One of the most popular Indian music forms is the Filmi music. Hindi film industry, popularly known as Bollywood, along with Indian regional film industries, produces thousands of films a year, most of which are musicals and feature elaborate song and dance numbers.
It is interesting to note that some of the movies become successful because of their music only. Movie soundtracks are released as tapes and CDs much before the movie is released. Earlier, radio was the main media of Film music but with the coming of satellite TV and FM radio the scenario has completely changed.
It is because of the huge popularity of the Indian film music that a large number of talented music directors, singers, composers and lyricists are attracted to the Indian Film industry. India is a land of great musical heritage. It is mainly because of the same reason that almost all our means of entertainment are inspired by music. The Indian film music has given a number of great music talents over the years. Some of the notable are Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhonsle, K L Sehgal, Mohd Rafi, Kishore Kumar, R D Burman, S D Burman, A R Rehman, Khaiyyam and many others.
Indian Film Music is said to have begun with the release of Alam Ara in 1931. In the early years of Indian cinema, the music was mainly classical and folk in inspiration, with some Western elements. The most fascinating part of Indian film music is its evolution with time. The Indian film music experts have always experimented with new things to cater to the changing tastes of music lovers. Another trend in Indian film music is that of integration of some popular regional languages such as Punjabi, Oudhi etc. Though in the process of evolution, music experts have flirted with western influences too yet the Indian flavor has always remained there.