印度,人口众多,国家贫困,电视机稀少,然而电影生产却十分忙碌,年产量为世界之首,年产七百多部,平均达到约每天出品两部的境地。在这个国家,电影被人奉若神明,简直连全盛时期的好莱坞也望尘奠及。不久前,美国的一位影评家评论说,总的说来,印度电影象一个可怕的大杂烩,是世界上最糟糕的影片,它既有渲染暴力、赤裸裸的罪行与俗不可耐的英雄加美人之类的好莱坞糟粕,亦有毫无结构的故事、硬加进去的歌舞,以及印度文化中那些使人迷茫不解的东西;它使人难受又使人莫名其妙。在另一方面,电影在印度,却又是一种非常强大的力量,反映了这个古老社会的极其艰难的成长过程。在印度历史上曾有过两种不同的电影制作业,北部的印地语影片和南部的泰米尔语影片曾是印度电影的两大流派。第二次世界大战前,印度电影界酷似美国的好 India, with its large population, poor countries and sparsely populated television sets, has a busy schedule of producing films. It has the highest annual production in the world with an annual output of 700 or so and an average of about two films a day. In this country, the movie was enshrined in the gods, even the heyday of Hollywood is also to pay close attention to. Not long ago, a commentator in the United States commented that, on the whole, Indian cinema is like a terrible hodgepodge, and it is the worst film in the world. It has both exaggerated violence, naked crimes and immoral heroes and Americans Hollywood dross, unstructured stories, hard-edged song and dance, and confusing things in Indian culture that make people uncomfortable and bizarre. On the other hand, the film is a very powerful force in India and reflects the extremely difficult process of growth in this ancient society. There have been two different types of filmmaking in the history of India. The Hindi Hindi films in the north and the Tamil films in the south were the two major genres of Indian films. Before World War II, the Indian film industry resembles the United States