A dark satire on political and journalistic corruption. 2. Genre-Based Index Romances & Musicals
Check the index for alternative titles. Many old Bollywood films had English titles. Meri Aankhen might be indexed as My Eyes .
Directed by Franz Osten. A landmark reformist film tackling the social issue of untouchability. old bollywood movie index
“Film number one: Kismet (1943). Did you know that during the recording of the song ‘Door Hato Ae Duniya Walo,’ the singer’s little daughter walked into the studio and started humming along? The director kept it in. Listen closely at 2 minutes, 17 seconds. That’s not a flute. That’s a child’s heart.”
Directed by Shekhar Kapur. A sensitive, critically acclaimed drama about the impact of an illegitimate child on a family. A dark satire on political and journalistic corruption
Directed by B.R. Chopra. Examined man versus machine during industrialization. 3. The Romantic and Vibrant Era (1960s)
Film students and historians use indices to track the evolution of Indian cinema. Want to study the first Bollywood film to use a playback singing technique? Your index takes you to Alam Ara (1931). Many old Bollywood films had English titles
| | Key Features | | :--- | :--- | | National Film Archive of India (NFAI) | India's premier film preservation institution; maintains a vast collection of stills, posters, and documents spanning the entire history of Indian cinema. Its research section holds over 200,000 still photographs. | | Wikipedia | A comprehensive, year-by-year index of Hindi films, starting from the industry's earliest days. It provides an accessible, well-structured overview of Bollywood's history and includes a list of films by decade of release. Wikipedia features detailed pages for specific eras, such as the first talkie, Alam Ara (1931). | | TIMDB (The Indian Movie Database) | A large, open-sourced database on Kaggle containing detailed information on thousands of Indian movies from 1950 onward. It includes 35 unique attributes per film such as cast, crew, plot summaries, ratings, and reviews. | | IMDb (Internet Movie Database) | The world's largest movie database, offering extensive information, user ratings, and lists for virtually every Bollywood film. It hosts specialized user-created lists, like "Top 50 Old Hindi Movies (till 1980)". |
Directed by Shyam Benegal. A searing critique of feudalism and caste exploitation in rural India.
Directed by Chetan Anand. A pioneering effort in parallel cinema. It won the Grand Prix at the inaugural Cannes Film Festival. 2. The Golden Age (1950s)