|| Introduction || Silent Movies || The Era of Talkies || The Early Films-I ||  ||  The Early Films-II || 
||Recent Films || Star Kids ||  || Melody & Music || ||Parallel or New Cinema || || Regional Cinema ||
 || Bengali Cinema|| || Kannada Cinema|| || Malayalam Cinema|| || Tamil Cinema || || Telugu Cinema||
||English Films ||  || Bollywood in International Arena || ||Film Censorship ||Film Journalism ||
 ||Film Awards || Famous Cine Personalities ||

The motion pictures were first imported and exhibited in India on July 7, 1896, when the Lumiere Brothers, the inventors of cinematograph, unveiled six soundless short films at Watson Hotel, Esplanade Mansion in Bombay. In 1897 an unknown foreign photographer shot the first short films, Cocoanut Fair and Our Indian Empire. In 1898, two Italians, Colorello and Cornaglia organised film shows in tents at Azad Maidan in Bombay. In January 1898 three other imported narrative films The Death of Nelson, Noah's Ark and Call on the London Fire Brigade were exhibited. The first exposing of celluloid in camera by an Indian and its consequent screening took place in 1899, when Harishchandra Bhatvadekar (Save Dada) shot two short films and exhibited them under Edison's projecting kinetoscope. Hiralal Sen and F.B. Thanawalla were two other Indian pioneers engaged in the production of short films in Calcutta and Bombay in 1900. Thanawalla made short films like Splendid New Views of Bombay and Taboot Procession in 1900, while Sen made his own short film Indian Life and Scenes in 1903.

Short narrative films continued to be imported and shown in India. Some of these famous films were Life of Christ (1901), Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp (1902), Alibaba and 40 Thieves (1903) and Napolean Bonaparte (1904). Around 1902, J.F. Madan and Abdullah Esoofally launched their career with Bioscope shows of imported short films. The first cinema was established in 1900 in Madras by Major Warwick. In 1907 Jamshedjee Madan opened the Elphinstone Picture Palace in Calcutta. Madan's early films were topicals of historic value like Great Bengal Partition Movement and Procession (1905), Delhi Durbar and Coronation (1911) and Cotton Fire at Bombay (1912). In South India, Madras's first permanent cinema, the Gaiety, was built by R.Venkaiah and R.S.Prakash. In 1916 Universal Pictures set up Hollywood's first agency in India.

• Introduction
• History of Indian Cinema
• Silent Movies of India
• Era of Indian Talkies
• Early Indian Films
• Films of the 1970s and 1980s
• Melody and Music
• Recent Hindi Films
• Parallel Cinema
• English Films
• Indian Cinema in International Arena
• Regional Cinema
• Bengali Cinema
• Kannada Cinema
• Malayalam Cinema
• Tamil Cinema
• Telugu Cinema
• Film Censorship
• Film Journalism
• Star Kids in Indian Cinema
• Famous personalities of Indian Cinema
• Famous Cinepersonalities of Indian

|| Introduction || Silent Movies || The Era of Talkies || The Early Films-I ||  ||  The Early Films-II || Recent Films || Star Kids || 
|| Melody & Music || ||Parallel or New Cinema || || Regional Cinema || || Bengali Cinema||
|| Kannada Cinema|| || Malayalam Cinema|| || Tamil Cinema || || Telugu Cinema|| ||English Films ||
|| Bollywood in nternational Arena || ||Film Censorship ||Film Journalism || ||Film Awards || Famous Cine Personalities ||