50 Fun Facts About Indian Cinema

Which Hindi film villain played the cult priest Mola Ram in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom?

Amrish Puri shaved his head for the part and kept it shaved afterwards. Hindi film fans know him best as Mogambo, the villain of the 1987 hit Mr. India.

Which Hindi 'curry western' sends two small-time crooks after the bandit Gabbar Singh?

Sholay ran for more than five years at Mumbai's Minerva theatre. Its villain was modelled on a real dacoit of the same name who menaced villages around Gwalior in the 1950s.

Which Hindi romance has played at Mumbai's Maratha Mandir cinema for more than 1,000 weeks?

Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge opened in October 1995 and reached its 1,000th week of daily shows in December 2014. Its European scenes were filmed around Gstaad and Saanen in Switzerland.

Which composer, nicknamed the Mozart of Madras, won two Oscars for Slumdog Millionaire?

A. R. Rahman took both Best Original Score and Best Original Song at the 2009 ceremony. Born Dileep Kumar, he changed his name around the time his family converted to Islam in 1989.

Which dance number from the Telugu epic RRR was the first song from an Indian film to win an Oscar?

Naatu Naatu was shot in August 2021 at the Mariinskyi Palace in Ukraine. It was also the first Indian song to win the Golden Globe for Best Original Song.

Which Oscar-nominated Hindi film has villagers bet their taxes on a cricket match with the British?

Lagaan, set in 1893, was the third Indian film nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Its title is the Hindi word for the land tax the drought-hit farmers cannot pay.

Which Hindi wrestling drama about the Phogat sisters earned more than $200 million in China alone?

Dangal follows Mahavir Singh Phogat as he trains his daughters Geeta and Babita to be world-class wrestlers. It also won the first Best Asian Film prize at Australia's AACTA Awards.

Which Indian city has Ramoji Film City, listed by Guinness as the world's largest studio complex?

Hyderabad's Ramoji Film City opened in 1996 and earned its Guinness World Records title in 2005. It was conceived by media proprietor and film producer Ramoji Rao.

Which host of Kaun Banega Crorepati once failed an audition to read the news on All India Radio?

Amitabh Bachchan applied to be a newsreader in Delhi in the late 1960s. A few years later Zanjeer (1973) gave him the 'angry young man' persona that made him a superstar.

Which Tamil superstar worked as a bus conductor in Bangalore before he began acting in films?

Rajinikanth was born Shivaji Rao Gaikwad to a Marathi family in Bangalore. Before joining the city's transport service he had also worked as a coolie.

Which 1913 silent film, with men in the female roles, is often called the first Indian feature?

Raja Harishchandra came about after its director watched The Life of Christ in a Bombay theatre in 1911. It premiered at the city's Olympia Theatre in April 1913.

Which 1931 film directed by Ardeshir Irani is widely regarded as the first sound film made in India?

Alam Ara is now a lost film, with no print known to survive, only stills and posters. Irani was inspired to make it after seeing the American part-talkie Show Boat.

Which pioneer, called the father of Indian cinema, gives his name to the country's top film award?

Dadasaheb Phalke ran a printing press before he turned to film. The government award named after him was first presented in 1969.

Which 1957 Hindi epic was the first Indian film nominated for an Oscar, losing by a single vote?

Mother India lost the 1958 foreign-language award to Federico Fellini's Nights of Cabiria. It was also the very first film the country submitted for the category.

Which costume designer became the first Indian to win an Oscar, for Richard Attenborough's Gandhi?

Bhanu Athaiya shared the 1983 costume design prize with John Mollo. In 2012 she returned the trophy to the Academy.

Whose Cinématographe had its first screening in India at Bombay's Watson's Hotel in 1896?

The Lumière brothers' moving pictures reached Bombay in the same year they became a worldwide sensation. The hotel's other famous guests included Mark Twain, who wrote about the crows outside his balcony.

