Digital era and Changing face of Bollywood Cinema

Abstract

It was for the first time on July 07, 1896 that Lumiere Brothers screened their short films at Watson Hotel of Bombay the audiences left mesmerized. It was an event which created history in terms of growth and spread of motion pictures across the globe. In 1913 Dadasaheb Phalke, released his film Raja Harishchandr. The silent era was dominated by the mythology and filmmakers narrated many stories of their childhood using motion pictures as a medium of expression. Initially the film industry and the fraternity could not get support of the society as there was no social approval of film viewing. Gradually the technology made it possible to make talkies and the first film – in 1931, Alam Ara made by Ardeshir Irani was screened in Bombay The credit of producing the first colored movie in India also goes to Sir Ardeshir Irani, who made Kisan Kanya (Peasant Girl) in the year 1937. 1940s to the 1960s is considerd as the Golden Age of Indian Cinema by film historians. Beside that contemporary Hindi films have evolved through ages. From romance to realism to comedy to action; it has cross a long path. Introduction of latest technology has changed the cinematic landscape in India. Now the films are made with a rapid speed and cost of film-making has changed the production process completely. One side we are seeing big budget film competing with Hollywood but the cheap technology has provided wings to the new film-makers as well. The subject matter of the films shows divers thinking of the new breed and availability of new forums like, online release, You tube etc made it a profitable venture as well. In this global village world, the industry reached out to the international audiences too. The screenings at international film festivals, to the overseas market that contributes a large amount to Bollywood’s box office collections. Investments made by major global studios such as 20th Century Fox, Sony Pictures, and Warner Bros was proof that Bollywood had impressed itself on the global psyche.From early nineteen century silent films to the recent Digital age era, Hindi cinema has continuously adapted and reinvented itself to both represent and challenge the many sides of technological evolution of film making and screening like online cinema viewing technique, online cinema video on demand techniques, on-demand movies app technique, cost and quality. These techniques are possible due to internet connectivity in India and the recent launch of 3G services and the launch of 4G. According to the report, India’s mobile phone user are of more than 750 million subscribers, the size and impact of the country’s potential for digital content use is huge. This paper tries to focus on impact of digital technology in Indian contemporary cinema and how the market and production of cinema has adopted to the changes brought in by the digital technology.