The history of world cinema dates back to 1895 when the first motion picture was produced and exhibited in Paris and since then cinema has never looked back. Recently in 1995, it completed a hundred years and this occasion was celebrated all over the world with much pomp and ceremony. Cinema originated in its raw form only as moving pictures but with the gradual passage of time, it steadfastly kept on improving its form and presentation to reach its present status. The primary reason for its continuous progress and tremendous technical advancement was the mass popularity it achieved as a major source of entertainment till the advent of television.

To go back to the birth of cinema, the root can be traced to a machine called kinetoscope which was invented by Thomas Edison in 1891. This machine showed moving pictures for the first time. But a little later, two French brothers called Auguste and Louis Lumiere built a similar machine called cinematographe. This machine could project pictures from a piece of film onto a screen as this had a camera as well as a projector. The pictures were shown one after another in rapid succession and the images on the screen appeared to move. The Lumiere brothers produced the world’s first motion picture in 1895 and gave the world’s first public show in Paris in the same year.

The early films were in black and white, the movements were very jerky and they had no sound. They are called ‘silent cinemas’ as the images did not produce any sound effects on the screen. In the initial days, only news items and real events were shown in the films but the later film-makers made films with their own stories. The actors played the role of the imaginary characters in the stories. The Lumiere brothers made the first story film ‘Watering the Gardener’.

The silent cinema proved to be a great success though tickets were very expensive and as a result huge profits were earned. Consequently large investments were made to improvise and upgrade the technology which gave rise to the use of various types of special effects in the movies. Dance and song sequences, lavish costumes and specially designed sets or background were gradually added to make the scenes more impressive and glamourous.

The phenomenal growth in popularity of the films laid the foundation of a star system even in those days. An unknown girl named Florence Lawrence (later renamed Mary Pickford) became the world’s sweetheart and the first star to earn a million dollar from acting. After the First World War the American films became grand successes when they cheered the war-torn world and entertained the people thus enabling them to forget their miseries and bitter memories of the war. Hollywood city in California became the film city of the world.

One of the greatest achievements in the history of cinema was the introduction of sound films or talkies which gained instant popularity. The first sound film or talkie which made its appearance suddenly in the year 1927 in New York was ‘The Jazz Singer’. It was a runaway success thus ending the era of silent films. The invasion of sound films also ended the career of some prominent actors of the silent era who had an unpleasant voice. The sound effects made cinema look more real creating greater effects on the audience. Gradually more and more audiovisual effects and techniques were introduced in films, for example, colour cinematography, bigger screen, 3-D films, stereophonic sound etc.

India never lagged behind in this race and always kept pace with the changes and developments in the world of cinema. The first film show was held in 1896, a year after the birth of cinema. India produced its first motion picture by the close of the 19th century. But the first feature film in India was made in 1913 when Dada Saheb Phalke produced the legendary film ‘Raja Harishchandra’.

The era of sound films or talkie began in India with the exhibition of ‘Alam Ara’ in 1931, made by Ardeshir Ira

The first cinemascope film in India was ‘Kaagaz ke Phool’ in 1959 in black and white. Playback singing was introduced for the first time in India in ‘Puran Bhakta’ in 1932. The first 3-D film in India was ‘My Dear Kuttichathan’ made in 1984 in Malayalam.

Now facing a great challenge from the satellite television channels and cable network, the cinema industry is continuously upgrading its technology to overcome these challenges. Superb special effects, both in cinematography and sound, are now used to maintain its superiority over video and television.