Which star, called the First Lady of Indian cinema, was the first winner of India's top film honour?

Devika Rani received the honour in 1969. Her grandmother was a sister of the Nobel-winning poet Rabindranath Tagore.

Which Guru Dutt drama about a film director was the first Indian film made in CinemaScope?

Kaagaz Ke Phool flopped so badly that it was the last film Guru Dutt officially directed. It was rediscovered as a cult classic in the 1980s.

Which Chetan Anand film shared the top prize at the very first Cannes Film Festival in 1946?

Neecha Nagar shared the Grand Prix with ten other films, among them Brief Encounter and Rome, Open City. Its title translates as Lowly City.

Which Bengali director of the Apu Trilogy received an honorary Oscar just weeks before his death?

Satyajit Ray was presented with the award by Audrey Hepburn over a video link, 24 days before he died. He was the first Indian to receive an honorary Oscar.

Which actor, dubbed the Baadshah of Bollywood, began his career in the 1989 television serial Fauji?

Shah Rukh Khan made his Hindi film debut three years later in the musical romance Deewana. The 1992 hit won him a prize for best male debut.

Which playback singer, honoured with the Bharat Ratna in 2001, was known as the Queen of Melody?

Lata Mangeshkar recorded songs in more than thirty-six Indian languages. In 1974 she became the first Indian playback singer to perform at London's Royal Albert Hall.

Which actor-director, inspired by Chaplin's Tramp, became a star in the Soviet Union with Awaara?

Raj Kapoor's Awaara drew about 100 million admissions in the Soviet Union. He returned to the Chaplin-style tramp in Shree 420 and Mera Naam Joker.

Which winner of Miss World 1994 became the first Indian actress on the Cannes Film Festival jury?

Aishwarya Rai joined the Cannes jury in 2003. She had planned to become an architect before modelling took over.

Which Hindi film star, born in Copenhagen, played national-level badminton as a teenager?

Deepika Padukone is the daughter of badminton player Prakash Padukone and was raised in Bangalore. Her first Hindi release was the romance Om Shanti Om in 2007.

Which Hindi film director, famed for Alpine romances, was made Ambassador of Interlaken in 2011?

Yash Chopra filmed so often in the Alps that the Swiss government honoured him for helping to rediscover Switzerland. Bond actress Ursula Andress presented the award.

Which musician, later linked with Beatle George Harrison, scored the Bengali film Pather Panchali?

Ravi Shankar had seen only about half the film in a rough cut before he composed its background score. He built the music on classical ragas, played mostly on the sitar.

Which Tamil screen idol served as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu from 1977 until his death?

M. G. Ramachandran led his AIADMK party to victory in the 1977 state election. Apart from a four-month break in 1980, he stayed in office until he died in 1987.

Which Tamil director's gangster epic Nayakan made Time magazine's list of the 100 greatest films?

Mani Ratnam based the film loosely on the Bombay underworld don Varadarajan Mudaliar. He also directed Roja, Bombay and Dil Se.

Which actress, called Indian cinema's first female superstar, began acting as a small child in Tamil films?

Sridevi first appeared in the 1967 Tamil film Kandhan Karunai, playing the child god Murugan. Fifty years later the crime thriller Mom was billed as her 300th film.

Which epic of Prince Salim and Anarkali was the first black-and-white Hindi film digitally coloured?

Mughal-e-Azam returned to cinemas in colour in November 2004. For one song, its vast Sheesh Mahal set was lit with the headlights of 500 trucks.

Which two-part Telugu epic by S. S. Rajamouli is set in the fictional kingdom of Mahishmati?

Baahubali: The Beginning was the most expensive Indian film of its time when it opened in 2015. It was shot in both Telugu and Tamil.

Which Hindi campus comedy was loosely adapted from Chetan Bhagat's novel Five Point Someone?

3 Idiots follows three friends at an engineering college across two timelines set ten years apart. It is a satire on the pressures of the Indian education system.

