Cinema of India

The cinema of India has had a profound effect on cinema across the world since the early 20th century. It consists of films produced across India, which includes the cinematic cultures of Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Manipur, Orissa, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. Indian films came to be followed throughout Southern Asia, the Greater Middle East, Southeast Asia, and the former Soviet Union. The cinema as a medium gained popularity in the country as many as 1,000 films in various languages of India were produced annually.

Expatriates in countries such as the United Kingdom and the United States continue to give rise to international audiences for Indian films of various languages. Erstwhile Filmmaker, Dadasaheb Phalke is the Father of Indian cinema. The Dadasaheb Phalke Award, for lifetime contribution to cinema, was instituted in his honor, by the Government of India in 1969, and is the most prestigious and coveted award in Indian cinema.

In the 20th century, Indian cinema, along with the Hollywood and Chinese film industries, became a global enterprise. At the end of 2010 it was reported that in terms of annual film output, India ranks first, followed by Hollywood and China. Enhanced technology paved the way for upgrading from established cinematic norms of delivering product, altering the manner in which content reached the target audience. Visual effects based, Super hero and Science fiction films like Krrish, Enthiran, Ra.One and Eega emerged as blockbusters. Indian cinema found markets in over 90 countries where films from India are screened.

Films by Indian directors like Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen, Ritwik Ghatak, Adoor Gopalakrishnan, G. Aravindan, Shaji N.Karun, Girish Kasaravalli, Shyam Benegal and Mani Ratnam have been screened in various international film festivals. Other Indian filmmakers such as Shekhar Kapur, Mira Nair, Rajnesh Domalpalli, Deepa Mehta, Nagesh Kukunoor and Karan Johar have also found success overseas. The Indian government extended film delegations to foreign countries such as the United States of America and Japan while the country's Film Producers Guild sent similar missions through Europe. Sivaji Ganesan, and S. V. Ranga Rao won their respective first international award for Best Actor held at Afro-Asian Film Festival in Cairo and Indonesian Film Festival in Jakarta for the films Veerapandiya Kattabomman and Narthanasala in 1959 and 1963.

India is the world's largest producer of films. In 2009, India produced a total of 2961 films on celluloid, that include a staggering figure of 1288 feature films. The provision of 100% foreign direct investment has made the Indian film market attractive for foreign enterprises such as 20th Century Fox, Sony Pictures, Walt Disney Pictures and Warner Bros. Indian enterprises such as Zee, UTV, Suresh Productions, Adlabs and Sun Network's Sun Pictures also participated in producing and distributing films. Tax incentives to multiplexes have aided the multiplex boom in India. By 2003 as many as 30 film production companies had been listed in the National Stock Exchange of India, making the commercial presence of the medium felt.

The South Indian film industry defines the four film cultures of South India as a single entity. They are the Kannada, the Malayalam, the Tamil and the Telugu industries. Although developed independently for a long period of time, gross exchange of film performers and technicians as well as globalisation helped to shape this new identity, currently holding 75% of all film revenues in India.

The Indian diaspora consists of millions of Indians overseas for which films are made available both through mediums such as DVDs and by screening of films in their country of residence wherever commercially feasible. These earnings, accounting for some 12% of the revenue generated by a mainstream film, contribute substantially to the overall revenue of Indian cinema, the net worth of which was found to be US$1.3 billion in 2000. Music in Indian cinema is another substantial revenue generator, with the music rights alone accounting for 4–5% of the net revenues generated by a film in India.