The Indian Cinema (1970s -1980s)

The seventies saw the mainstream cinema turning more explosive and violent, although romantic and good off beat movies continued. This period can be best described as the era of Amitabh Bachchan, who marched onto the Hindi filmdom with a great bang with his Zanjeer (1971). Amitabh introduced the 'Angry Young Man' as protagonist in Hindi cinema. Amitabh, in fact, became a one-man industry and came to be known as the first Superstar. His other films like Deewar, Sholay (1975), Khoon Pasina, Hera Pheri, Muqaddar ka Sikandar, Inquilab, etc followed the same trend and became great block-busters. Amitabh also made a mark in serious as well as humorous roles in films like Kabhi Kabhi, Amar Akbar Anthony, Namak Halal, etc. The seventies also saw the release of the first 70mm film in the form of Ramesh Sippy's Sholay. Do Gaz Zameen Ke Neeche (1972) established the Ramsay Brothers and the horror genre in Hindi cinema. The mythological film Jai Shantoshi Maa (1975) was a great hit. Amrit Nahata made his Kissa Kursi Ka in 1976, which was a political satire on the Emergency. The other notable films of the decade were Asit Sen's Safar; Chetan Anand's Heer Ranjha; Manoj Kumar's Purab Aur Paschim; Raj Kapoor’s Bobby; Johnny Mera Naam; Seeta Aur Geeta; Ram Aur Shyam and Victoria No 203. The film Heer Ranjha was unique in the sense the whole film was written in lyrics by Kaifi Azmi.

The eighties saw the advent of women film-makers, Vijaya Mehta (Rao Saheb), Aparna Sen (36, Chowringhee Lane, Paroma), Sai Paranjpye (Chashme Baddoor, Katha, Sparsh), Kalpana Lajmi (Ek Pal and, later the much acclaimed Rudali), Prema Karanth (Phaniamma) and Meera Nair (Salaam Bombay). Shammi Kapoor, Sunil Dutt, Sanjiv Kumar, Feroz Khan, Dharmendra, Jitender, Shashi Kapoor, Vinod Khanna, Rishi Kapoor and Mithun Chakravarty were the other important male leads of the eighties. Mumtaz, Hema Malani, Sharmila Tagore, Zeenat Aman, Parveen Babi, Rakhi, Rekha and Rati Agnihotri were the important female leads. Among the all-time great villains, Ajit, Madan Puri, Prem Nath, Prem Chopra, Pran, Ranjeet, Amjad Khan, Shakti Kapoor, Gulshan Grover, Amrish Puri and Sadashiv Amrapurkar are notable. Some of the best comedians of Hindi cinema include Bhagwan, Johnny Walker, Mukhri, Rajendra Nath, Mehmood, Jagdeep, Asrani, Khader Khan, Satish Kaushik and Johnny Lever. Among the vamps, mention may be made of Lalita Pawar, Shashi Kala, Nadira, Helen, Faryaal, Bindu and Aruna Irani.