Old Bollywood Movie Index
It focuses on the "Golden Age" through the "Retro Era" (roughly 1940s–1980s).
The "Masala" Transition (1960–1975)
The rise of the angry young man and technicolor. Index highlights: Mughal-e-Azam (1960), Guide (1965), Sholay (1975). Indices from this period often categorize films by "family status" (A-rated vs. U-rated) as censorship began tightening. old bollywood movie index
Comedy & Satire
- Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi (1958) – Slapstick genius featuring the three Ganguly brothers.
- Padosan (1968) – A musical comedy with legendary timing by Mehmood.
- Chhoti Si Baat (1975) – A slice-of-life comedy about the common man.
- Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro (1983) – A dark satire on Indian bureaucracy and corruption.
1. Encyclopedia of Indian Cinema (Book by Ashish Rajadhyaksha & Paul Willemen)
This is the Bible. If you put this 600-page book into a search engine, it returns the most accurate metadata for films from 1913 to the 1990s. It is academic, dense, and perfect for serious researchers. Availability: Internet Archive (digital borrow) or Routledge Publishing. It focuses on the "Golden Age" through the
What is an "Old Bollywood Movie Index"?
At its core, an Old Bollywood Movie Index is a systematic catalog or database that organizes vintage Hindi films. Unlike a simple Google search that yields Wikipedia pages or YouTube trailers, a dedicated index is structured for discovery. The "Masala" Transition (1960–1975) The rise of the
A robust index typically includes:
- Year of Release (e.g., 1957)
- Movie Title (in both Roman script and Devanagari Hindi)
- Primary Cast (Actors, Actresses, Character names)
- Director & Music Composer
- Songs List (Often including the singer and lyricist)
- Genre (Social drama, fantasy, noir, romance)
- Availability (DVD, YouTube, OTT, or lost film status)
Essentially, it is the card catalog of the Bombay film industry’s library. For films made before 1960, where prints may have been destroyed or lost in studio fires, an index is often the only proof that a film ever existed.