The Diverse Facets of Commercialization and Business in Indian Cinema

Introduction

Cinema inevitably believed to be a medium and platform for entertainment. Every medium has played a role in injecting thoughts and ideologies into the minds of people, especially when it comes to cinema. Even people of the cinema industry who are the entertainers through television gain popularity, for instance, motivational speakers and trendsetters tend to get popular irrespective of belonging to the small screen community. There is always an enormous fan following for silver screen since the addiction and affinity that the public has towards cinema hasn't changed a bit since the day it got established. Certain films divert and transform the thoughts of the viewer while watching the film, whereas some films focus on the unrealistic and dramatic flow of the film. The diverse facets of commercialisation and business in Indian cinema observed through the evolution of Indian cinema. The growth is tremendous from where it was, to where it has shaped up to in terms of grandeur in the technology implied to the budget quoted in making a film, everything has refashioned and redesigned (Pendakur, 1989).

To be crisp and precise whatever concept the script may hold, the intention of a director and the production house lies on the box-office collection of the film to a high degree. These days they organise an event for releasing the music album of individual films to create a sensation among the youngsters to attract them to the theatre. When the topic of Indian cinema briefly dug back in the days, it was a process where they took one step at a time. The pioneer of Indian cinema is the renowned Dadasaheb Phalke. The first full-length motion picture in India produced by Dadasaheb Phalke named Raja Harishchandra. It undeniably went on to become a commercial hit. Phalke observed as the pioneer of the Indian cinema industry and a renowned scholar of India’s languages and culture (Dwyer, 2006). He applied fragments from Sanskrit epics to produce his Raja Harishchandra which released in 1913 as a silent film in Marathi. Approximately 1600 films are being made in various languages every year. After the first full-length motion picture came to the first Indian sound film Alam Ara which was directed by Ardeshir Irani. Followed by the first Indian colour film Kisan Kanya which was in turn directed by him, gained a considerable critical response due to the effort invested in taking the Indian cinema to the next level as he has obtained rights from the American Cinecolor Process.

Live dramas used to be on the run before films. The actors couldn't opt for retakes, and they could hardly commit errors. As a whole, the Indian film industry segregated into north and south film industry; hence it has been subdivided into many parts naming it as a regional cinema which has termed as snippets of Indian cinema. The south Indian film industry incorporates five film cultures: Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu, Kannada and Tulu. Another prominent film culture is Bengali cinema, known as Tollywood, which was primarily associated with the parallel cinema movement, in contrast to the typical dramatic films which are more prominent in Bollywood and Tamil films.

Indian films focus on the concept of thriller, crime, romance, comedy, social problems and horror. Since people inclined towards these concepts, the filmmakers add the elements that are related to these themes to get people involved and to gain an instant connection. The interest they show in plunging into the genre and concepts can also be segregated to the dramatic screenplay which rolls with it as they focus on it predominantly. People search for dramatic essence, and the script in the Indian cinema has a peculiar format which is followed by movie makers and directors. They prepare the text for dramatising scenes and exclusivity of the artificial background setup which invented of grandeur and pomp. Currently, Indian cinema has partly adopted the western style and culture, especially Bollywood when scrutinised, the screenplay and the culture has a tinge of Hollywood in it (Srinivas, 2002).