Origins First motion picture was exhibited in India, in Bombay (Mumbai), in 1896 by Lumiere Brothers (Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory). First Indian motion picture was The Flower of Persia (Dr. Hira Lal) in First full-length feature film Raja Harishchandra (Dr. Dada Saheb Phalke) was made in Recently a film (Hraishchandrachi factory) was made on the making of this film and the life of Dada Saheb Phalke.

Song-dance-drama First film with sound Alam Ara (Dr. Ardeshir Irani) was made in It had 7 songs and was movie adaptation of a successful play in Parsi Theatre. Classical Theatre tradition (Natyashastra) Religious theatre (Ramlila) Secular Theatre (Parsi) On average about 200 films were being produced in India by 1930s in eight major languages including Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malyalam and Assamese. Today on average 1000 films are made every year.

Narrative Melodrama Song and dance (ballad) Family Love story (Laila-manju troupe) Early Genres Mythological cinema Social cinema Historical cinema New Genres Gangster movies Diaspora movies