Indian crossover films appeared in Indian cinema with international productions with Indian themes, starting with Merchant Ivory Productions first venture, The Householder (1953), which has an India story, setting with an Indian cast, which included, Shashi Kapoor, Leela Naidu and Durga Khote, followed by a number of India-themed films largely propelled by Indian-born producer, Ismail Merchant. However it took a while, before an Indian director would commercially take up making films in English language.
First such film came at the peak of Parallel cinema movement, when Aparna Sen, directed 36 Chowringhee Lane (1981) to critical acclaim, and for its lead actress, Jennifer Kapoor, who was even nominated for a BAFTA. The genre was able to stand on its own with Dev Benegal's English, August (1994) which was widely accepted by urban audience and became its first hit, drawing an audience of 20 million [1].
This paved way for other directors to look at using English language as a viable medium, like Nagesh Kukunoor who made Hyderabad Blues (1998), Kaizad Gustad, Bombay Boys (1998) and more recently Being Cyrus (1996) by Homi Adajania, and Rituporno Ghosh whose The Last Lear (2008), starring Amitabh Bachchan as the lead, won the Best English Feature Award at National Film Award[1][2]. Meanwhile, film directors of Indian descent, like Mira Nair, Deepa Mehta and Gurinder Chadha continued to many English-language films on Indian themes to international acclaimed, this opened up the genre further both creatively and commercially [3].
In 2000s, Aparna Sen visited the genre again, and made two successive English features in Mr. and Mrs. Iyer (2002) and 15, Park Avenue (2005), which won the string of National Film Awards.
Hyderabad Blues (1998) Hyderabad Blues 2 (2004) Monsoon Wedding, Mitr, My Friend (2002) White Noise (2004) Freaky Chakra The Making of Mahatma Flick Fire Bombay Boys Split Wide Open Leela (2002) Mongo Souffle (2002) Stumble (2003) Morning Raga (2005) Bride and Prejudice Sins (2005) Being Cyrus (2006) Water Mixed doubles Provoked Parzania Via Darjeeling Massey Sahib Election Moon Carve Your Destiny (under production)
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