Parallel cinema, orNew Indian Cinema, is a film movement inIndian cinema that originated in the state ofWest Bengal in the 1950s as an alternative to the mainstream commercial Indian cinema.

Inspired byItalian Neorealism, Parallel Cinema began just before theFrench New Wave andJapanese New Wave, and was a precursor to theIndian New Wave of the 1960s. The movement was initially led byBengali cinema and produced internationally acclaimed filmmakers such asSatyajit Ray,Mrinal Sen,Ritwik Ghatak,Tapan Sinha and others. It later gained prominence in other film industries ofIndia.

It is known for its serious content,realism andnaturalism, symbolic elements with a keen eye on thesociopolitical climate of the times, and the general rejection of inserted song-and-dance routines that are typical of mainstream Indian films.

Realism in Indian cinema dates back to the 1920s and 1930s. One of the earliest examples wasBaburao Painter's 1925silent film classicSavkari Pash (Indian Shylock), about a poor peasant (portrayed byV. Shantaram) who "loses his land to a greedy moneylender and is forced to migrate to the city to become a mill worker.^[2] Acclaimed as a realistic breakthrough, its shot of a howling dog near a hut, has become a milestone in the march of Indian cinema." The 1937 Shantaram filmDuniya Na Mane (The Unaccepted) also critiqued the treatment of women in Indian society.^[3]

The Parallel Cinema movement began to take shape from the late 1940s, by pioneers such asSatyajit Ray,Ritwik Ghatak,Bimal Roy,Mrinal Sen,Tapan Sinha,Khwaja Ahmad Abbas,Buddhadeb Dasgupta,Chetan Anand,Guru Dutt andV. Shantaram. This period is considered part of the 'Golden Age' of Indian cinema.^[4][5][6]This cinema borrowed heavily from theIndian literature of the times, hence became an important study of the contemporary Indian society, and is now used by scholars and historians alike to map the changing demographics and socio-economic as well as political temperament of the Indian populace. Right from its inception, Indian cinema has had people who wanted to and did use the medium for more than entertainment. They used it to highlight prevalent issues and sometimes to throw open new issues for the public.

Early examples of Indian cinema'ssocial realist movement includeDharti Ke Lal (1946), a film about theBengal famine of 1943 directed and written by Khwaja Ahmad Abbas,^[7] andNeecha Nagar (1946), a film directed by Chetan Anand and written by Khwaja Ahmad Abbas that won theGrand Prize at thefirst Cannes Film Festival.^[8] Since then, Indian independent films were frequently in competition for thePalme d'Or at theCannes Film Festival throughout the 1950s and early 1960s, with some of them winning major prizes at the festival.

During the 1950s and the 1960s, intellectual filmmakers and story writers became frustrated withmusical films. To counter this, they created a genre of films which depicted reality from an artful perspective. Most films made during this period were funded by state governments to promote an authentic art genre from the Indian film fraternity. The most famous Indian "neo-realist" was theBengali film directorSatyajit Ray, followed byShyam Benegal,Mrinal Sen,Adoor Gopalakrishnan,G. Aravindan andGirish Kasaravalli. Ray's most famous films werePather Panchali (1955),Aparajito (1956) andThe World of Apu (1959), which formedThe Apu Trilogy. Produced on ashoestring budget ofRs. 150,000 ($3000),^[9][10] the three films won major prizes at theCannes,Berlin andVenice Film Festivals, and are today frequently listed among thegreatest films of all time.^{[11][12][13][14]}

Certain art films have also garnered commercial success, in an industry known for its surrealism or 'fantastical' movies, and successfully combined features of both art and commercial cinema. An early example of this wasBimal Roy'sDo Bigha Zamin (1953), which was both a commercial and critical success. The film won the International Prize at the1954 Cannes Film Festival and paved the way for the Indian New Wave.^[15][16][17]Hrishikesh Mukherjee, one of Hindi cinema's most successful filmmakers, was named the pioneer of 'middle cinema', and was renowned for making films that reflected the changing middle-class ethos. According toEncyclopædia Britannica, Mukherjee "carved a middle path between the extravagance of mainstream cinema and the stark realism of art cinema".^[18] Renowned FilmmakerBasu Chatterjee also built his plots on middle-class lives and directed films likePiya Ka Ghar,Rajnigandha andEk Ruka Hua Faisla.^[19] Another filmmaker to integrate art and commercial cinema wasGuru Dutt, whose filmPyaasa (1957) featured inTime magazine's "All-TIME" 100 best movies list.^[20] The most recent example of an art film becoming commercially successful isHarpreet Sandhu's Canadian Punjabi filmWork Weather Wife; it marks the beginning of cinema in the Punjabi film industry.^[21]

