003) was a Bollywood film director and screenwriter. He directed films such as ''Patthar Ke Phool'' in 1991 which starred Salman Khan and Raveena Tandon in lead roles. He also wrote the script for ''Insaaf: The ...
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Ashish Avikunthak Ashish or Aashish is a male given name. This name is most common in India and Nepal. It literally means blessing from the elderly or from God or Aashirwaad (blessing) in Hindi. Notable people with name 《Aashish/Ashish》 * Aashish Rana, Nepali si ...
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Amartya Bhattacharyya Amartya Bhattacharyya is a filmmaker, writer and artist from eastern India. He was awarded the Silver Lotus (Rajat Kamal) for the Best Cinematography in non-feature film at the 63rd National Film Awards by the president of India for his fantas ...
* Ajitpal Singh ;B *
Balu Mahendra Balanathan Benjamin Mahendran (19 May 1939 13 February 2014), commonly known as Balu Mahendra, was a Sri Lankan-born Indian cinematographer, director, screenwriter and film editor who worked predominantly in Tamil cinema. Widely regarded as ...
* Bala *
Bharathan Bharathan (14 November 1946 – 30 July 1998) was an Indian film maker, artist, and art director. Bharathan is noted for being the founder of a new school of film making in Malayalam cinema, along with Padmarajan and K. G. George, in th ...
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Basu Bhattacharya Basu Bhattacharya (1934–19 June 1997) was an Indian film director of Hindi films. He is perhaps best known for his 1966 film ''Teesri Kasam'', starring Raj Kapoor and Waheeda Rehman (based on the short story "Maare Gaye Gulfam" by Phanishw ...
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Bhabendra Nath Saikia Bhabendra Nath Saikia (20 February 1932 – 13 August 2003) was a novelist, short-story writer, Editor and a Film director from Assam, India. Dr. Saikia received his doctorate in physics from the University of London. He began his career as a ...
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Dr. Biju Bijukumar Damodaran, known mononymously as Dr. Biju, is an Indian Homoeopathy, homoeopathic medical doctor, doctor turned film director and screenwriter. He is best known for films such as ''Saira (film), Saira'' (2005), ''Veettilekkulla Vazhi'' ...
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Biju Viswanath Biju Viswanath is an Indian film director, director of photography, film editor and screenwriter. Across various genres, he has made numerous films in different languages, notably, English, Tamil, Malayalam, Irish, Swahili & Urdu. He has also ...
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Bimal Roy Bimal Roy (12 July 1909 – 8 January 1966) was an Indian film director. He is particularly noted for his realistic and socialistic films such as ''Do Bigha Zamin'', ''Parineeta (1953 film), Parineeta'', ''Biraj Bahu'', ''Devdas (1955 film), D ...
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Buddhadeb Dasgupta Buddhadeb Dasgupta (11 February 1944 – 10 June 2021) was an Indian filmmaker and poet best known for his Cinema of West Bengal, Bengali-language films like ''Bagh Bahadur'', ''Tahader Katha'', ''Charachar'' and ''Uttara (film), Uttara''. Five ...
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Bharathiraja Bharathiraja (born 17 July 1941) is an Indian film director and actor who works mainly in the Tamil film industry. Making his debut in 1977 with ''16 Vayathinile'', he is known for realistic and sensitive portrayals of rural life in his films. ...
;C * T. V. Chandran * Chetan Anand *
Chaitanya Tamhane Chaitanya Tamhane (born 1 March 1987) is an Indian filmmaker, known for the 2014 Marathi courtroom drama ''Court''. It was announced as India's official submission for the 88th Academy Awards in the Best Foreign Language Film category. The fi ...
;D *
Dadasaheb Phalke Dhundiraj Govind Phalke (Pronunciation: Help:IPA/Marathi, ̪ʱuɳɖiɾaːd͡ʒ pʰaːɭke, popularly known as Dadasaheb Phalke () (30 April 1870 – 16 February 1944), was an Indian producer-director-screenwriter, known as "the Father of In ...
