Indian Cinema, Radio and Television, Newspapers and Periodicals

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Names Associated with Indian Music

  • Ustad Alla Rakha - A master of the Tabla.
  • Bala Murali Krishna - A singer of Carnatic music.
  • Bhim Sen Joshi - A Hindustani singer.
  • Pt. Hari Prasad Chaurasya - Flute player.
  • Pt. Jasraj - Famous singer of Hindustani music.
  • Parveen Sulthana - Hindustan style singer.
  • Neralathu Ramapothuval - Sopanam.
  • M. S. Subha Lakshmi - Carnatic music. (1998 Bharat Ratna) .
  • Swathi Thirunal - Maharaja of Travancore who composed many ‘varnas and kritis’ .
  • Ustad Zakir Hussain - Tabla.
  • Ustad Amjad Ali Khan - Sarod
  • Begum Akhtar - Gazal singer
  • Bismillah Khan – Shennai player
  • Pt. Shiv Kumar Sharma - Santhoor
  • Lalgudi Jayaraman - Violin
  • Pt. Ravi Shankar - Sitar player of world fame.

Personalities Associated with Indian Dance

  • Rukmini Devi Arundale - Associated with Bharatnatyam; founded Kalakshetra.
  • T. Balasaraswathi - Bharatanatyam.
  • Yamini Krishnamurthy - Famous exponent of Bharatnatyam and Kuchipudi.
  • Birju Maharaj - One of the best known Kathak dancers and a choreographer.
  • Sonal Mansingh - A notable Odissi and Bharatnatyam dancer.
  • Rabindranath Tagore helped Manipuri dance gain prominence in the early 20th century by introducing it in his Shantiniketan.
  • Prominent Indian artists associated with painting are Amrita Shergil, M. F. Hussain, Jamini Roy, Nandalal Bose etc.

Indian Cinema

  • Dadasaheb Phalke, the producer of India՚s first indigenous feature film ‘Raja Harishchandra’ (1913) is considered to be the Father of Indian Cinema.
  • The first talkie film ‘Alam Ara’ was produced in 1931 by Ardeshir Irani.
  • India tops in the world in respect of production of feature films.
  • The film producing centre in Mumbai (Bombay) is known as Bollywood.
  • The most prestigious award in the Indian film world is Dada Saheb Phalke Award instituted by the Government of India.
  • The name of the award given to male actors in India is the Bharat Award and the award given to actresses is the Urvasi Award.
  • Swarna Kamal (Golden Kamal) is the name of the award given to the best film of the year by the Government of India.
  • Adi Shankara directed by G. V. Iyer is the first Sanskrit film in India.
  • Satyajit Ray was the world-renowned Indian director. His first film was Pathar Panjali. He won a special Oscar Award.
  • The first Indian to win an Oscar was Bhanu Athiya. The first cinemascope film in India was Kagaz ki Phool.
  • The National Film Archieves of India is located at Pune.
  • The first actress of the Indian cinema to win a Padmashri Award was Nurgis Dutt (1958) .
  • Sivaji Ganesan was the first Indian to win the Chevalier award instituted by the French Government.
  • The first winner of the Dada Saheb Phalke Award was Devika Rani Roerich (1969) . She is known as the ‘Lady of Indian Film’ .
  • M. G. Ramachandran was the first film star to become the Chief Minister of an Indian State.
  • The first International Film Festival of India was held in 1952.
  • The 2002 International Film Festival of India took place in New Delhi.

Radio and Television

  • Radio broadcasting started in India in 1927 with privately owned transmitters at Mumbai and Calcutta. It was named All India Radio (AIR) in 1936 and later became to be known as Akashvani since 1957.
  • The experimental telecast of Doordarshan started in Delhi in 1959. The national programme and other transmissions started in 1982. Doordarshan Commercial Service started in 1986.

Newspapers and Periodicals

  • The first newspaper in India was James A. Hickey՚s Bengal Gazette published in 1780 in Calcutta.
  • The largest number of newspapers is published in the State of Uttar Pradesh and the language in which the maximum number of newspapers is published is Hindi.
  • The oldest existing newspaper in India is Bombay Samachar published in 1822 in Gujarati. The oldest existing English daily is the Times of India (1838) .
  • Malayala Manorama enjoys the distinction of being the newspaper with the highest circulation and the Times of India is the largest selling English daily.
  • There are four main news agencies in India. They are (1) Press Trust of India (PTI) (2) United News of India (UNI) (3) Samachar Bharati and (4) Hindustan Samachar. PTI and UNI supply news in English and the other two are operating through the medium of Hindi and other Indian languages.
  • The Press Trust of India was the first news agency in India.