Links to the Hindi movie collections for the periods covered in this section:
1990s 2000s 1990s & 2000s (All) 1990s & 2000s GEMs
Commentary:
After the dismal 1980s (which in many ways was a “lost decade”), the 1990s marked a significant turnaround in the quality of Hindi films. A new group of talented artistes and filmmakers emerged who significantly elevated the caliber of Hindi songs to nearly the level of the Golden Age, and this marked the beginning of the Revival Period.
By the 1990s, the old guard of the Golden Age had basically phased out of the limelight: the few stars who remained mostly moved to character roles rather than playing the lead. Stepping into the vacuum were a new breed of stars, the most prominent among them being the Big Three Khans. Aamir and Salman had made their debut in the late 1980s, while Shah Rukh made a strong impression in a supporting role in the 1992 film Deewana. The Big Three reached the pinnacle of success by the mid-1990s, and their dominance of the industry continued for a long time, until the coming of a new set of Young Turks in the Modern Bollywood era.
The actors and movie-makers who made their mark in the 1990s and 2000s included the following:
1990s
- [Male stars] Ajay Devgan, Akshay Kumar, Akshaye Khanna, Bobby Deol, Saif Ali Khan, Sunil Shetty
- [Female stars] Aishwarya Rai, Kajol, Karisma Kapoor, Manisha Koirala, Preity Zinta, Rani Mukerji, Shilpa Shetty, Tabu, Urmila Matondkar
- [Producers/Directors] Abbas-Mustan, Aditya Chopra, Karan Johar, Prakash Jha, Rajkumar Santoshi, Ram Gopal Verma, Sanjay Leela Bhansali
2000s
- [Male stars] Abhishek Bachchan, Emraan Hashmi, Hrithik Roshan, Irrfan Khan, John Abraham, Ranbir Kapoor, Shahid Kapoor, Vivek Oberoi
- [Female stars] Ameesha Patel, Anushka Sharma, Bipasha Basu, Deepika Padukone, Kangana Ranaut, Kareena Kapoor, Katrina Kaif, Priyanka Chopra, Vidya Balan
- [Producers/Directors] Ashutosh Gowariker, Farah Khan, Farhan Akhtar, Kunal Kohli, Madhur Bhandarkar, R. Balki, Rajkumar Hirani
The mid-2000s brought an end to the Revival Period and started the Modern Bollywood era. Filmmaking became a corporate business catering not just to the Indian market but also to overseas markets. In many respects today’s Bollywood is not too different from Hollywood, as both now target a worldwide audience. The unique nature of Hindi movies during the Golden Age and the Revival period, when the soundtrack was an integral part of most films, is probably gone forever.