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Deepa Mehta Deepa Mehta, (; born 1 January 1950) is an Indian-born Canadian film director and screenwriter, best known for her Elements Trilogy, Fire (1996 film), ''Fire'' (1996), ''Earth (1998 film), Earth'' (1998), and ''Water (2005 film), Water'' (2005 ...
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Dibakar Banerjee Dibakar Banerjee (born 21 June 1969) is an Indian film director, screenwriter, producer and advertisement-filmmaker known for his work in Hindi films. Banerjee started his career in advertising, being a feature filmmaker, he still continues t ...
* Dileesh pothan ;F * Fazil ;G *
Gautam Ghose Goutam Ghose (also spelled Gautam Ghosh born 24 July 1950) is an Indian film director, Actor, music director and cinematographer, who works primarily in Bengali cinema. He is the only Indian to have received the "Vittorio Di Sica" Award, Italy ...
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Girish Karnad Girish Karnad (19 May 1938 – 10 June 2019) was an Indian actor, film director, Kannada writer, playwright and a Jnanpith awardee, who predominantly worked in South Indian cinema and Bollywood. His rise as a playwright in the 1960s marked the ...
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Girish Kasaravalli Girish Kasaravalli (born 3 December 1950) is an Indian film director, in the Kannada cinema, and one of the pioneers of the Parallel Cinema. Known internationally for his works, Kasaravalli has garnered fourteen National Film Awards, including f ...
* Gitanjali Rao *
Govind Nihalani Govind Nihalani (born 19 December 1940) is an Indian film director, cinematographer, screenwriter and producer, known for his works in Hindi cinema. He has been the recipient of six National Film Awards, and five Bollywood Filmfare Awards. In 1 ...
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Guru Dutt Vasanth Kumar Shivashankar Padukone (9 July 1925 – 10 October 1964), better known as Guru Dutt, was an Indian film director, producer, actor, choreographer, and writer.Rajadhyaksha, Ashish, and Paul Willemen. 9941998''Encyclopedia of Indian ...
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Gurvinder Singh Gurvinder Singh is an Indian film director. He is best known for his Punjabi language films ''Anhe Ghore Da Daan'', and Chauthi Koot ( The Fourth Direction) which premiered at Venice and Cannes Film Festival respectively. Gurvinder is an alumn ...
* K.G.George ;H * K. Hariharan *
M. F. Husain Maqbool Fida Husain (17 September 1915 – 9 June 2011) was an Indian artist known for executing bold, vibrantly coloured narrative paintings in a modified Cubist style. He was one of the most celebrated and internationally recognised Ind ...
;J *
Jabbar Patel Dr. Jabbar Patel (born 23 June 1942, Pandharpur) is a former paediatrician and a Marathi-language theatre and film director of India. His production of the play Vijay Tendulkar's play Ghashiram Kotwal, in 1973 is considered a classic in Mode ...
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Jahar Kanungo Jahar Kanungo is an Indian film and documentary director and producer in Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group ...
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Jahnu Barua Jahnu Barua (born 1952) is an Indian film director. He has written and directed a number of Assamese and Hindi films. Some of his notable films are '' Halodhia Choraye Baodhan Khai'' (1987), '' Firingoti'' (1992), ''Xagoroloi Bohu Door'' (1995) ...
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John Abraham John Abraham (born 17 December 1972) is an Indian actor, film producer, writer and former model working in Hindi films. He has won a National Film Award and received five Filmfare nominations. After modelling for advertisements and companies ...
;K *
Kalpana Lajmi Kalpana Lajmi (1954–2018) was an Indian film director, producer and screenwriter. Lajmi was an independent filmmaker working more on realistic, low-budget films, which are known in India as parallel cinema. Her films were often woman-oriented. ...
* Kamal Swaroop *
Kamal Haasan Kamal Haasan (born 7 November 1954) is an Indian actor, filmmaker, screenwriter, playback singer, television presenter and politician who works mainly in Tamil cinema and has also appeared in some Telugu, Malayalam, Hindi, Kannada and Bengali l ...
