Historical and Cultural Context for Punjab's, Especially Lahore's, Participation in the Film Industry

Pre-Partition Bombay became the capital of the Indian film industry. How do we explain the very large Punjabi presence in its evolution from the outset? I think a number of fortuitous developments converged to give Punjabis an advantage in faraway Maharashtra over many other linguistic groups who did not speak Urdu/Hindi. The British favoured the recruitment of Punjabis in their