South Asian cinema

South Asian cinema refers to the cinema of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and the Maldives. The region of South Asia bears close cultural and religious ties with the regions of East Asia and South East Asia. Bollywood, of India's has occasionally been named the largest film industry in the world, but the regional film industries of other countries in South Asian film industry are also as large as that of some European countries.

The terms Asian cinema, Eastern cinema and Oriental cinema in common usage often encompass South Asia as well as East Asia and South East Asia. See also Asian cinema, East Asian cinema and Southeast Asian cinema.

tyles and genres

The scope of South Asian cinema is huge and takes in a wide array of different film styles, linguistic regions and genres. South Asian cinema is particularly famous in the West for:

* Musicals
* Art film
* Action films
* Romance films
* Crime films
* Heroic bloodshed
* Escapism
* Historical drama

Popular South Asian cinema, as typified by the mainstream cinema of India, is usually centered around escapism, and thus completely lacks more complex intellectual themes, political plots or tragic endings. This isn't really changing as the Art Cinema scene in India once typified by great films by the director Satyajit Ray no longer have a large enough audience to make it profitable which proves that the rising economic situation and rising middle classes are just as ignorant as the lower classes are which is why the mindless drivel produced by Bollywood will never cease. South Asian art cinema in comparison has always contained highly acclaimed depth and style but is now dead. Every film genre is present in South Asian cinema, although some, like science fiction and horror were up until recently, mainly intended for relatively small numbers of middle-class filmgoers, but are gaining popularity in the mainstream.

Regional industry

India contains many state languages which have film industries centered around them. Although Hindi is the official language of government business, its often-used dialect Hindustani is the most widespread language, and English is widely understood irrespective of region, the state languages are preserved for official use by different states in India, and many have as many speakers as an average European nation. Bengali cinema and Tamil cinema in particular are highly successful industries, Bengal having produced Satyajit Ray, Kerala having produced Santosh Sivan, Karnataka having produced Puttanna Kanagal and Tamil Nadu having produced Mani Ratnam, as well as many acclaimed films. Regional industries have also tended to produce a higher percentage of serious art film and political film. Bangladeshi cinema is filmed in Bengali and Sri Lankan cinema is filmed in Sinhala and Tamil. Last but not least is Indonesian cinema. In the beginning the Indonesian cinema grew after the World War I, rooted from the Folk Theater Drama called Dardanela. Under Usmar Ismail, Indonesian cinema became the new entertainment in 1950 to 1980. Hundred of film stars were born, such as: Citra Dewi (1960), Tanty Yosepha (1970). Yenny Rachman and Christine Hakim (1980) and Dian Sastro (late 1990's). Teguh Karya is one of the leading Film Director in Indonesia after the era of Usmar Ismail. Now, by the popularity of television, film is replaced with electronic cinema which is popular as sinetron. This industry has made the Indian born producer, Raam Punjabi, a tycon of sinetron in Indonesia.

Indian cinema

* Bollywood, the Hindi/Hindustani film industry, based in Mumbai, formerly Bombay.
* Kollywood, the Tamil film industry, based in the Kodambakkam area of Chennai.
* Sandalwood, the Kannada film industry, based in Bangalore, Karnataka.
* Mollywood, the Malayalam film industry, based in Kerala.
* Punjwood, the Punjabi film industry, based in the Punjab area.
* Tollywood, The Telugu film industry, the name Tollywood comes from the mixture of ( Hollywood and Telugu), based in Hyderabad.
* The Bengali film industry, long centered in the Tollygunge district of Kolkata, formerly Calcutta.
* The Marathi film industry is based in Mumbai & Pune.
* The Assamese/Boro/Missing film industry, based in Assam.

Pakistani cinema

* Lollywood, the Pakistani film industry, based in Lahore.

Bangladeshi cinema

* Dollywood, the Bangladeshi film industry, based in [Dhaka] , also known as Dhallywood] .

Key figures of South Asian cinema

With the rise in popularity of South Asian cinema in the West, especially due to the twenty million Indian immigrants spread across the world, Western audiences are becoming more familiar with many of the industry's film-makers and stars. Some, like Satyajit Ray, who has been praised as the greatest director of all time by such luminaries as Akira Kurosawa, and who has often been cited as one of the three best directors of the 20th century, are legendary amongst film circles already. Some consider Satyajit Ray, Ritwik Ghatak and Mrinal Sen to be the foremost Indian directors.