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B V Karanth Babukodi Venkataramana Karanth (Kannada: ಬಾಬುಕೋಡಿ ವೆಂಕಟರಮಣ ಕಾರಂತ) (19 September 1929 – 1 September 2002) widely known as B. V. Karanth was an Indian film director, playwright, actor, screenwriter, co ...
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K. Viswanath Kasinadhuni Viswanath (born 19 February 1930) is an Indian film director, screenwriter and actor, known for his works primarily in Telugu cinema. He is recipient of five National Film Awards, seven state Nandi Awards, ten Filmfare Awards South ...
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Kaushik Ganguly Kaushik Ganguly (born 4 August 2012) is an Indian film director, screenwriter and actor in Bengali cinema. Multiple National Award winner Actor-Director, Kaushik Ganguly is known for making films that explore various aspects sexuality, like ' ...
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Ketan Mehta Ketan Mehta (born 21 July 1952) is an Indian film director who has also directed documentaries and television serials since 1975. Early life and education Born on 21 July 1952 in Navsari in Gujarat, Mehta did his schooling from Sardar Patel Vid ...
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Khwaja Ahmad Abbas Khwaja Ahmad Abbas (7 June 1914 – 1 June 1987) was an Indian film director, screenwriter, novelist, and journalist in Urdu, Hindi and English. He won four National Film Awards in India. Internationally, his films won the Palme d'Or (Golden ...
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Kiran Rao Kiran Rao (born 7 November 1973) is an Indian film producer, screenwriter, and director who works in Hindi cinema. In 2016, Rao co-founded Paani Foundation, a non-profit organisation working towards the mission of fighting drought in Maharashtr ...
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Kishore Sahu Kishore Sahu (22 November 1915 – 22 August 1980) was an Indian actor, film director, screenwriter, and producer. He appeared in 22 films between 1937 and 1980, and he directed 20 films between 1942 and 1974. His directorial venture Kuwara Ba ...
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Kumar Shahani Kumar Shahani (born 7 December 1940) is an Indian film director and screenwriter, best known for his parallel cinema films '' Maya Darpan'' (1972), ''Tarang'' (1984), ''Khayal Gatha'' (1989) and '' Kasba'' (1990). Due to his dedication to forma ...
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Kulkarni Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni is a family name native to the Indian state of Maharashtra. The name "Kulkarni" is a combination of two words (''kula'' and ''karni''). ''Kula'' means "family", and ''Karanika'' means "archivist". Historically, Kulkarni was the title g ...
* K.Balachander ;L *
Lijo Jose Pellissery Lijo Jose Pellissery (born 18 September 1978) is an Indian filmmaker and actor who works in Malayalam cinema. Known for his unconventional approach in directing, his films are characterized by nonlinear storylines and very long takes. His best ...
;M * Mahendran *
Mani Kaul Mani Kaul (25 December 1944 – 6 July 2011) was an Indian director of Hindi films and a reputed figure in Indian parallel cinema. He graduated from the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) where he was a student of Ritwik Ghatak and ...
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Mani Ratnam Gopala Ratnam Subramaniam (born 2 June 1956), known professionally as Mani Ratnam, is an Indian film director, screenwriter, and producer who predominantly works in Tamil cinema and few Hindi, Telugu and Kannada films. Ratnam has won six Nat ...
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Mysskin Shanmugha Raja, known professionally as Mysskin, is an Tamil film director, screenwriter, actor, singer, and producer. He made his directorial debut in 2006 with ''Chithiram Pesuthadi''. His subsequent films ''Anjathe'' (2008), ''Nandalala'' ( ...
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Manish Jha Manish Jha is an Indian film writer and director. known for film like '' Matrubhoomi.'' Early life and education Born in Dhamaura, in West Champaran district of Bihar, Jha grew up in Delhi where he had moved at an early age. He did his gradua ...
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Mira Nair Mira Nair (born 15 October 1957) is an Indian-American filmmaker based in New York City. Her production company, Mirabai Films, specializes in films for international audiences on Indian society, whether in the economic, social or cultural sphe ...
