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2001-2010

A pirate video wholesaler is imprisoned for seven months and fined 55,000 rupees (approx £700) for selling DVDs of Hollywood and Indian films.   The Motion Picture Association estimates that the industry loses $385 million to pirates every year.  [MORE] [ADD]

India’s Oscar selection committee accuse AMPAS of making ‘disparaging’ comments following the authorities questioning of the choice of Eklavya, The Royal Guard as its official entry.  The selection committee’s choice was challenged in the courts by Bhavna Talwar, director of the film Dharm (Religion).    [MORE] [ADD]

25/2 -

The state of Madhya Pradesh bans Bollywood melodrama Jodhaa Akbar from its screens following violent demonstrations. [MORE]

27/2 -

Screenwriter S. Rangarajan dies in Chennai at the age of 72 after a short illness.   Rangarajan wrote such hits as Ayitha ezhuthu, Sivaji the Boss and Dasavatharam. [MORE] [ADD]

28/4 -

Veteran actor Om Puri is appointed head of the National Film Development Council. [MORE]

25/8 -

A court in Mumbai hears a Warner Bros lawsuit against Mirchi Movies forthcoming film, Hari Puttar – A Comedy of Terrors, about a 10-year-old boy whose family move to Britain. [MORE] 

22/9 -

Mirchi Movies, the producers of a Bollywood film called Hari Puttar: A Comedy of Terrors wins its legal battle with Warner Bros, who sought to block the film’s release because of the title’s similarity to their Harry Potter franchise. [MORE]

1/10 -

Film production comes to a halt as approximately 147,000 workers belonging to a federation of 22 unions go on strike for a 12-hour maximum working day, improved safety and on-time payment. [MORE]

A meeting between the Federation of Western Cine Employees and the Film and Television Producers Guild fails to produce an end to the strike in Bollywood..[MORE]

3/10 -

The three-day Bollywood strike comes to an end following agreement between the Federation of Western Cine Employees and the Film and Television Producers Guild. [MORE]

23/10 -

Director C.V. Sridhar dies from a heart attack in Chennai at the age of 75. [MORE] [ADD]

B. R. Chopra, Bollywood director and founder of BR Films, dies in Mumbai at the age of 94. [MORE] [ADD]

A court reverses a 2005 government ban on showing smoking in film and on TV. [MORE]

Several hundred people rampage through a cinema in Patna in protest at the Danny Boyle film Slumdog Millionaire.   The protestors, organised by social activist Tateshwar Vishwakarma, were offended by the use of the word ‘dog’ to describe slum dwellers. [MORE]

The prospect of no new releases to multiplex chains across the country looms as talks between producers and exhibitors over the profit sharing of revenue stall. [MORE]

Producers refuse to release to exhibitors in an escalation of the dispute over the split of box-office revenue producers and distributors receive. [MORE] [ADD]

Police investigate a dispute between the estranged parents of Rubina Ali, one of the child stars of Slumdog Millionaire, after a British tabloid alleges the father tried to sell the 9-year-old to an undercover reporter. [MORE]

Bollywood star Feroz Khan dies of cancer in Bangalore at the age of 69.   The legendary actor was best known for his roles in Qurbani (1980), Dharmatma (1975) and Janbaaz (1986). [MORE] [ADD]

Director Prakash Mehra, the man who launched Amitabh Bachan to superstardom by casting the actor opposite Jaya Bhaduri in Zanjeer, dies of pneumonia in a Mumbai hospital at the age of 69. [MORE] [ADD]

The 8 week dispute between producers and multiplexes over the share of revenue from film comes to an end following agreement over a revised schedule. [MORE]

Bollywood actress Leela Naidu dies of lung failure following a lengthy bout of influenza in Mumbai at the age of 69.   Naidu, a former Miss India, was best known for her roles in Yeh Raaste Hain Pyaar Ke and The Householder. [MORE] [ADD]

Bollywood production company B.R. Films, makers of the film Banda yeh bindaas hai, is ordered to pay 20^th Century Fox $200,000 for copyright infringement when the courts find that the film is an unauthorised remake of Fox’s 1992 film My Cousin Vinny.   B.R. Films believed an agreement was in place, but Fox denied there was any firm deal. [MORE]

Bollywood production company B.R. Films, makers of the film Banda yeh bindaas hai, is ordered to pay 20^th Century Fox $200,000 for copyright infringement when the courts find that the film is an unauthorised remake of Fox’s 1992 film My Cousin Vinny.   B.R. Films believed an agreement was in place, but Fox denied there was any firm deal. [MORE] [ADD]

59-year-old film legend Vishnuvardhan dies of a heart attack. [MORE]

Raj Kumar Hirani’s 3 Idiots becomes the first movie in Bollywood history to earn more than 300 Crore with a worldwide gross of Rs 315 crores (£42.55 million) after 19 days. [MORE]

Controversy surrounds the planned release in May 2010 of Anil Sharma’s Dunno Y … Na Jaane Kyun, the first Bollywood film to show a gay kiss.   The film, a reflection of a more liberal attitude amongst Indian filmmakers towards kissing and nudity, follows the legalisation of homosexuality in 2009. [MORE] [ADD]

Film producer Tahir Hussain, the father of Bollywood star Aamir Khan dies from a cardiac arrest at his home in Bandra. [MORE] [ADD]  

Actor and director Cochin Haneefa, who appeared in over 300 films, dies in a private hospital in Chennai. [MORE] [ADD]  

Police in Mumbai arrest 1,000 members of the militant Shiv Sena party for to prevent violent confrontations over the release of Shah Rukh Khan’s latest film, My Name is Khan after the actor publicly regrets the absence of Pakistan players in the Indian Premier League Twenty20 cricket tournament. [MORE]

Despite threats of disruption from the Shiv Sena party, Shah Rukh Khan’s My Name is Khan goes on general release. [MORE]

Bollywood romance Kites goes on general release worldwide, one week before the release of a version re-mixed to appeal to western audiences by Hollywood director Brett Ratner.   The re-mixed version dispenses with 40 minutes of music, comedy and action sequences to focus on the film’s love story. [MORE] [ADD]

A number of top Bollywood stars, including Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan reportedly pull out of attending the three-day IIFA awards ceremony in Colombo, Sri Lanka, in protest at alleged war crimes committed during that country’s civil war with the Tamil Tigers. [MORE] 

Dabangg becomes the seventeenth most popular Bollywood film of all time, giving the film’s star, Salman Khan, the distinction of appearing in four of Bollywood’s top twenty films of all time. [MORE] [ADD]

The world’s two largest film industries – Hollywood and Bollywood – sign a co-operation pact in Hollywood for the production and distribution of their films. [ADD]