Juanita09O at 06:29, 13 March 2026

2026-03-13T06:29:41Z

92.0.154.60: /* List of films (partial) */

2020-08-26T23:49:12Z

List of films (partial)

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{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2013}}


'''English-language Indian films''' go back to the silent days. After the coming of sound, feature films in English almost disappeared. They reappeared in the 1980s, and have become increasingly common of late.

==The Silent Era==
In the 1920s, films directed by [[Franz Osten]] and [[Himansu Rai]], including [[The Light of Asia]] and [[A Throw of Dice]], could be considered as English-language films because the titles were in English. With the coming of sound, directors such as Osten and Rai chose Hindi as the language, thus effectively bringing to a close this phase of English-language films made in India.

==Crossover films==

An attempt to make English talkies in India named [[Karma (1933 film)|Karma]] failed domestically in 1933.

Indian crossover films appeared in [[Indian cinema]] with international productions with Indian themes, starting with [[Merchant Ivory Productions]]' first venture, ''[[The Householder]]'' (1963), which has an India story, setting with an Indian cast, which included, [[Shashi Kapoor]], [[Leela Naidu]] and [[Durga Khote]], followed by a number of India-themed films largely propelled by Indian-born producer, [[Ismail Merchant]]. However it took a while before an Indian director would commercially take up making films in the English language.

==Indian productions==
The first such film came at the peak of the [[Parallel cinema]] movement, when [[Aparna Sen]] directed ''[[36 Chowringhee Lane]]'' (1981) to critical acclaim. Its lead actress, [[Jennifer Kendal]] was even nominated for a [[BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role|BAFTA Award]]. The genre was able to stand on its own with [[Dev Benegal]]'s ''[[English, August (film)|English, August]]'' (1994) which was widely accepted by urban audiences and became its first hit, drawing an audience of 20 million.<ref name=guar/>

This paved the way for other directors to look at using English language as a viable medium, like [[Nagesh Kukunoor]] who made ''[[Hyderabad Blues]]'' (1998), Kaizad Gustad, ''[[Bombay Boys]]'' (1998) and more recently ''[[Being Cyrus]]'' (2006) by [[Homi Adajania]], and [[Rituporno Ghosh]] whose ''[[The Last Lear]]'' (2008), starring [[Amitabh Bachchan]] as the lead, won the Best English Feature Award at [[National Film Award (India)|National Film Award]].<ref name=guar>[https://www.theguardian.com/education/2008/oct/17/bollywood-english English is recast in Indian films] [[The Guardian]], 24 October 2008.</ref><ref>[http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/18767508.cms Move over Bollywood, Indian films in English are here] IANS, [[The Times of India]], 11 August 2002.</ref> Meanwhile, film directors of Indian descent, such as [[Mira Nair]], [[Deepa Mehta]] and [[Gurinder Chadha]], continued to make English-language films on Indian themes to international acclaim; this has opened up the genre further both creatively and commercially.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=dLb33fhgsjcC&pg=PA196&dq=English+language+Indian+films&as_brr=0#v=onepage&q=English%20language%20Indian%20films&f=false New Wave Cinema] ''Beyond Bollywood: the cultural politics of South Asian diasporic film'' by Jigna Desai. Routledge, 2004. {{ISBN|0-415-96684-1}}. ''195-6''.</ref>

In 2000s, [[Aparna Sen]] visited the genre again, and made two successive English features in ''[[Mr. and Mrs. Iyer]]'' (2002) and ''[[15, Park Avenue]]'' (2005), which won a string of [[National Film Award (India)|National Film Award]]s.

==List of films (partial)==
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"
|-
! scope="col"|Year
! scope="col"|Title
! scope="col"|Notes
|-
| 1981
| ''[[36 Chowringhee Lane]]''
| |
|-
| 1988
| ''[[The Perfect Murder (1988 film)|The Perfect Murder]]''
| |
|-
|1989
| ''[[In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones]]''
||
|-
|rowspan="2" |1992
|''[[Electric Moon]]''
|
|-
|''[[Miss Beatty's Children]]''
|
|-
|1994
|''[[English, August (film)|English, August]]''
|
|-
|rowspan="3" |1996
|''[[Fire (1996 film)|Fire]]''
|
|-
|''[[Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love]]''
|
|-
|''[[The Making of the Mahatma]]''
|
|-
|rowspan="2" |1998
|''[[Hyderabad Blues]]''
|
|-
|''[[Bombay Boys]]''
|
|-
|1999
|''[[Split Wide Open]]''
|
|-
|2000
| ''[[Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar (film)|Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar]]''
|
|-
|rowspan="2" |2001
|''[[American Desi]]''
|
|-
|''[[Monsoon Wedding]]''
|
|-
|rowspan="3" |2002
|''[[Mitr, My Friend]]''
|
|-
|''[[Leela (2002 film)|Leela]]''
|
|-
|''[[Mango Soufflé]]''
|
|-
|rowspan="2" |2003
|''[[Stumble]]''
|
|-
|''[[Freaky Chakra (film)|Freaky Chakra]]''
|
|-
|rowspan="4" |2004
|''[[Hyderabad Blues 2]]''
|
|-
|''White Noise''
|
|-
|''[[Bride and Prejudice]]''
|
|-
|''[[Morning Raga]]''
|
|-
|rowspan="2" |2005
|''Sins''
|
|-
|''[[Water (2005 film)|Water]]''
|
|-
|rowspan="3" |2006
|''[[Being Cyrus]]''
|
|-
|''[[Mixed Doubles (2006 film)|Mixed doubles]]''
|
|-
|''[[Provoked (film)|Provoked]]''
|
|-
|2007
|''[[Americanizing Shelley]]''
|
|-
|2007
|''[[Parzania]]''
|
|-
|2008
|''[[Via Darjeeling]]''
|
|-
|2011
|''[[Delhi Belly (film)|Delhi Belly]]''
|
|-
|2014
|''[[Finding Fanny]]''
|
|-
|2016
| [[A Death in the Gunj]]
|
|}

==See also==
* [[National Film Award for Best Feature Film in English]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Cinema of India}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:English Language Indian Films}}
[[Category:English-language Indian films| ]]

English-language Indian films - Revision history

Juanita09O at 06:29, 13 March 2026

92.0.154.60: /* List of films (partial) */