Directors

* Khwaja Ahmed Abbas - Saat Hindustani
* K. Asif - Mughal e Azam
* Mahboob
* Puttanna Kanagal - ("Belli moda").
* Satyajit Ray – internationally acclaimed Bengali film director, widely regarded as one of the greatest auteurs of 20th century cinema ("Apu trilogy").
* Kamal Amrohi - Mahal Pakeeza Razia Sultan
* Ritwik Ghatak – Bengali film director, ("Nagarik", "Meghe Dhaka Tara").
* Mrinal Sen – well-respected Bengali film director, has won awards at major film festivals ("Baishey Shravan", "Bhuvan Shome").
* Guru Dutt – Hindi actor, director and producer of the 1950s and '60s ("Mr. & Mrs. '55", "Kaagaz Ke Phool", Pyaasa).
*S.M. Yusuf - Nek Parveen
* Akbar Khan S Tajmahal
* V. Shantaram – Hindi director and actor ("Do Aankhen Barah Haath").
* Ashutosh Gowariker – Contemporary Hindi actor, director and producer ("Lagaan").
* K. Balachander – Prominent Tamil director who's also had success in Hindi films ("Parthale Paravasam", "Ek Duuje Ke Liye").
* Bimal Roy – One of the most successful Hindi film directors of all time "(Devdas (1955 film)", "Do Bigha Zameen".
* Vijay Anand – Bollywood actor, director and producer mainly during the 1960s and '70s. ("Johnny Mera Naam", "Jewel Thief")
* Hrishikesh Mukherjee – Hindi film director known for a number of films ("Anand", "Abhimaan").
* Nasir Hussain - Qayamat se Qayamat tak
* Sudhir Mishra – Contemporary director and screenwriter ("Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi", "Chameli (Movie)").
* Bharathiraja – Tamil director who captured village life ("Muthal Mariyathai", "Vedham Pudhithu").
* Saawan Kumar
* Balu Mahendra – Sri Lanka-born Tamil and Malayalam director ("Sandhya Raagam", "Veedu").
* Prakash Jha – Contemporary Hindi director ("Gangaajal", "Apaharan").
* Cheran – Award-winning Tamil director and actor ("Autograph", "Thavamai Thavamirundhu")
* Adoor Gopalakrishnan – Prominent Malayalam director ("Elippathayam", "Swayamvaram").
* Mani Shankar – Director of Bollywood action thrillers ("16 December", "Tango Charlie")
* S. Shankar – Popular Tamil director and producer ("Mudhalvan", "Anniyan", "")
* A. R. Murugadoss – Popular Kollywood and Tollywood director ("Ghajini", "Stalin")
* Ram Gopal Varma – Tollywood and Bollywood director known for his gritty films. ("Shiva", "Rangeela").
* Mani Ratnam – Generally works in Tamil films but has worked in Hindi, Malayalam, Telugu and Kannada industries ("Kannathil Muthamittal", "Guru").
* Shekhar Kapur – British India-born director and producer ("Elizabeth", "Bandit Queen").
* Shyam Benegal – Important part of the New India Cinema movement ("Ankur", "Bhumika").
* Upendra - ("A", "Om").
* K. S. Ravikumar - Highly successful Tamil commercial film director ("Muthu", "Padayappa", "Dasavathaaram")
* Madhur Bhandarkar – Director and screenwriter "Page 3", "Chandni Bar").
* Deepa Mehta – Indian-born Canadian director best known for her "elements trilogy". "Fire", "Earth", "Water").
* Aparna Sen – Bengali Indian actress and director ("36 Chowringhee Lane", "Mr. and Mrs. Iyer").
* Ketan Mehta – ("Bhavni Bhavai", "Maya Memsaab").
* Rakesh Roshan – ("Karan Arjun", "Krrish").
* Mira Nair – ("Monsoon Wedding", "Salaam Bombay!").
* Girish Karnad - ("Anand Bhairavi").
* Govind Nihalani – Cinematographer and director.
* Santosh Sivan – Award-winning cinematographer and director ("The Terrorist", "Asoka").
* Gurinder Chadha – British director ("Bend It Like Beckham", "Bride and Prejudice").
* Karan Johar – Actor, screenwriter and director; hosts TV chat show, "Koffee with Karan" ("Kuch Kuch Hota Hai", "Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna").
* Prakash Mehra – ("Zanjeer", "Hera Pheri").
* Ramesh Sippy – ("Saagar", "Sholay").
* Manmohan Desai – ("Parvarish", "Amar Akbar Anthony").
* Basu Chatterjee – ("Chitchor").
* Rajkumar Santoshi – ("Ghayal", "Andaz apna apna").
* Partho Sen-Gupta – Avant-garde independent director ("Hava Aney Dey").
* Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra – Director and screenwriter ("Aks", "Rang De Basanti").
* Sanjay Leela Bhansali – "Devdas", "Black")
* Vikram Bhatt – ("Inteha", "Deewane Huye Pagal").
* Sanjay Gupta – ("Zinda")
* Yash Chopra – Veteran producer and director "("Waqt", "Deewaar").
* Ramesh Sippy – ("Sholay", "Andaz")
* Vidhu Vinod Chopra – ("An Encounter with Faces", "").
* Nagathihalli Chandrashekhar - ("America! America!!", "Amruthadhaare").
* Yograj Bhat - ("Mungaru Male").
* Ajith Nag - ("Brinda").

