 7th of July 1896. At the Watson's Hotel in Bombay, living photographic pictures were being exhibited in India for the first time. Moving images captured by a camera by the Lumiere brothers from France. More than a hundred years later, since that memorable day in the late 19th century, India has emerged as the largest film producing country in the world. And what was introduced as only a technical marvel became an unrivaled art form, a gigantic industry and one of the most popular forms of mass entertainment in the country. In the later part of 1912, a 40-year-old Maharashtrian having dabbled in painting, photography and playwriting, decided to use the moving camera to tell stories with. Dhoondi Raj Govind Palke delved into Indian mythology to find the subject for his first film. Raja Harishchandra, a story from the epic The Mahabharata. Other pioneers carried Palke's entrepreneurial efforts forward. Men like Babu Rao Painter, Diren Ganguly, Ardashir Irani, B. N. Sarkar and Himanshu Rai brought innovative approach and production techniques. And in 1931, by the time talkies replaced the silent films, Indian cinema evolved a distinctive grammar. It learned to sing and how. The film industry itself was now being institutionalized. Studios, patterned in the lines of Hollywood were responsible for the production of the majority of films. And even if entertainment was the primary motive, the early filmmakers were already addressing important social issues. While the criticism against commercial Indian films has been that by and large they have perpetuated stereotypes, nonetheless during the last 50 years there have been works which have attempted to rise above the hackneyed image. Filmmakers like Bimal Roy, Mehbub Khan, Guru Dutt and Raj Kapoor reacted strongly to what they perceived was wrong in the system. But as artists working within a commercial mass medium, they use the intrinsic grammar to communicate their positions. Cinema was however not the prerogative of Bombay alone. Right from the days of the early pioneers, a thriving film industry had flourished in Calcutta and Madras. In the South, a more vigorous film industry developed. But what gave this cinema a palpable connection with society was its inextricable links with the political climate. If commercial Indian cinema has used cinema as both a mirror and a theme, it is in the artistic success of the Indian film masters that the nation's culture has been successfully delineated. Satyajit Ray used his films to celebrate the humanism of rural life. Over the country, serious filmmakers used films to present the numerous challenges and problems of India. Cinema has remained the most persuasive form of entertainment. The commercial film industry has created personalities and stars which have in every decade represented the mood of the nation. And for the millions who flock to the cinema halls every day, Indian films may have taught them how to dream. But somewhere, these films have also recorded the making of the nation.