In the 1960s, the Indian government began financing independent art films based on Indian themes. Many of the directors were graduates of theFilm and Television Institute of India (FTII), inPune. TheBengali film directorRitwik Ghatak was a professor at the institute and a well-known director. Unlike Ray, however, Ghatak did not gain international fame during his lifetime. For example, Ghatak'sNagarik (1952) was perhaps the earliest example of a Bengali art film, preceding Ray'sPather Panchali by three years, but was not released until after his death in 1977.^[22][23] His first commercial releaseAjantrik (1958) was also one of the earliest films to portray an inanimate object, in this case anautomobile, as a character in the story, many years before theHerbie films.^[24] The protagonist ofAjantrik, Bimal, can also be seen as an influence on the cynical cab driver Narasingh (played bySoumitra Chatterjee) in Satyajit Ray'sAbhijan (1962).^[25]

TheCinema of Karnataka saw its first ray of hope of surrealism in N. Lakshminarayan's directorial debutNaandi (1964). Featuring mainstream actors likeRajkumar,Kalpana andHarini, the film was both a critical and commercial success. Produced byVadiraj, it set a landmark by being the first everKannada film to screen at an International film festival. The movement gained significant momentum in the 1970s and 1980s resulting in numerous national awards and international recognition to Kannada cinema.

TheCinema of Maharashtra saw its first significant movement towards realism and artistic expression with the emergence of parallel cinema in the 1950s and 1960s. One of the pioneering films of this era wasShyamchi Aai (1953), directed byPralhad Keshav Atre. Based on the novel bySane Guruji, the film explored a boy named Shyam shares a deep bond with his mother, who has had a significant influence on his life and upbringing. She instilled in him the importance of sticking to his ideals and principles, even when faced with poverty and hardships. It was both a critical and commercial success, making a lasting impact on Marathi cinema. The Marathi parallel cinema movement truly gained momentum in the 1970s and 1980s, due to filmmakers likeVijay Tendulkar,Jabbar Patel andRajdutt. This era produced films that focused on social realism, shedding light on the struggles of the marginalized, rural life, and complex human relationships. The movement brought national awards and international recognition to Marathi cinema, with films likeGhashiram Kotwal (1976),Samna,Jait Re Jait (1977),Sinhasan (1979),Umbartha (1982) which were praised for their bold narratives and artistic direction. This era of Marathi cinema also laid the foundation for later filmmakers to experiment with different forms and explore the nuances of human emotion, regional culture, and societal issues. The legacy of parallel cinema continues to influence Marathi cinema, with films likeShwaas (2004) directed bySandeep Sawant,Fandry (2014) directed byNagraj Manjule andCourt (2015) directed byChaitanya Tamhane receiving international acclaim.^[26]

During the 1970s and the 1980s, parallel cinema entered into the limelight ofHindi cinema to a much wider extent. This was led by such directors asGulzar,Shyam Benegal,Mani Kaul,Rajinder Singh Bedi,Kantilal Rathod andSaeed Akhtar Mirza, and later on directors likeGovind Nihalani, becoming the main directors of this period's Indian art cinema.Mani Kaul's first several filmsUski Roti (1971),Ashadh Ka Ek Din (1972),Duvidha (1974), and were critically appreciated and held to high esteem in the international spotlight. Benegal's directorial debut,Ankur (Seeding, 1974) was a major critical success, and was followed by numerous works that created another field in the movement.Kumar Shahani, a student ofRitwik Ghatak, released his first featureMaya Darpan (1972) which became a landmark film of Indian art cinema. These filmmakers tried to promote realism in their own different styles, though many of them often accepted certain conventions of popular cinema.^[27] Parallel cinema of this time gave careers to a whole new breed of young actors, includingShabana Azmi,Smita Patil,Amol Palekar,Om Puri,Naseeruddin Shah,Kulbhushan Kharbanda,Pankaj Kapoor,Deepti Naval,Farooq Shaikh, and even actors from commercial cinema likeHema Malini,Raakhee,Rekha ventured into art cinema.

