April 21st 1913 was the date that Dadasaheb Phalke featured his film “Raja Harishchandra” at the Olympia Theatre in Mumbai. This was the first truly indian feature film produced.

Today Bollywood enters its 100th year and marks a moment when festivities, awards, commemorations and nostalgia will all take centre stage on the Bollywood scene.

There was no looking back from that date- Indian film production has gone from strength to strength.  It was only the other day when I was introducing Bhachain Patel whose recent book called “Bollywoods Top 20” celebrates  some of Bollywoods greatest stars through a series of essays. His book is a timely reminder of  20 of the greatest stars in Bollywood particularly those early stars of the fledgling industry. I read with interest the stories of how they rose to stardom as with the unassuming K. L Saigal and the more recent  Bollywood branding giant ,SRK. 

For anyone living here there is a must see list of Bollywood films. After asking some friends, the recommendations are :

Mother India 1957

Mughal el Azam 1960

Ram Aur Shyam 1967

Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro 1983

My name is Khan 2009

Three Idiots 2009

Today India is the largest producer of movies in the world. The movie industry has come a long way in 100 years.