Film 1 India

[Narkis Eatman]

Thisis a ranking of the highest-grossing Indian films, which includes films from various languages based on the conservative global box-office estimates as reported by reputable sources. There is no official tracking of domestic box-office figures within India, and Indian sites publishing data are frequently pressured to increase their domestic box-office estimates.[1]

Indian films have been screened in markets around the world since the early 20th century.[2] As of 2003, there are markets in over 90 countries where films from India are screened.[3] During the first decade of the 21st century, there was a steady rise in the ticket price, a tripling in the number of theatres and an increase in the number of prints of a film being released, which led to a large increase in the box office collections.[4]

As of 2014, Hindi cinema represents 43% of the net box office revenue in India, while Telugu and Tamil cinema represent 36%, and other industries constitute 21%.[5] In 2022, the Hindi film industry represented 33% of box office revenue, followed by the Telugu film industry, representing 20% and the Tamil film industry, representing 13%.[6] Other prominent languages in the Indian film industry include Kannada (8%) and Malayalam (6%), as well as Bengali, Marathi, Odia, Punjabi, Gujarati and Bhojpuri. As of 2020, the combined revenue of all other language film industries has surpassed that of the Hindi film industry,[7] By 2021, Telugu cinema became the largest film industry of India in terms of box-office.[8][9][10]

Bengali cinema was the center of Indian cinema in the 1930s,[99] and accounted for a quarter of India's film output in the 1950s.[100] Cinema in South India accounted for nearly half of India's cinema halls in the 1940s.[2]

Bengali cinema, also known by the nickname Tollywood, a portmanteau of the words Tollygunge and Hollywood, is the Bengali language film industry centered in the Tollygunge neighbourhood of Kolkata, West Bengal.

The Gujarati cinema produces films in Gujarati language and is primarily focused on the audience in Gujarat and Mumbai. The film industry is sometimes referred to as Dhollywood or Gollywood.

The Hindi language film industry, based in Mumbai, India, is frequently known as Bollywood.[128] Bollywood is one of the largest film producers in India and one of the largest centres of film production in the world.[129][130][131]

Malayalam cinema is a part of Indian cinema based in Kerala dedicated to the production of motion pictures in the Malayalam language. It is sometimes known by the nickname "Mollywood" by certain media outlets.

The Marathi cinema industry produces films in the Marathi language and is based in the state of Maharashtra, India. India's first full-length film, Raja Harishchandra, was released in 1913 in Marathi.[176]

Odia cinema is primarily based in Odisha state producing movies mainly in the Odia language and a few movies in Sambalpuri language. The first Odia movie was Sita Vivaha which was released in 1936.

Telugu cinema, also known by its nickname "Tollywood," is a part of Indian cinema producing films in the Telugu-language, in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and is centered in the Hyderabad neighbourhood of Film Nagar.[212]

Indian is a 1996 Indian Tamil-language vigilante action film directed and co-written by S. Shankar. The film stars Kamal Haasan in a dual role, Manisha Koirala, Urmila Matondkar and Sukanya, with Nedumudi Venu, Manorama, Goundamani, Senthil, Kasthuri, Nizhalgal Ravi and Ajay Rathnam in supporting roles. It is the first installment in the Indian film series. In the film, a retired freedom fighter rebels against corruption in India, which puts him in conflict with his son who lives by corruption.

The film was produced by A. M. Rathnam, while the dialogues were written by Sujatha. The soundtrack and musical score was composed by A. R. Rahman, with cinematography handled by Jeeva and editing by B. Lenin-V. T. Vijayan.

Indian was released on 9 May 1996 worldwide and became the highest-grossing Tamil film upon release.[3] It was selected by India as its entry for the Best Foreign Language Film for the Academy Awards in 1996, but was not nominated. The film won three National Film Awards, including Best Actor (Haasan), two South Filmfare Awards and two Tamil Nadu State Film Awards. A sequel Indian 2 was released in July 2024 and a third film is in production, for a January 2025 release.

Chandrabose "Chandru" is a small-time broker stationed outside the RTO at Chennai. Chandru and his assistant Subbaiah aid people in bribing the right officials inside the RTO in getting permits and licenses. At the same time Chandru's love interest Aishwarya, an animal rights activist, also comes into conflict with Sapna, a medical student and the daughter of an RTO official. Chandru attempts to win over Sapna and her family to secure a job as a brake inspector at the RTO. Aishwarya is irked by the fact that Sapna and her mother are exploiting Chandru's situation, getting him to do household chores. Sapna realises that Chandru loves Aishwarya and gives up her love. It is revealed that Chandru is Senapathy's son. They had fallen out due to Senapathy's excessive insistence on honesty and righteousness, which Chandru considers irrelevant in present day.

