Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book provides a global perspective on understanding the state–cinema relationship and a desire for an alternative cinema. It situates the desire for a New Cinema in India from the late 1940s. The book discusses the formation of the FFC and its initial functioning. It examines the combined impact of the state's ever-changing film policies and technological advances in communication industry on the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) and progress of New Indian Cinema in the 1980s. The book starts with a discussion of the economic reforms of 1991 and their larger implications for the Indian film industry, specifically for the NFDC and New Cinema. It ends with a brief discussion of the granting of industrial status to and its implications on the Indian film industry in 1998.