Which Bengali novel of a lover torn between Paro and Chandramukhi has been filmed some twenty times?

Devdas was written by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay and published in 1917. Its heroine Paro was based on the real-life second wife of a zamindar.

Which Irrfan Khan film has a widowed Mumbai accountant trade notes with a woman he has never met?

The Lunchbox begins when Mumbai's dabbawalas deliver Ila's home-cooked meal to the wrong man, Saajan. It won the Critics' Week viewers' choice award at Cannes in 2013.

Which Meena Kumari film about a Lucknow courtesan took 15 years to make?

Pakeezah began shooting in 1956 and was finished only in November 1971. Meena Kumari died on 31 March 1972, eight weeks after the premiere.

Which Malayalam thriller starring Mohanlal was remade in China as Sheep Without a Shepherd?

Drishyam was remade in four other Indian languages within two years of its 2013 release. A Sinhala version followed before the Chinese hit of 2019.

Which Mira Nair film about a Punjabi family in Delhi won the Golden Lion at Venice?

Monsoon Wedding is set entirely in New Delhi but was produced by companies from five countries. It first screened in the film market at Cannes in 2001.

Which Tamil-language documentary short, set in Mudumalai National Park, won an Oscar in 2023?

The Elephant Whisperers follows Bomman and Bellie, a couple entrusted with an orphaned calf named Raghu. Its director spent about a year and a half with Raghu before filming.

Which 1984 Malayalam children's fantasy was the first Indian film shot in 3D?

My Dear Kuttichathan has three children free the goblin from an evil sorcerer's spell. A Hindi dub, Chhota Chetan, became a box-office hit in 1998.

Which nickname for Tamil cinema takes its first letter from a studio-filled Chennai neighbourhood?

Kollywood is a portmanteau of Hollywood and Kodambakkam, the Chennai district with a high concentration of film studios.

Which southern Indian language was the gold-mining action saga KGF: Chapter 1 originally filmed in?

Kannada cinema had never made a costlier film than KGF: Chapter 1 when it opened in 2018. Its story centres on the Kolar Gold Fields.

Which flower names the Swarna Kamal and Rajat Kamal prizes at India's National Film Awards?

Lotus is the meaning of kamal, so the two grades of prize are the Golden Lotus and the Silver Lotus. They are presented in New Delhi by the President of India.

Which Hindi film honours, first given in 1954, hand winners a statuette nicknamed the Black Lady?

The Filmfare Awards were first called the Clares, after Clare Mendonça, a critic at The Times of India. Only five prizes were handed out at the first ceremony.

Which state has hosted the International Film Festival of India since 2004?

Goa took over the festival after earlier editions in Mumbai, Madras, Delhi and Calcutta. Its main prize is the Golden Peacock Award.

Which city's Film and Television Institute of India stands on the old Prabhat Film Company site?

Pune became the studio's base in 1933, when Prabhat moved there from Kolhapur to be closer to Mumbai. The film school took over the site when it was established in 1960.

Which role did Hindi actor Jagdish Raj play in 144 films, a Guinness record for typecasting?

Police inspector was the uniform Jagdish Raj wore so often that it defined his career. His daughter Anita Raj also became a Hindi film actress.

Which 1937 Hindi film, made in Cinecolor, was the first colour feature produced entirely in India?

Kisan Kanya was based on a story by Saadat Hasan Manto about the struggles of poor farmers. An earlier film with colour scenes, in 1933, had to be processed and printed in Germany.

Which actress became Indian cinema's first female director with her 1926 film Bulbul-e-Paristan?

Fatma Begum launched her own production house, Fatma Films, that same year. She wrote, directed, produced and acted in its pictures.

Which Malayalam star set Guinness records for lead roles and for films opposite one heroine, Sheela?

Prem Nazir, born Abdul Khader, played the lead in roughly 700 films. In 1979 alone, 39 of his films were released.