With over 2,000 films a year, the Indian film industry is the largest in the world. From the first silent films of the 1920s, inspired by Hindu stories, to modern-day blockbusters driven by their superstars, Indian films generate an unparalleled popular fervour.

To retrace this century of history, the exhibition combines artworks, historical objects and large-screen projections in an immersive scenography. The exhibition begins with a reminder of the relationship between early cinema and the popular performing arts. In the style of shadow plays, magic lanterns and wandering storytellers, the first films were screened in travelling theatres and retold ancient mythological tales.

Against a backdrop of nation-building and Indian independence, the gods and the great monarchs inspired the first blockbusters capable of amassing a vast audience across the subcontinent's regional and linguistic divides.

The exhibition ends with the actors and the phenomenon of the Indian "star system". Actors and actresses are icons who perpetuate the magic of early cinema.

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