Actors

* Rajinikanth
* Aamir Khan
* Abhishek Bachchan
* Ajay Devgan
* Ajith Kumar
* Akkineni Nagarjuna
* Akkineni Nageswara Rao
* Akshay Kumar
* Ambareesh
* Amitabh Bachchan
* Arshad Warsi
* Dharmendra
* Dr. Rajkumar
* Jeetendra
* Vinod Khanna
* Vinod Mehra
* Vishnuvardhan
* Feroz Khan
* Mithun Chakraborty
* Amrish Puri
* Anil Kapoor
* Ashok Kumar
* Dilip Kumar
* Balraj Sahni
* Shahrukh Khan
* Manoj Kumar
* Jackie Shroff
* R. Madhavan
* Kamal Hassan
* Vijay
* Raj Kapoor
* Rishi Kapoor
* Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao
* Balakrishna
* Venkatesh
* Nana Patekar
* Rajkumar
* Rajesh Khanna
* Ramesh Aravind
* Pran
* Vikram
* Shammi Kapoor
* Raaj Kumar
* Mammooty
* Sanjeev Kumar
* Surya Sivakumar
* Mehmood
* Mahesh Babu
* Dev Anand
* Om Puri
* Naseeruddin Shah
* Amrish Puri
* Anant Nag
* Kishore Kumar
* Chiranjivi
* Manoj Bajpai
* Mohanlal
* Saif Ali Khan
* Salman Khan
* Sanjay Dutt
* Sunil Dutt
* Sunny Deol
* Shankar Nag
* Hrithik Roshan
* Suresh Gopi
* Mukesh
* Jagathi Sreekumar
* Thilakan
* M.G. Ramachandran
* Sivaji Ganeshan
* Jayan
* Mohammad Ali
* Nadeem
* Upendra
* Waheed Murad
* Ritesh Deshmukh

Actresses

* Asin Thottumkal
* B. Saroja Devi
* Padmini
* Madhubala
* Madhuri Dixit
* Nutan
* Rekha
* Aishwarya Rai
* Meena Kumari
* Noor Jehan
* Trisha Krishnan
* Divya Spandana (Ramya)
* Devika Rani
* Vyjayanthimala
* Hema Malini
* Smita Patil
* Soundarya
* Sridevi
* Rani Mukerji
* Manisha Koirala
* Prema
* Sharmila Tagore
* Shabana Azmi
* Bipasha Basu
* Jaya Bachchan
* Jayanthi
* Nargis
* Kajol
* Nandita Das
* Tabu
* Dimple Kapadia
* Sushmita Sen
* Juhi Chawala
* Karishma Kapoor
* Soha Ali Khan
* Sonali Bendre
* Priyanka Chopra
* Urmila Matondkar
* Preity Zinta
* Kareena Kapoor
* Amrita Rao
* Ayesha Takia
* Shriya Saran

ee also

* World cinema
* Asian cinema

* Cinema of India
* Hindi cinema
* Tamil cinema
* Telugu cinema

Further reading

* "Contemporary Asian Cinema", Anne Tereska Ciecko, editor. Berg, 2006. ISBN 1 84520237 6