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Moni Bhattacharjee Moni Bhattacharjee was an Indian film director and screenwriter of the 1960s who directed Hindi language films. Career Bhattacharjee started as an assistant to Bimal Roy on many classic films of the 1950s. After the success of the film ''Madhum ...
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Mrinal Sen Mrinal Sen (''Beng.'' মৃণাল সেন; 14 May 1923 – 30 December 2018) was an Indian film director, and screenwriter known for his work primarily in Bengali, and few Hindi and Telugu language films. Regarded as one of the finest Ind ...
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Murali Nair Murali Nair (born 10 January 1966) is an Indian film director and screenwriter. He has directed eight films since 1993. His film '' Marana Simhasanam'' was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival where it won ...
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Manmohan Mahapatra Manmohan Mahapatra (ମନମୋହନ ମହାପାତ୍ର, 10 November 1951 – 13 January 2020) was an Odia filmmaker, director, producer, and writer. He won eight consecutive national film awards for his films ''Nishita Swapna'', ''Majhi ...
* Mudasir Dar * Mohan * Mahesh narayanan ;N *
Nagesh Kukunoor Nagesh Kukunoor (born 30 March 1967) is an Indian film director, producer, screenwriter and actor known for his works predominantly in Hindi cinema, and few Telugu language films. He is known for his works in parallel cinema, such as ''Hyderab ...
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Nandita Das Nandita Das (born 7 November 1969) is an Indian actress and director. She has acted in over 40 feature films in ten different languages. Das appeared in the films ''Fire'' (1996), ''Earth'' (1998), '' Bawandar'' (2000), '' Kannathil Muthamittal' ...
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Narendra Suri Narendra Suri was an Indian bollywood film director in '60s-'70s. He had directed 6 films in hindi and produced a film Badi Didi in 1969. He was an associate director of Shikast hindi film directed by Ramesh Saigal in 1953. Filmography * Begu ...
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B. Narsing Rao Bongu Narsing Rao (born 1946) is an Indian film director, screenwriter, littérateur, composer, poet, producer, actor and painter known for his works in Telugu cinema, and Telugu theatre. Rao has garnered five National Film Awards, three Nandi ...
* Nirad Mohapatra ;P *
Padmarajan P. Padmarajan (23 May 1945 – 23 January 1991) was an Indian film maker, screenwriter and author who was known for his works in Malayalam literature and Malayalam cinema. He was the founder of a new school of film making in Malayalam cinema, a ...
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Pan Nalin Nalin Kumar Pandya or Pan Nalin is a filmmaker of Indian origin. Nalin is best known for directing award-winning movies like Samsara, Valley of Flowers, and Angry Indian Goddesses. His debut feature SAMSARA (Miramax) was worldwide critical a ...
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Partho Sen-Gupta Partho Sen-Gupta (also spelled Partho Sen Gupta or Partho Sengupta pronounced ''Partho Shen-Goopto'') is an independent film director and screenwriter. He is a French citizen, of Indian origin. He has a post-graduate in Film Direction from FEMI ...
* Pattabhirami Reddy *
Piyush Jha Piyush Jha is a film director, screenwriter, author and series creator from India. Early life Piyush Jha was born in Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh. He did all his schooling in Mumbai, graduating with a bachelor's degree in Psychology at the University ...
* Prafulla Mohanty * Prakash Arora *
Prakash Jha Prakash Jha (born 27 February 1952) is an Indian film producer, actor, director and screenwriter, mostly known for his political and socio-political films such as “Hip Hip Hurray” (1984), ''Damul'' (1984), ''Mrityudand'' (1997), ''Gangaaja ...
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Priyanandanan Priyanandanan is an Indian film and drama director from Kerala. His second movie, ''Pulijanmam,'' received the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in 2006. Biography Priyanandanan is a native of Vallachira in Thrissur District, Kerala. ...
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Puttanna Kanagal Shubraveshti Ramaswamiah Seetharama Sharma (1 December 1933 – 5 June 1985), known popularly as S. R. Puttanna Kanagal, was an Indian filmmaker known for his work in Kannada cinema. He is often considered one of Kannada cinema's most influent ...
