49 Facts About Hindi films

1.

Hindi films cinema has overtaken the US film industry to become the largest centre for film production in the world.

FactSnippet No. 1,804,410
2.

Masala Hindi films generally fall under the musical film genre, of which Indian cinema has been the largest producer since the 1960s when it exceeded the American film industry's total musical output after musical Hindi films declined in the West; the first Indian musical talkie was Alam Ara, several years after the first Hollywood musical talkie The Jazz Singer.

FactSnippet No. 1,804,411
3.

In more recent years, the distinction between commercial masala and parallel cinema has been gradually blurring, with an increasing number of mainstream Hindi films adopting the conventions which were once strictly associated with parallel cinema.

FactSnippet No. 1,804,412
4.

Hindi films's column entitled "On the Bollywood Beat" covered studio news and celebrity gossip.

FactSnippet No. 1,804,413
5.

The Hindi films explored social themes, primarily dealing with working-class life in India in the first two examples.

FactSnippet No. 1,804,414
6.

Some best-known epic films of Hindi cinema were produced at this time, such as K Asif's Mughal-e-Azam.

FactSnippet No. 1,804,415
7.

Masala Hindi films made Amitabh Bachchan the biggest star of the period.

FactSnippet No. 1,804,416
8.

Hindi films cinema experienced another period of stagnation during the late 1980s with a box-office decline due to increasing violence, a decline in musical quality, and a rise in video piracy.

FactSnippet No. 1,804,417
9.

The Hindi films featured actors whose performances were often praised by critics.

FactSnippet No. 1,804,418
10.

Some Hindi films starring Aamir Khan, from Taare Zameen Par and 3 Idiots to Dangal and Secret Superstar, have been credited with redefining and modernising the masala film with a distinct brand of socially conscious cinema.

FactSnippet No. 1,804,419
11.

Urdu and related Hindi films dialects were the most widely understood across northern India, and Hindustani became the standard language of early Indian talkies.

FactSnippet No. 1,804,420
12.

Todd Stadtman identifies several foreign influences on 1970s commercial Bollywood masala Hindi films, including New Hollywood, Italian exploitation Hindi films, and Hong Kong martial arts cinema.

FactSnippet No. 1,804,421
13.

Hindi films have had a socio-political impact on Indian society, reflecting Indian politics.

FactSnippet No. 1,804,422
14.

Salim-Javed and Bachchan's Hindi films dealt with urban poverty, corruption and organised crime; they were perceived by audiences as anti-establishment, often with an "angry young man" protagonist presented as a vigilante or anti-hero whose suppressed rage voiced the anguish of the urban poor.

FactSnippet No. 1,804,423
15.

Hindi films have been a significant form of soft power for India, increasing its influence and changing overseas perceptions of India.

FactSnippet No. 1,804,424
16.

The sports film Lagaan was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, and two other Hindi films were nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Film Not in the English Language.

FactSnippet No. 1,804,425
17.

Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire, which won four Golden Globes and eight Academy Awards, was inspired by mainstream Hindi films and is considered an "homage to Hindi commercial cinema".

FactSnippet No. 1,804,426
18.

Hindi films are primarily musicals, and are expected to have catchy song-and-dance numbers woven into the script.

FactSnippet No. 1,804,427
19.

Studies have indicated that some people, unaware that changing fashion in Bollywood Hindi films is often influenced by globalisation, consider the clothes worn by Bollywood actors as authentically Indian.

FactSnippet No. 1,804,428
20.

Post-Independence, Hindi films tended to use a colloquial register of Hindustani, mutually intelligible by Hindi and Urdu speakers, but the use of the latter has declined over years.

FactSnippet No. 1,804,429
21.

Some Hindi films have used regional dialects to evoke a village setting, or archaic Urdu in medieval historical Hindi films.

FactSnippet No. 1,804,430
22.

Encyclopedia of Hindi films Cinema noted a number of top Urdu writers for preserving the language through film.

