Modern Indian cinema

Modern Indian cinema

Some filmmakers such as Shyam Benegal continued to produce realistic Parallel Cinema throughout the 1970s, alongside Satyajit Ray, Ritwik Ghatak, Mrinal Sen, Buddhadeb Dasgupta and Gautam Ghose in Bengali cinema; K Balachandar, Balu Mahendra, Bharathiraaja and Mani Ratnam in Tamil cinema, Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Shaji N. Karun, John Abraham and G. Aravindan also Bharathan and Padmarajan in Malayalam cinema ; Nirad Mohapatra in Oriya cinema; K. N. T. Sastry and B. Narsing Rao in Telugu cinema; Mani Kaul, Kumar Shahani, Ketan Mehta, Govind Nihalani, Ram Gopal Varma and Vijaya Mehta in Hindi cinema. However, the 'art film' bent of the Film Finance Corporation came under criticism during a Committee on Public Undertakings investigation in 1976, which accused the body of not doing enough to encourage commercial cinema.

The 1970s saw the rise of Hindi commercial cinema in form of enduring films such as Aradhana(1969),Sachaa Jhutha(1970),Haathi Mere Saathi(1971),Anand (1971), Kati Patang(1971) and Amar Prem (1972),Dushman(1972), Daag(1973) establishing Rajesh Khanna as the first Superstar of Indian Cinema. Later, in mid 70s, action films like Zanjeer (1973) and Sholay (1975), solidified Amitabh Bachchan's position as a lead actor. The devotional classic Jai Santoshi Ma made on a shoe-string budget was also released in 1975 and became a mega success on box office and a cult. Another important film from 1975 was Deewar, directed by Yash Chopra and written by Salim-Javed. A crime film pitting "a policeman against his brother, a gang leader based on the real-life smuggler Haji Mastan", portrayed by Amitabh Bachchan, it was described as being "absolutely key to Indian cinema" by Danny Boyle. 1979 Telugu film, Sankarabharanam, which dealt with the revival of Indian classical music, has won the Prize of the Public at the Besancon Film Festival of France in 1981. 1970 Kannada film, Samskara directed by Pattabhirama Reddy, pioneered the parallel cinema movement in south Indian cinema. The film won Bronze Leopard at the Locarno International Film Festival.

Many Tamil-language films have premiered or have been selected as special presentations at various film festivals across the globe, such as Mani Ratnam's Kannathil Muthamittal, Vasanthabalan's Veyyil and Ameer Sultan's Paruthiveeran. Kanchivaram (2009) was selected to be premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. Tamil films have been a part of films submitted by India for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language on eight occasions, next only to Hindi. Mani Ratnam's Nayagan (1987) was included in Time magazine's "All-TIME" 100 best movies list. In 1991, Marupakkam directed by K.S. Sethu Madhavan, became the first Tamil film to win the National Film Award for Best Feature Film, the feat was repeated by Kanchivaram in 2007.

Malayalam cinema of Kerala 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, G. Aravindan, T. V. Chandran and Shaji N. Karun. Adoor Gopalakrishnan, who is often considered to be Satyajit Ray's spiritual heir, directed some of his most acclaimed films during this period, including Elippathayam (1981) which won the Sutherland Trophy at the London Film Festival, as well as Mathilukal (1989) which won major prizes at the Venice Film Festival.

Shaji N. Karun's debut film Piravi (1989) won the Camera d'Or at the 1989 Cannes Film Festival, while his second film Swaham (1994) was in competition for the Palme d'Or at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival. Commercial Malayalam cinema also began gaining popularity with the action films of Jayan, a popular stunt actor whose success was short-lived when he died while filming a dangerous helicopter stunt.

Commercial Hindi cinema further grew throughout the 1980s and the 1990s with the release of films such as Ek Dooje Ke Liye (1981), Mr India (1987), Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak (1988), Tezaab (1988), Chandni (1989), Maine Pyar Kiya (1989), Baazigar (1993), Darr (1993), Hum Aapke Hain Koun..! (1994), Dil To Pagal Hai (1997), Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge (1998), Pyar Kiya Toh Darna Kya (1998) and Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998), many of which starred Anil Kapoor, Salman Khan, Sridevi, Aamir Khan, Shah Rukh Khan and Madhuri Dixit. At this juncture, Shekhar Kapur's cult classic, Bandit Queen (1994) which received international recognition, has also garnered high criticism by Arundhati Roy in her film review entitled "The Great Indian Rape-Trick". However, the film highlighted the revival of feminist themes.

In the late 1990s, 'Parallel Cinema' began experiencing a resurgence in Hindi cinema, largely due to the critical and commercial success of Satya (1998), a crime film based on the Bombay underworld, written and directed by Ram Gopal Varma, with screenplay by Anurag Kashyap. The film's success led to the emergence of a distinct genre known as Mumbai noir, urban films reflecting social problems in Bombay city. Later films made on organised crime in Bombay include Madhur Bhandarkar's Chandni Bar (2001) and Traffic Signal (2007), Ram Gopal Varma's Company- Ajay Devgn (2002) and its prequel D (2005), Anurag Kashyap's Black Friday (2004).

Vishal Bhardwaj's 2014 film Haider, the third instalment of Indian Shakespearean Trilogy after Maqbool (2003) and Omkara (2006), won the People's Choice Award at the 9th Rome Film Festival in the Mondo Genere category making it the first Indian film to achieve this feat. Other art film directors active today include Mrinal Sen, Mir Shaani, Buddhadeb Dasgupta, Gautam Ghose, Sandip Ray and Aparna Sen in Bengali cinema; Puttanna Kanagal, Dore Bhagavan, Siddalingaiah in Kannada; Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Shaji N. Karun and T.V. Chandran in Malayalam cinema; Nirad Mohapatra in Oriya cinema; Mani Kaul, Kumar Shahani, Ketan Mehta, Govind Nihalani, Shyam Benegal, Mira Nair, Nagesh Kukunoor, Sudhir Mishra and Nandita Das in Hindi cinema; K.N.T. Sastry, B. Narsing Rao, Akkineni Kutumba Rao, Deva Katta in Telugu cinema and Santosh Sivan in Tamil cinema. Deepa Mehta, Anant Balani, Homi Adajania, Vijay Singh and Sooni Taraporevala have garnered recognition in Indian English cinema.