;R *
Rajat Kapoor Rajat Kapoor (born 11 February 1961) is an Indian actor, filmmaker and playwright who works in Hindi cinema. Kapoor was born in Delhi, India. He mainly focused on acting at first. In 2013 he joined the theatre group Chingari in Delhi, later mov ...
* Rajbans Khanna * Rajiv Ravi *
Ram Ram, ram, or RAM may refer to: Animals * A male sheep * Ram cichlid, a freshwater tropical fish People * Ram (given name) * Ram (surname) * Ram (director) (Ramsubramaniam), an Indian Tamil film director * RAM (musician) (born 1974), Dutch * ...
*
Ram Gopal Varma Penmetsa Ram Gopal Varma (born 7 April 1962), often referred to by his initials RGV, is an Indian film director, screenwriter and producer, known for his works in Telugu cinema in addition to Bollywood, Hindi, Kannada cinema, Kannada language ...
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Ranjan Ghosh Ranjan K Ghosh ( bn, রঞ্জন ঘোষ '' ''Rônjôn Ghosh') is a Bengali filmmaker based out of Kolkata, India. He made his directorial debut in 2014 with the critically acclaimed '' Hrid Majharey'', a Bengali feature film starring ...
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Revathi Asha Kelunni Nair (born 8 July 1966), better known by her stage name Revathi, is an Indian actress and director, known for her works predominantly in Tamil & Malayalam cinema - in addition to Telugu, Hindi & Kannada films. She has won several ...
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Rituparno Ghosh Rituparno Ghosh (31 August 1963 – 30 May 2013) was an Indian film director, actor, writer and lyricist. After pursuing a degree in economics, he started his career as a creative artist at an advertising agency. He received recognition for his ...
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Ritwik Ghatak Ritwik Kumar Ghatak (; 4 November 19256 February 1976) was a noted Indian film director, screenwriter, and playwright. Along with prominent contemporary Bengali filmmakers Satyajit Ray, Tapan Sinha and Mrinal Sen, his cinema is primarily rememb ...
;S *
Saeed Akhtar Mirza Saeed Akhtar Mirza (born 30 June 1943) is an Indian screenwriter and director in Hindi films and television. He is the maker of notable parallel films such as ''Mohan Joshi Hazir Ho!'' (1984), '' Albert Pinto Ko Gussa Kyoon Aata Hai'' (1980), '' ...
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Saleem Ahmed Saleem Ahmed (born 1 January 1967) is an Indian politician and member of Karnataka Legislative Council. He represents the Indian National Congress. Early life and background Saleem Ahmed was born on 1 January 1967. Azeez Ahmed was his fathe ...
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Sanjoy Nag Sanjoy Nag (born 18 March) is a film director/actor. He won the National Film Award in 2011 for his debut feature film ''Memories in March''. Early life and background Sanjoy Nag was born and brought up in Kolkata. He completed his schooling fro ...
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Sandip Ray Sandip Ray (born 8 September 1953) is an Indian film director and music director who mainly works in Bengali cinema. He is the only child of the famous Bengali director Satyajit Ray and Bijoya Ray. Life and education Sandip Ray was born in C ...
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Santosh Sivan Santosh Sivan (born 8 February 1964) is an Indian cinematographer, film director, producer and actor known for his works in Malayalam, Tamil and Hindi cinema. Santosh graduated from the Film and Television Institute of India and has to date co ...
* K. N. T. Sastry *
M. S. Sathyu Mysore Shrinivas Sathyu ( kn, ಮೈಸೂರು ಶ್ರೀನಿವಾಸ ಸತ್ಯು) (born 6 July 1930) is a leading film director, stage designer and art director from India. He is best known for his directorial ''Garm Hava'' (1973), ...
* Sathish Kalathil *
Satyajit Ray Satyajit Ray (; 2 May 1921 – 23 April 1992) was an Indian director, screenwriter, documentary filmmaker, author, essayist, lyricist, magazine editor, illustrator, calligrapher, and music composer. One of the greatest auteurs of fil ...