FactSnippet No. 1,804,431
23.

Song lyrics are often about love and, especially in older Hindi films, frequently used the poetic vocabulary of court Urdu, with a number of Persian loanwords.

FactSnippet No. 1,804,432
24.

Commercial Indian Hindi films are known for their lack of ambient sound, and the Arriflex 3 camera necessitated dubbing.

FactSnippet No. 1,804,433
25.

Many song-and-dance routines in Indian Hindi films contain unrealistically-quick shifts of location or changes of costume between verses of a song.

FactSnippet No. 1,804,434
26.

Bollywood Hindi films are multi-million dollar productions, with the most expensive productions costing up to 1 billion.

FactSnippet No. 1,804,435
27.

Funding for Bollywood Hindi films often comes from private distributors and a few large studios.

FactSnippet No. 1,804,436
28.

Satellite TV, television and imported foreign Hindi films are making inroads into the domestic Indian entertainment market.

FactSnippet No. 1,804,437
29.

Bollywood Hindi films are popular in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nepal, where Hindustani is widely understood.

FactSnippet No. 1,804,438
30.

Bollywood Hindi films are popular in Southeast Asia, particularly in maritime Southeast Asia.

FactSnippet No. 1,804,439
31.

India has cultural ties with Indonesia, and Bollywood Hindi films were introduced to the country at the end of World War II in 1945.

FactSnippet No. 1,804,440
32.

Some Bollywood Hindi films have been widely appreciated in China, Japan, and South Korea.

FactSnippet No. 1,804,441
33.

Several Hindi films have been commercially successful in Japan, including Mehboob Khan's Aan and Aziz Mirza's Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman.

FactSnippet No. 1,804,442
34.

Hindi films declined significantly in popularity in China during the 1980s.

FactSnippet No. 1,804,443
35.

Several Khan Hindi films, including Taare Zameen Par, 3 Idiots, and Dangal, are highly rated on Douban.

FactSnippet No. 1,804,444
36.

Bollywood Hindi films are popular in the former Soviet Union, and have been dubbed into Russian.

FactSnippet No. 1,804,445
37.

Three hundred Indian Hindi films were released in the Soviet Union after that; most were Bollywood Hindi films with higher average audience figures than domestic Soviet productions.

FactSnippet No. 1,804,446
38.

Fifty Indian Hindi films had over 20 million viewers, compared to 41 Hollywood Hindi films.

FactSnippet No. 1,804,447
39.

The Hindi films from Bollywood strengthened family values, which was a big factor for their popularity with the government authorities in the Soviet Union.

FactSnippet No. 1,804,448
40.

Hindi films was introduced to Polish audiences with the 2005 release of Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham.

FactSnippet No. 1,804,449
41.

Bollywood Hindi films are often covered in Gazeta Wyborcza, formerly Poland's largest newspaper.

FactSnippet No. 1,804,450
42.

Hindi films have become popular in Arab countries, and imported Indian films are usually subtitled in Arabic when they are released.

FactSnippet No. 1,804,451
43.

Bollywood Hindi films are not influential in most of South America, although its culture and dance is recognised.

FactSnippet No. 1,804,452
44.

Hindi films were originally distributed to some parts of Africa by Lebanese businessmen.

FactSnippet No. 1,804,453
45.

The latter "don't base themselves on the problems of the people"; Indian Hindi films are based on socialist values and the reality of developing countries emerging from years of colonialism.

FactSnippet No. 1,804,454
46.

Many Bollywood Hindi films have been commercially successful in the United Kingdom.

FactSnippet No. 1,804,455
47.

Bollywood Hindi films are dubbed in German and shown regularly on the German television channel RTL II.

FactSnippet No. 1,804,456
48.

Hindi films has a large German fan base, particularly in Berlin.

FactSnippet No. 1,804,457
49.

Since the mid-1990s, a number of Indian Hindi films have been largely shot in New York, Los Angeles, Vancouver or Toronto.

FactSnippet No. 1,804,458