Krishnaswamy manages to trace his way to Senapathy's house, posing as a freedom fighter eligible for Swathantra Sainik Samman Pension Scheme. When Krishnaswamy tries to arrest him, Senapathy and his wife Amirthavalli, escape with his expertise in Varma kalai. Later, Senapathy murders a corrupt doctor on live television as the doctor refused to treat Senapathy's daughter Kasturi, who was suffering from third-degree burns unless given a bribe, but Senapathy refused, leading to her death. The public support surges for Senapathy as he exposes many corrupt individuals. Senapathy does not do any favours for Chandru either. Chandru, who managed to bribe a job as a brake inspector, takes a bribe and gives a safety certificate to a school bus with faulty brakes, which eventually kills 40 school children and the driver in an accident.

Chandru tries to frame the deceased driver for drunk driving and manages to bribe a cop and a doctor on the same. Senapathy catches him in the act and tries to kill him for corruption, but is caught by Krishnaswamy and sentenced to prison, but later escapes. Despite pleas from Amirthavalli and Aishwarya to spare Chandru's life, Senapathy heads for the airport where Chandru is attempting to flee to Mumbai. A chase culminates at the airport, where Senapathy mournfully kills his son and apparently dies in an explosion involving an aeroplane and a jeep. While investigating recorded footage, Krishnaswamy discovers that Senapathy escaped moments before the jeep exploded. Senapathy calls Krishnaswamy from Hong Kong and says that he will be back whenever the need for his presence should arise.

Soon after the release of Gentleman (1993), Shankar narrated a script titled Periya Manushan to actor Rajinikanth, but the pair did not end up collaborating. Since the subject revolved around a father and son, he considered Rajasekhar for the father role, with either Nagarjuna or Venkatesh as the son, but the plans did not materialise. The film eventually materialised under the title Indian, produced by A. M. Rathnam, with Kamal Haasan playing both roles.[4] Haasan was initially reluctant to do the film because of its similarities to his 1977 film Naam Pirandha Mann, but relented after Rathnam paid him the entire salary before he began acting.[5] On 17 February 1995, the official muhurat pooja for this film took place, with Rajinikanth attending the event as its chief guest.[6]

Shankar tried to cast Aishwarya Rai to make her debut and portray the leading female role. Her commitment to her advertisement agency until October 1995 meant that she was unavailable to sign the film.[7] Subsequently, Manisha Koirala was selected after Shankar was impressed with her performance in Bombay. The producers wanted Radhika to play the pair of the older Kamal Haasan in the film, but her television commitments meant that she was unable to sign a contract. Urvashi subsequently replaced her, only for Shankar to throw her out for missing a day's schedule to attend her sister's wedding. The role was finally handed to Sukanya, who had previously appeared alongside Kamal Haasan in Mahanadhi. Bollywood actress Urmila Matondkar was signed to play another leading role after the producers were impressed with her performance and the success of her 1995 Hindi film, Rangeela.[7] Malayalam character actor Nedumudi Venu signed on to play the role of CBI officer Krishnaswamy at Haasan's recommendation,[8] while Nassar dubbed his voice.[9] The producers engaged Hollywood make-up artists Michael Westmore and Michael Jones to work on the designs for the senior Kamal Haasan's and Sukanya's look in the film.[10] The senior Kamal Haasan's look for the character Senapathy was based on Haasan's father.[11] Shankar initially wanted P. C. Sreeram to handle cinematography; however due to his other commitments, Jeeva was chosen as cinematographer.[12] One of the assistant directors chanced upon a book by varma kalai practitioner R. Rajendran about the martial art, and Rajendran was hired to teach Haasan the same.[13]

For production work, Shankar visited Las Vegas to learn about new technology and purchased cameras for production. Furthermore, the director visited Australia alongside cinematographer Jeeva and music director A. R. Rahman to location hunt and to compose tunes.[7] The film's unit was given strict orders to maintain privacy, with Hindi actor Jackie Shroff being notably turned away from visiting the shooting spot. A song for the film was shot at Prasad Studios featuring Haasan and Matondkar alongside 70 Bombay models.[14] This led to a protest from the Cine Dancers Union who argued that Tamil dancers should have been utilised instead, with Shankar opting to pay them off to avoid further hassle. Another duet between Haasan and Koirala was shot near the Sydney Opera House in Sydney and Canberra for fifteen days.[15] A flashback song was canned with four hundred dancers and a thousand extras at Gingee with Kamal Haasan and Sukanya, while another song featured shooting in Jodhpur, Rajasthan.[7][10] A fight scene was shot at Irungkaattukottai Motor Racing Track.[16] The flashback sequences, set during pre-Independent India, were in black-and-white.[17] Graphic designer Venky noted that Indian was his most difficult project to date (in 1997) with a scene constructed to feature Kamal Haasan's character alongside Subhas Chandra Bose. Venky had to remove blemishes on the film reel of Bose provided by the Film Division's archive before merging Haasan on to the shot to make it appear that the pair were marching in tandem.[18]

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