Adoor Gopalakrishnan extended the Indian New Wave toMalayalam cinema with his maiden feature filmSwayamvaram in 1972. Long after the Golden Age of Indian cinema, Malayalam cinema experienced its own 'Golden Age' in the 1980s and early 1990s. Some of the most acclaimed Indian filmmakers at the time were from the Malayalam industry, includingAdoor Gopalakrishnan,K. P. Kumaran,G. Aravindan,John Abraham,Padmarajan,Bharathan,T. V. Chandran andShaji N. Karun.^[28] Gopalakrishnan, who is often considered to beSatyajit Ray's spiritual heir,^[29] directed some of his most acclaimed films during this period, includingElippathayam (1981) which won theSutherland Trophy at theLondon Film Festival, as well asMathilukal (1989) which won major prizes at theVenice Film Festival.^[30] Shaji N. Karun's debut filmPiravi (1989) won theCamera d'Or at the1989 Cannes Film Festival, while his second filmSwaham (1994) was in competition for thePalme d'Or at the1994 Cannes Film Festival.^[31] His third filmVanaprastham (1999) was also selected toCannes Film Festival, making him the only Indian film maker who could take consecutively three films to Cannes.

K. Balachander,C.V. Sridhar,Mahendran,Balu Mahendra,Bharathiraja,Mani Ratnam,Kamal Haasan,Bala,Selvaraghavan,Mysskin,Vetrimaaran andRam have done the same forTamil cinema, During the domination of commercial cinema in Telugu,Pattabhirami Reddy,K. N. T. Sastry,B. Narsing Rao, andAkkineni Kutumba Rao pioneered Telugu parallel cinema to international recognition.^[32]

Girish Kasaravalli,Girish Karnad andB. V. Karanth led the way for parallel cinema in theKannada film industry. Many literary stalwarts entered or collaborated with cinema in this period. Some of the other notable filmmakers of this period wereP. Lankesh,G. V. Iyer,M. S. Sathyu who were later followed byT. S. Nagabharana,Baraguru Ramachandrappa,Shankar Nag,Chandrashekhara Kambara in the 1980s. Actors likeLokesh,Anant Nag,L. V. Sharada,Vasudeva Rao,Suresh Heblikar,Vaishali Kasaravalli,Arundhati Nag and others rose to fame.

Bhabendra Nath Saikia andJahnu Barua did it forAssamese cinema, whileAribam Syam Sharma pioneered parallel movies in Manipuri cinema.

By the early 1990s, the rising costs involved in film production and the commercialisation of the films had a negative impact on the art films. The fact that investment returns cannot be guaranteed made art films less popular amongst filmmakers.

One of the major reasons for the decline of the parallel cinema in India is that the F.F.C. or theNational Film Development Corporation of India did not seriously look into the distribution or exhibition of these films. The mainstream exhibition system did not pick up these films because these films did not have the so-called 'entertainment value' that they were looking for. There was a talk of building small theatres for such film, but there was no serious attempt made to realise this alternative mode of exhibition. Thus, it left to a few Film Societies to screen these film; that too on a single screening basis. The advent of television and its popularity saw the film society movement decline. Gradually, the government reduced the patronage of such films, for they had only unseen films to be shown on their balance sheets.

TheParallel Cinema in its true sense was always on the fringes of the mainstream cinema. Since most of the parallel cinema rejected the regressive worldview that was largely embodied the mainstream cinema they never found acceptance in the mainstream production, distribution and exhibition system. With an absence of an alternative exhibition system or an art house circuit as it is called in the west, many of the off beat films made by present generation film makers like Sushant Mishra, Himanshu Khatua,Ashish Avikunthak, Murali Nair, Amitabh Chakraborty, Paresh Kamdar, Priya Krishnaswamy,Vipin Vijay,Ramchandra PN, Ashwini Mallik, Anand Subramanian, Sanjivan Lal,Amit Dutta,Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni,Gurvinder Singh, and Bela Negi have never had a large audience.

