India produces more films each year than any other country in the world. Yet, apart from the films of Sanjit Ray, the diverse and lavish output of Indian film-makers is largely unknown outside the Far East. This pioneering reference work features all major Indian film directors over an 80-year period. The book takes as its starting point D. G. Phalke's famous 1913 silent film
Raja Harishchandra
, generally acknowledged as the first Indian feature. Original Indian language titles from the regional cinemas are transliterated - whether in Assamese, Bengali, Bhojpuri, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malyayalam, Marathi, Oriya, Punjabi, Rajasthani, Sanskrit, Sinhalese, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu or other languages. Three Hundred Eighty-three directors are included alphabetically by surbaname. There is complete coverage of all periods and genres.