Channel 4’s annual autumn Hindi cinema/Bollywood film season will this year have the theme “Movie Mahal: The Golden Age of Indian Cinema”.
The season starts with a documentary of the same name on Sunday night/Monday morning at 0:45am, focussing on the ‘glory years’ of Indian cinema from the late 1940s to the early 1960s. Indian cinema was at the peak of its glamour during this period, a time when it most closely resembled the movie industry in Hollywood. At this time the two cinemas also had the shared characteristics of the studio star system and the rise of the independent auteur such as Chaplin and Raj Kapoor. Since then the two industries have diverged considerably, perhaps never to so closely resemble each other again, but many commentators regard that period as the one in which Indian cinema was at the height of its power and creativity.
The season showcases some of the most popular, most critically admired and most successful Hindi films ever, featuring some of India’s most enduring actors and directors, including Nargis, Raj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar, Guru Dutt, Waheeda Rehman, Vyjayanthimala, Johnny Walker and, although coming much later than the others — in 1975 — Amitabh Bachchan. Most of the season’s films appear in Rachel Dwyer’s BFI book “100 Bollywood Films”.
Channel 4’s movies will be shown on Sunday and Monday nights on Channel 4. The full list is:
Mother India (Sunday 6th September)
Andaaz (Monday 7th September)
Mahal (Sunday 13th September)
Mr & Mrs 55 (Monday 14th September)
Pyaasa (Sunday 20th September)
Madhumati (Monday 21st September)
Awaara (Sunday 27th September)
Shree 420 (Monday 28th September)
Junglee (Sunday 4th October)
Mere Mehboob (Monday 5th October)
Gunja Jumna (Sunday 11th October)
Sholay (Monday 12th October)
Tags: Bollywood, channel 4, hindi cinema