The term "parallel cinema" has started being applied to off-beat films produced inBollywood, where art films have begun experiencing a resurgence. This led to the emergence of a distinct genre known asMumbai noir,^[33] urban films reflecting social problems in the city of Mumbai.^[34] The introduction of Mumbainoir was marked byRam Gopal Varma'sSatya (1998). However the Mumbainoir is a genre that is not considered artistic in ambition even though it concentrates on realistic portrayal of theMumbai underworld; these are generally commercial films.

Other modern examples of art films produced in India which are classified as part of the parallel cinema genre includeRituparno Ghosh'sUtsab (2000) andDahan (1997),Tarun Majumdar'sAlo (2003),Mani Ratnam'sYuva (2004),Nagesh Kukunoor's3 Deewarein (2003) andDor (2006),Manish Jha'sMatrubhoomi (2004),Sudhir Mishra'sHazaaron Khwaishein Aisi (2005),Jahnu Barua'sMaine Gandhi Ko Nahin Mara (2005),Pan Nalin'sValley of Flowers (2006),Onir'sMy Brother… Nikhil (2005) andBas Ek Pal (2006),Anurag Kashyap'sBlack Friday(2007),Vikramaditya Motwane'sUdaan (2009),Kiran Rao'sDhobi Ghat (2010),Amit Dutta'sSonchidi(2011), andAnand Gandhi'sShip of Theseus(2013).

Independent films spoken inIndian English includeRevathi'sMitr, My Friend (2002),Aparna Sen'sMr. and Mrs. Iyer (2002) and15 Park Avenue (2006),Homi Adajania'sBeing Cyrus (2006),Rituparno Ghosh'sThe Last Lear (2007), andSooni Taraporevala'sLittle Zizou (2009).

Some of the Indian art film directors active today includeBuddhadeb Dasgupta,Aparna Sen,Gautam Ghose,Sandip Ray (Satyajit Ray's son),Kaushik Ganguly,Suman Mukhopadhyay,Kamaleshwar Mukherjee andSoukarya Ghosal inBengali cinema;Adoor Gopalakrishnan,Shaji N. Karun,T. V. Chandran, M.P. Sukumaran Nair,Shyamaprasad,Dr. Biju andSanal Kumar Sasidharan inMalayalam cinema;Kumar Shahani,Ketan Mehta,Govind Nihalani,Shyam Benegal,Amit Dutta,Manish Jha,Ashim Ahluwalia,Mudasir Dar,Anurag Kashyap,Anand Gandhi, andDeepa Mehta in Hindi Cinema;Mani Ratnam andBala in Tamil,Rajnesh Domalpalli and Narasimha Nandi inTelugu cinema,Jahnu Barua in Hindi cinema and Assamese Cinema,Amol Palekar,Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni in Marathi Cinema andAmartya Bhattacharyya who makes independent films in Odia and Bengali.

Aamir Khan, with his production studio, introduced his own brand of social cinema in the early 21st century, blurring the distinction between commercialmasala films and realistic parallel cinema, combining the entertainment and production values of the former with the believable narratives and strong messages of the latter. He has helped introduce parallel cinema to mainstream audiences, with his films earning both commercial success and critical acclaim in India and overseas.^[35]

During the formative period of Indian parallel cinema in the 1940s and 1950s, the movement was influenced byItalian cinema andFrench cinema, particularly byItalian neorealism as well as Frenchpoetic realism.Satyajit Ray particularly cited Italian filmmakerVittorio De Sica'sBicycle Thieves (1948) and French filmmakerJean Renoir'sThe River (1951), which he assisted, as influences on his debut filmPather Panchali (1955), alongside influences fromBengali literature and classicalIndian theatre.^[36]Bimal Roy'sDo Bigha Zamin (1953) was also influenced by De Sica'sBicycle Thieves. The Indian New Wave also began around the same time as theFrench New Wave and theJapanese New Wave.

