Wednesday, May 01, 2013

India celebrates 100 years of Bollywood

India's $2 billion Bollywood film industry is celebrating its centenary with a six-day-long film festival, while India will be honoured as 'guest country' at next month's Cannes festival in France.         
       

One hundred years after the screening of a black-and-white silent film, India's brash, song-and-dance-laden Bollywood film industry celebrates its centenary later this week.

The milestone will be marked with the release of "Bombay Talkies", made up of short commemorative films by four leading directors, while India will be honoured as "guest country" at next month's Cannes festival.

Exhibitions in the capital New Delhi are showcasing a century of cinema, including onscreen kissing scenes that originally fell foul of the censors.

It is also a time for reflection on how the industry has evolved, from its early screen adaptations of Hindu mythology to the garish romantic escapism of modern blockbusters.

Commercially, cinema is thriving: India produced almost 1,500 movies last year and the industry is expected to grow from $2 billion to $3.6 billion in the next five years, according to consultancy KPMG.

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