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Selvaraghavan Selvaraghavan is an Indian film director, screenwriter and actor who has directed and acted predominantly Tamil cinema, Tamil films. His directorial debut had with ''Thulluvadho Ilamai'' (2002) but his father is credited for business reasons, w ...
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Shyamaprasad Shyamaprasad (born 7 November 1960) is an Indian filmmaker, screenwriter and actor from Kerala. Career Shyamaprasad was born on 7 November 1960 at Palakkad, as the younger son of O. Rajagopal and Santhakumari. He was named after Shyama Prasad ...
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Shaji N. Karun Shaji Neelakantan Karun (born 1 January 1952) is an Indian film director and cinematographer. His debut film '' Piravi'' (1988) won the Caméra d'Or – Mention d'honneur at the 1989 Cannes Film Festival. He was the premiere chairman of the Keral ...
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V. Shantaram Shantaram Rajaram Vankudre (18 November 1901 – 30 October 1990), referred to as V. Shantaram or Shantaram Bapu, was an Indian filmmaker, film producer, and actor known for his work in Hindi and Marathi films. He is most known for films such ...
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Shantaram Athavale Shantaram Govind Athavale ( mr, शांताराम गोविंद आठवले) (21 January 1910 – 2 May 1975) was an Indian director of Marathi, Hindi and English language films, a lyricist, poet, and author. Part of the gener ...
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Shekhar Kapur Shekhar Kulbhushan Kapur (born 6 December 1945) is an Indian filmmaker and actor. Born into the Anand-Sahni family, Kapur is the recipient of several accolades, including a BAFTA Award, a National Film Award, a National Board of Review Award a ...
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Shonali Bose Shonali Bose (born 3 June 1965) is an Indian film director, writer and film producer. Having made her feature film debut in 2005, she has since won such accolades as a National Film Award, a Bridgestone Narrative Award, and a Sundance Mahindr ...
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Shyam Benegal Shyam Benegal (born 14 December 1934) is an Indian film director, screenwriter and documentary filmmaker. Often regarded as the pioneer of parallel cinema, he is widely considered as one of the greatest filmmakers post 1970s. He has received ...
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Singeetam Srinivasa Rao Singeetam Srinivasa Rao (born 21 September 1931), commonly known as Singeetam, is an Indian film director, screenwriter, producer, composer, and actor. He is widely regarded as one of the most versatile directors of India. He is credited with hav ...
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Sohail Azam ) Lambda Velorum (λ Velorum, abbreviated Lambda Vel, λ Vel), officially named Suhail , is a star in the southern constellation of Vela. With a mean apparent visual magnitude of 2.21, this is the third-brightest star in the constellati ...
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Sombhu Mitra Sombhu Mitra (22 August 1915 – 19 May 1997) was an Indian film and stage actor, director, playwright, reciter and an Indian theatre personality, known especially for his involvement in Bengali theatre, where he is considered a pioneer. H ...
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Sonali Gulati Sonali Gulati is an Indian American independent filmmaker, feminist, grass-roots activist, and educator. Gulati grew up in New Delhi, India. Her mother, a teacher and textile designer, raised her independently, getting single custody for her ...
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Sooni Taraporevala Sooni Taraporevala (born 1957) is an Indian screenwriter, photographer and filmmaker who is the screenwriter of ''Mississippi Masala'', ''The Namesake (film), The Namesake'' and Oscar-nominated ''Salaam Bombay!'' (1988), all directed by Mira Na ...
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Soukarya Ghosal Soukarya Ghosal ( bn, সৌকর্য ঘোষাল; born 7 June 1986) is an Indian filmmaker, director, screenwriter, illustrator and music composer. He is widely considered for his work in Rainbow Jelly, a food fantasy film for the childr ...
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Sridhar Rangayan Sridhar Rangayan (also spelt Sridhar Rangaihn or Sridhar Rangayyan; born 2 April 1962) is an Indian filmmaker who has made films with special focus on queer subjects. His queer films, '' The Pink Mirror'' and '' Yours Emotionally'', have been ...
