This decade also saw the rise of popular actors and movie stars like Arjun Rampal, Hrithik Roshan, Abhishek Bachchan, Vivek Oberoi, Shahid Kapoor and John Abraham, as well as actresses like Aishwarya Rai, Rani Mukerji, Preity Zinta, Ameesha Patel, Lara Dutta, Bipasha Basu, Kareena Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra and Katrina Kaif. Some popular films of the decade were Kaho Naa. Some of the largest production houses, among them Yash Raj Films and Dharma Productions were the producers of new modern films. The growth of the Indian economy and a demand for quality entertainment in this era led the country's film industry to new heights in production values, cinematography and screenwriting as well as technical advances in areas such as special effects and animation. The 2000s saw increased Bollywood recognition worldwide due to growing (and prospering) NRI and Desi communities overseas. Other actresses during this time included Raveena Tandon, Twinkle Khanna, Sonali Bendre, Sushmita Sen, Mahima Chaudhary and Shilpa Shetty.
Action and comedy films were also successful, with actors like Govinda, Sunny Deol, Sunil Shetty, Akshay Kumar and Ajay Devgan, who (with Akshay Kumar) became popular for performing dangerous stunts in his well-known Khiladi series and other action films. A new generation of popular actors emerged, such as Aamir Khan, Aditya Pancholi, Ajay Devgan, Akshay Kumar, Salman Khan (Salim Khan's son), and Shahrukh Khan actresses included Madhuri Dixit, Sridevi, Juhi Chawla, Meenakshi Seshadri, Manisha Koirala, Kajol, and Karisma Kapoor. Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak was followed by blockbusters such as Maine Pyar Kiya (1989), Chandni (1989), Hum Aapke Hain Kaun (1994), Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995), Raja Hindustani (1996), Dil To Pagal Hai (1997), Pyaar To Hona Hi Tha (1998) and Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998). Early in the decade, the pendulum swung back toward family-centered romantic musicals. Known since the 1990s as 'New Bollywood', contemporary Bollywood is linked to economic liberalization in India during the early 1990s. Their 'angry young man', personified by Amitabh Bachchan, reinterpreted Dilip Kumar's performance in Gunga Jumna in a contemporary urban context and voice of the anguish of the urban poor. Salim-Javed reinterpreted the rural themes of Mehboob Khan's Mother India (1957) and Dilip Kumar's Gunga Jumna (1961) in a contemporary urban context, reflecting the socio-economic and socio-political climate of 1970s India and channeling mass discontent, disillusionment and the unprecedented growth of slums with anti-establishment themes and those involving urban poverty, corruption and crime. They began the genre of gritty, violent, Bombay underworld crime films early in the decade with films such as Zanjeer (1973) and Deewaar (1975). The arrival of screenwriting duo Salim-Javed (Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar) was a paradigm shift, revitalising the industry.
In more recent times, the distinction between commercial masala cinema and parallel cinema has been gradually blurring, as an increasing number of successful commercial films forego the use of musical numbers, such as the highest-grossing Indian film Dangal (2016), for example.īy 1970, Hindi cinema was thematically stagnant and dominated by musical romance films. Bollywood films outside of the commercial masala formula have traditionally been referred to as parallel cinema, which tend to avoid the use of musical numbers. Masala films generally fall under the musical film genre, of which Indian cinema has been the largest producer since the 1960s when it exceeded the American film industry's total musical output after musical films declined in the West the first Indian musical talkie was Alam Ara (1931), several years after the first Hollywood musical talkie The Jazz Singer (1927). The most popular commercial genre in Bollywood since the 1970s has been the masala film, which freely mixes different genres including action, comedy, romance, drama and melodrama along with musical numbers.