The first Indian film, Shree Pundalik by Dadasaheb Torne, is released in Mumbai.
Ramchandra Gopal Torne (Marathi: ) (13 April 1890 19 January 1960), also known as Dadasaheb Torne was an Indian director and producer, best known for making the first feature film in India, Shree Pundalik. This historic record is well established by an advertisement in The Times of India published on 25 May 1912. Several leading reference books on cinema including The Guinness Book of Movie Facts & Feats, A Pictorial History of Indian Cinema and Marathi Cinema : In Restrospect amply substantiate this milestone achievement of the pioneer Indian feature-filmmaker.He is considered the "Father of Indian cinema."Although Torne made his first film, Shree pundalik (, 1912) just under a year before Dhundiraj Govind "Dadasaheb" Phalke made his, it is the latter who is regarded as the father of Indian cinema. The distinction may lie with the fact that, unlike Phalke, Torne sent his film overseas for processing. Moreover, Torne's Pundalik was 1,500' (c. 22 minutes) long, about 1,200' shorter than Phalke's Raja Harischandra, which ran for about 40 minutes.
The cinema of India comprises films produced in India, where more than 1800 movies are produced annually. Major centres of film production in the country include Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kolkata, New Delhi, Amritsar, Kochi, Bangalore, Bhubaneshwar-Cuttack, and Guwahati. As of 2018, India ranked first in terms of annual film output. In 2015, India had a total box office gross of US$2.1 billion, the third largest in the world. The overall revenue of Indian cinema reached US$2.7 billion in 2019.The industry is segmented by language. In 2019, the Hindi film industry represented 44% of box office revenue, followed by the Tamil and the Telugu film industries, each representing 13%. Other prominent film industries include Malayalam and Kannada film industries representing 5% each, as well as Bengali, Marathi, Punjabi and Bhojpuri film industries, representing the 5% combined. By 2020, the combined revenue of all other film industries has surpassed that of the Hindi film industry. In 2021, Telugu cinema was the largest film industry of India in terms of box-office.Indian cinema is a global enterprise, and the films have a following throughout Southern Asia and across Europe, North America, Asia, the Greater Middle East, Eastern Africa, China and elsewhere, reaching over 90 countries. Films like Bahubali: The Beginning were dubbed in more than three languages, thus starting a Pan-India films movement. Millions of Indians overseas watch Indian films, accounting for some 12% of revenues.Major Indian enterprises in the film industry include Modern Theatres, AVM Productions, Sun Pictures, AGS Entertainment, Geetha Arts, Zee, Mythri Movie Makers, UTV, Suresh Productions, Eros International, Aascar Films and Yash Raj Films.