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South Asian cinema
Cinema of Afghanistan Cinema of Bangladesh Bengali cinema Cinema of India Assamese cinema Bengali cinema Bollywood Karnataka cinema Kollywood Malayalam cinema Tollywood Cinema of Nepal Cinema of Pakistan Cinema of Sri Lanka

South Asian cinema refers to the cinema of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and the Maldives. Afghanistan is sometimes included in this category, due to its geographical and historical assotiation with Indic culture, although it bears more close cultural affinity with West Asia and Central Asia in modern times. The region of South Asia bears close cultural and religious ties with the regions of East Asia and South East Asia, although the influence of Abrahamic culture and religion from West Asia means Pakistan bears moderate commonality with that culture too. 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.

Contents 1 Styles and genres 2 Regional industry 2.1 Indian cinema 2.2 Pakistani cinema 2.3 Bangladeshi cinema 3 Key figures of South Asian cinema 3.1 Directors 3.2 Actors 3.3 Actresses 4 See also 5 Further reading

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 and Pakistan, is usually centered around escapism, and thus often lacks more complex intellectual themes, political plots or tragic endings. This is gradually changing with economic development, as rural poor no longer make up the majority of the audience. South Asian art cinema in comparison has always contained highly acclaimed depth and style. 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.

India contains many state languages which have film industires 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 and Tamil Nadu having produced Santosh Sivan and 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. Pakistani cinema is mainly filmed in Urdu or Punjabi, Bangladeshi cinema is filmed in Bengali and Sri Lankan cinema is filmed in Sinhala and Tamil.

• The Hindi/Hindustani film industry, based in Mumbai, formerly Bombay, is called 'Bollywood'.
• The Assamese/Boro/Missing film industry, based in Assam, Guwahati, is called 'Jollywood'.
• The Tamil film industry, based in the Kodambakkam area of Chennai, is sometimes called 'Kollywood'.
• The Bengali film industry, long centered in the Tollygunge district of Kolkata, formerly Calcutta, is called 'Tollywood'.
• The Telugu film industry, based in Hyderabad, is also called 'Tollywood'.
• The Kannada film industry, based in Karnataka, is sometimes called 'Sandalwood'.
• The Malayalam film industry, based in Kerala, is called 'Mollywood'.
• The Marathi film industry is based in Mumbai & Pune.

• The Urdu film industry, based in the city of Lahore, Punjab, is called 'Lollywood'.
• The Pashto film industry, based in the city of Peshawar, NWFP.

• The Bangladeshi film industry, based in Dhaka, is called 'Dhallywood'.

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 formost Indian directors.

• Satyajit Ray – internationally acclaimed Bengali film director, widely regarded as one of the greatest auteurs of 20th century cinema (Apu trilogy).
• 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).
• 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).
• Sudhir Mishra – Contemporary director and screenwriter (Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi, Chameli (Movie)).
• Bharathiraja – Tamil director who captured village life (Muthal Mariyathai, Vedham Pudhithu).
• 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 (Pallavi Anu Pallavi, Nayagan).
• Shekhar Kapur – British India-born director and producer (Elizabeth, Bandit Queen).
• Shyam Benegal – Important part of the New India Cinema movement (Ankur, Bhumika).
• Madhur Bhandarkar – Director and screenwriter Page 3, Chandni Bar).
• Deepa Mehta – Indian-born Canadian director best known for his "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!).
• 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, 1942: A Love Story).

• Amitabh Bachchan
• Dilip Kumar
• Ashok Kumar
• Balraj Sahni
• Shahrukh Khan
• Madhavan
• Ajith
• Kamal Hassan
• Rajinikanth
• Raj Kapoor
• Anil Kapoor
• Venkatesh
• Nana Patekar
• Rajkumar
• Rajesh Khanna
• Amrish puri
• Akkineni Nagarjuna
• Pran
• Vikram
• Shammi Kapoor
• Mammooty
• Sanjiv Kapoor
• Surya
• Mehmood
• Mahesh Babu
• Aamir Khan
• Dev Anand

• Ajay Devgan
• Abhishek Bachchan
• Akshay Kumar
• Om Puri
• Naseeruddin Shah
• Amrish Puri
• Kishore Kumar
• Chiranjivi
• Manoj Bajpai
• Mohanlal
• Saif Ali Khan
• Salman Khan
• Sanjay Dutt
• Sunil Dutt
• Sunny Deol
• Suresh Gopi
• Mukesh
• Jagathi Sreekumar
• Thilakan
• M G Ramachandran (MGR)
• Shivaji Ganeshan
• Satyan
• Jayan

• Madhubala
• Madhuri Dixit
• Nutan
• Rekha
• Aishwarya Rai
• Meena Kumari
• Devika Rani
• Vyjayanthimala
• Hema Malini
• Smita Patil
• Sridevi
• Rani Mukerji
• Manisha Koirala
• Sharmila Tagore
• Shabana Azmi
• Bipasha Basu
• Jaya Bachchan
• Nargis
• Nandita Das
• Tabu
• Dimple Kapadia
• Sushmita Sen
• Juhi Chawala
• Karishma Kapoor
• Soha Ali Khan
• Sonali Bendre
• Priyanka Chopra
• Urmila Matondkar
• Preity Zinta

• World cinema
• Asian cinema

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