Ever sinceChetan Anand'sNeecha Nagar won theGrand Prize at theinaugural Cannes Film Festival in 1946,^[37] Indian parallel cinema films frequently appeared in international fora and film festivals for the next several decades.^[38] This allowed Indian independent filmmakers to reach a global audience. The most influential among them wasSatyajit Ray, whose films became successful among European,American and Asian audiences.^[39] His work subsequently had a worldwide impact, with filmmakers such asMartin Scorsese,^[40]James Ivory,^[41]Abbas Kiarostami,Elia Kazan,François Truffaut,^[42]Carlos Saura^[43] andWes Anderson^[44] being influenced by his cinematic style, and many others such asAkira Kurosawa praising his work.^[45] The "youthfulcoming-of-agedramas that have flooded art houses since the mid-fifties owe a tremendous debt to theApu trilogy" (1955–1959).^[46] Ray's filmKanchenjungha (1962) introduced a narrative structure that resembles laterhyperlink cinema.^[47] Ray's 1967 script for a film to be calledThe Alien, which was eventually cancelled, is widely believed to have been the inspiration forSteven Spielberg'sET (1982).^[48][49][50]Ira Sachs'Forty Shades of Blue (2005) was a loose remake ofCharulata, and inGregory Nava'sMy Family (1995), the final scene is duplicated from the final scene ofThe World of Apu (1959). Similar references to Ray films are found in recent works such asSacred Evil (2006),^[51] theElements trilogy ofDeepa Mehta, and in the films ofJean-Luc Godard.^[52]

Another prominent filmmaker isMrinal Sen, whose films have been well known for theirMarxist views. During his career, Mrinal Sen's film have received awards from almost all major film festivals, includingCannes, Berlin,Venice, Moscow,Karlovy Vary, Montreal, Chicago, andCairo. Retrospectives of his films have been shown in almost all major cities of the world.^[53]

Another Bengali independent filmmaker,Ritwik Ghatak, began reaching a global audience long after his death; beginning in the 1990s, a project to restore Ghatak's films was undertaken, and international exhibitions (and subsequent DVD releases) have belatedly generated an increasingly global audience. Alongside Ray's films, Ghatak's films have also appeared in severalall-time greatest film polls. A number of Satyajit Ray films appeared in theSight & Sound Critics' Poll, includingThe Apu Trilogy (ranked No. 4 in 1992 if votes are combined),^[54]The Music Room (ranked No. 27 in 1992),Charulata (ranked No. 41 in 1992)^[55] andDays and Nights in the Forest (ranked No. 81 in 1982).^[56] The 2002Sight & Sound critics' and directors' poll also included theGuru Dutt filmsPyaasa andKaagaz Ke Phool (both tied at #160), and the Ritwik Ghatak filmsMeghe Dhaka Tara (ranked #231) andKomal Gandhar (ranked #346).^[57] In 1998, the critics' poll conducted by theAsian film magazineCinemaya includedThe Apu Trilogy (ranked No. 1 if votes are combined), Ray'sCharulata andThe Music Room (both tied at #11), and Ghatak'sSubarnarekha (also tied at #11).^[58] In 1999,The Village Voice top 250 "Best Film of the Century" critics' poll also includedThe Apu Trilogy (ranked No. 5 if votes are combined).^[12]The Apu Trilogy,Pyaasa andMani Ratnam'sNayakan were also included inTime magazine's "All-TIME" 100 best movies list in 2005.^[20] In 1992, theSight & Sound Critics' Poll ranked Ray at No. 7 in its list of "Top 10 Directors" of all time,^[59] while Dutt was ranked No. 73 in the 2002Sight & Sound greatest directors poll.^[60]

The cinematographerSubrata Mitra, who made his debut with Ray'sThe Apu Trilogy, also had an importance influence oncinematography across the world. One of his most important techniques wasbounce lighting, to recreate the effect of daylight on sets. He pioneered the technique while filmingAparajito (1956), the second part ofThe Apu Trilogy.^[61] Some of the experimental techniques which Satyajit Ray pioneered includephoto-negativeflashbacks andX-raydigressions while filmingPratidwandi (1972).^[62]

