Probashi- Cover Story
Probashi- Cover Story
The Firsts in Indian Cinema
1959 First film in Cinemascope Guru Dutt ' s Kaagaz Ke Phool is the first widescreen film, shot with Cinemascope lenses from 20th Century Fox. Bombs at the box office. 1964 Switzerland ‐ The snowy slopess of Switzerland make their debut in Bollywood with Sangam. Triggers the trend of shooting songs abroad. 1967 First 70‐mm film ‐ Around the World is shot in 70 mm using blow‐up method and stereophonic sound. Later, in 1975, Sholay too is shot in 70‐ mm format. 1969 New wave ‐ Mrinal Sen ' s Bhuvan Shome and Mani Kaul ' s Uski Roti usher in an all‐new experimentati ion in technique, form and narrative 1971 India becomes the No. 1 Film making country ‐ India makes 433 feature films
, making it the world’ s biggest film producer 1972 First horror film ‐ Do Gaz Zameen Ke Neeche sees the Ramsay Brothers spearhead the genre. Earlier films dealt with reincarnation and ghosts, but weren’ t gory. 1975 Sholay breaks all records ‐ Becomes the first film to celebrate a silver jubilee in more than 100 cinemas; runs for over five years at Mumbai ' s
Minerva theatre 1977 First actor CM ‐ MGR is the first actor to become a chief minister; is
CM of Tamil Nadu from 1977 to 1987 1982 Colour
TV ‐ First film to be seen in colour on TV is Ray’ s Shatranj Ke
Khiladi 1983 First Oscar for India ‐ Bhanu Athaiya becomes the first Indian to win the Academy Award for Costume Design for her work in Richard
Attenborough ' s Gandhi 1984 First 3D film ‐ Malayalam film My Dear
Kuttichathan uses 3D technology. It is later dubbed in Hindii as Chhota Chetan. The first Hindi 3D movie is Shiva Ka Insaaf. 1992 Honorary Oscar ‐ Days before his death, Satyajit Ray gets the Oscar for Lifetime Achievement 1995‘ Item’ number ‐ Sonali Bendre’ s Humma Humma dance in the film Bombay is the first item song in Indian cinema, though the term is not used yet 1997 First multiplex ‐ PVR Anupam, with four screens, opens in Delhi 1999 First insured film ‐ For Taal, Subhash Ghai ' s Mukta Arts took an insurance policy worth Rs 11 crore against shooting schedule disturbances or accidents 2009 Double Oscar ‐ A. R. Rahman wins two Oscars for Danny Boyle ' s Slumdog Millionaire. Resul Pookutty bags an Oscar for best sound mixing. 2011 Most expensive ‐ At $ 30 million, Shahrukh Khan ' s ambitious superhero flick Ra One becomes the most expensive film till date 2012 World
' s largest film studio ‐ The 2,700‐acre Prayag Film City at Chandrakona, West Bengal, is unveiled. When it becomes fully operational next year, it will become the world ' s largest film studio complex
, taking the crown away from Ramoji Film City in Hyderabad.
Baburao Painter introduced film publicity using posters. The first being the poster for his film Maya Bazaar. An extremely gifted painter, who used to design theatre sets taught himself the art of film making and founded Maharashtra Film Company in
1919. He along with his brother
Anandrao even assembled a cameraa. He introduced V Shantaram into films. The oldest surviving
Indian film poster is of the 1924 Marathi movie Kalyan Khajina, designed by Babubhai
. The hand‐painted poster remained the dominant form of movie publicity for decades. In the late 1980s, the industry adopted the cut‐and‐paste method, which combined photographic images from a film with painting. This was phased out after 1992, when leading publicity designer Rahul Nanda brought in digital technology, which eventually ended the old‐school publicity design.
Shyamchi Aai‐ the Marathi film which got the first National award for the best film in 1953
From:( i) Encyclopaedia of Indian Cinema— Ashish Rajadhyakshaa & Paul Willemen;( ii) The Essential Guide to
Bollywood— Subhash K. Jha & Pavan Jha; and online information sources. Collated by Amit Mukherji