The documentary movement in India, also known as the Indian New Wave, refers to a period of filmmaking in the country that emerged in the late 1960s and early 1970s. This movement was marked by a departure from the mainstream Bollywood cinema that had dominated Indian cinema since the 1950s. Documentary filmmakers sought to create a new kind of cinema that was more socially conscious, politically engaged, and artistically innovative.

History of The Documentary Movement

The roots of the documentary movement in India can be traced back to the early 1960s when a group of filmmakers from Kolkata formed the Indian People's Theatre Association (IPTA).

They were inspired by the Russian documentary filmmaker, Dziga Vertov, and his approach to documentary filmmaking. The filmmakers were influenced by Vertov’s belief that documentaries should be based on real-life situations and that the filmmaker should be a ‘cinematic eye’ that observes the world and records it without any interference. They also drew inspiration from the British Documentary Movement, which was popular during the 1930s and 1940s. The IPTA was dedicated to promoting leftist politics through theatre and film. The pioneers of this movement in India included Satyajit Ray, Bimal Roy, Ritwik Ghatak, Mrinal Sen, and V.K. Cherian. These filmmakers believed that documentaries could be used as a tool for social change and that they could be used to bring about awareness about social issues, such as poverty, illiteracy, and social inequality.