A

• Adoor Gopalakrishnan
• Aditya Vikram Sengupta
• Ashim Ahluwalia
• Abhishek Chaubey
• Atiul islam
• Anurag Kashyap
• Aparna Sen
• Apurba Kishore Bir
• Atanu Ghosh
• G. Aravindan
• Amit Dutta
• Amol Palekar
• Anand Gandhi
• Anant Balani
• Anjan Das
• Ashish Avikunthak
• Amartya Bhattacharyya
• Ajitpal Singh
• Arvind Deshpande

B

• Balu Mahendra
• Bala
• Bharathan
• Basu Bhattacharya
• Bhabendra Nath Saikia
• Dr. Biju
• Biju Viswanath
• Bimal Roy
• Buddhadeb Dasgupta
• Bharathiraja
• Bhalji Pendharkar

C

• T. V. Chandran
• Chetan Anand
• Chandrakant Kulkarni
• Chaitanya Tamhane

D

• Dadasaheb Phalke
• Deepa Mehta
• Dibakar Banerjee
• Dileesh Pothan
• Don Palathara

F

• Fazil

G

• Gautam Ghose
• Gajendra Ahire
• K. G. George
• Girish Karnad
• Girish Kasaravalli
• Gitanjali Rao
• Govind Nihalani
• Guru Dutt
• Gurvinder Singh

H

• K. Hariharan

J

• Jabbar Patel
• Jahar Kanungo
• Jahnu Barua

K

• Kalpana Lajmi
• Kamal Swaroop
• Kamal Haasan
• Kanu Behl
• B V Karanth
• K. Viswanath
• Kaushik Ganguly
• Ketan Mehta
• Khwaja Ahmad Abbas
• Kishore Sahu
• Kiran Rao
• Kumar Shahani
• K. Balachander

L

• Lijo Jose Pellissery

M

• Mahendran
• Mani Kaul
• Mani Ratnam
• Mysskin
• Manish Jha
• Madhur Bhandarkar
• Makarand Mane
• Mira Nair
• Moni Bhattacharjee
• Mrinal Sen
• Murali Nair
• Manmohan Mahapatra
• Mohan

N

• Nabendu Chatterjee
• Nagesh Kukunoor
• Nagraj Manjule
• Nandita Das
• Narendra Suri
• B. Narsing Rao
• Nirad Mohapatra
• Nishikant Kamat

P

• Padmarajan
• Pan Nalin
• Partho Sen-Gupta
• Paresh Mokashi
• Pattabhirami Reddy
• Piyush Jha
• Prakash Jha
• Priyanandanan
• Puttanna Kanagal
• Payal Kapadia

R

• Rajat Kapoor
• Rajiv Ravi
• Rajiv Patil
• Rajdutt
• Rajesh Mapuskar
• Ram
• Ram Gopal Varma
• Ranjan Ghosh
• Revathi
• Rituparno Ghosh
• Ritwik Ghatak

S

• Saeed Akhtar Mirza
• Saleem Ahmed
• Sanjoy Nag
• Sandeep Reddy Vanga
• Sandeep Sawant
• Sandip Ray
• Santosh Sivan
• Sanjay Surkar
• K. N. T. Sastry
• M. S. Sathyu
• Sathish Kalathil
• Satyajit Ray
• Sameer Vidwans
• Selvaraghavan
• Shyamaprasad
• Shaji N. Karun
• V. Shantaram
• Shantaram Athavale
• Shekhar Kapur
• Shonali Bose
• Shoojit Sircar
• Shivaji Lotan Patil
• Shyam Benegal
• Singeetam Srinivasa Rao
• Sombhu Mitra
• Sonali Gulati
• Sooni Taraporevala
• Soukarya Ghosal
• Sridhar Rangayan
• Srinivas Sunderrajan
• Sriram Raghavan
• Sumitra Bhave–Sunil Sukthankar

T

• Thiagarajan Kumararaja

U

• Upendra
• Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni
• Utpalendu Chakraborty

V

• Vetrimaaran
• Kumar G. Venkatesh
• Vishal Bhardwaj
• Vierendrra Lalit
• Vipin Vijay

• Soviet Parallel Cinema
• Italian neorealism
• Cinema Novo
• Cinema of the world
• Cinema of India
• Cinema of West Bengal
• Masala (film genre)
• National Film Award for Best Feature Film
• New Generation (Malayalam film movement)

• Cinema of malayalam
• Indian Art Cinema