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Srijit Mukherji Srijit Mukherji is an excellent national award winning Indian film director and screenwriter who predominantly works in Cinema of West Bengal, Bengali cinema. His regular collaboration with veteran actor Prosenjit Chatterjee brought him into the ...
* Srinivas Sunderrajan * Sriram Raghavan * Sathyan anthikkad ;U *
Upendra Upendra (Devanagari: उपेन्द्र) is an Indian masculine given name. The meaning of the Sanskrit word ' is "younger brother of Indra" and refers to either Krishna or Vishnu, who as a son of Aditi (or in the Vamana avatar) was born subs ...
;V *
Vetrimaaran Vetrimaaran is an Indian film director, screenwriter and film producer, who works in the Tamil film industry. As of 2021, he has won five National Film Awards, eight Ananda Vikatan Cinema Awards, two Filmfare South Awards and the Amnesty Inter ...
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Kumar G. Venkatesh Venkatesh Kumar. G ( ta, வெங்கடேஷ் குமார் .ஜி;born 25 June 1981) is an Indian Film director and screenwriter working in Tamil cinema. His first project was the short film "White Dirt". He made his debut in the ...
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Vishal Bhardwaj Vishal Bhardwaj (born 4 August 1965) is an Indian film director, screenwriter, producer, music composer and playback singer. He is known for his work in Hindi cinema, and is the recipient of seven National Film Awards and a Filmfare Award. Bha ...
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Vierendrra Lalit Vierendrra Lalit (born in village Dhimahi, Bulendshehr, U.P, on 16 March 1969 ) is an Indian-born cinematographer and film director. He has worked in Indian Hindi and Telugu film industries as well as in Malaysian cinema. He owns two film p ...
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Vipin Vijay Vipin Vijay (born 1977) is an Indian film director and screenwriter. He received his post-graduate degree in filmmaking from the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute SRFTI, Calcutta. He received the Charles Wallace Arts Award for research ...


See also

* Soviet Parallel Cinema *
Italian neorealism Italian neorealism ( it, Neorealismo), also known as the Golden Age, is a national film movement characterized by stories set amongst the poor and the working class. They are filmed on location, frequently with non-professional actors. They pri ...
*
Cinema Novo Cinema Novo (), "New Cinema" in English, is a genre and movement of film noted for its emphasis on social equality and intellectualism that rose to prominence in Brazil during the 1960s and 1970s.Dixon & Foster, 293. Cinema Novo formed in respo ...
*
Cinema of the world This is a list of cinema of the world by continent and country. By continent * Cinema of Africa *Cinema of Asia **South Asian cinema **Southeast Asian cinema * Cinema of North America * Cinema of Latin America *Cinema of Europe * Cinema of Oceani ...
*
Cinema of India The Cinema of India consists of motion pictures produced in India, which had a large effect on world cinema since the late 20th century. Major centers of film production across the country include Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, Ko ...
*
Cinema of West Bengal Tollywood, also known as Cinema of West Bengal, is an Cinema of India, Indian film industry of Bengali language, Bengali-language motion pictures. It is based in the Tollygunge region of Kolkata, West Bengal, India. The origins of the nicknam ...
*
Masala (film genre) Masala films of Indian cinema mix multiple genres into one work. Masala films emerged in the 1970s and are still created as of the 2020s. Typically these films freely mix action, comedy, romance Romance (from Vulgar Latin , "in the Roman la ...
*
National Film Award for Best Feature Film The National Award for Best Feature Film is one of the categories in the National Film Awards presented annually by the Directorate of Film Festivals, the organisation set up by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in India. It is one of sev ...
*
New Generation (Malayalam film movement) New generation films is a Malayalam film movement developed in the early 2010s, characterized by fresh and unusual themes and new narrative techniques. Films of the new wave differ from conventional themes of the past two decades and introduced se ...


References


External links


Cinema of malayalam


{{Film genres Film genres
Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...
Movements in cinema 1950s in Indian cinema 1960s in Indian cinema 1970s in Indian cinema 1980s in Indian cinema 1990s in Indian cinema 2000s in Indian cinema 2010s in Indian cinema