Lens & Legacy: Inside NGMA Mumbai's Landmark Exhibition Tracing A Century Of Indian Cinema

For an industry that has spent over a century shaping the country's popular imagination, Indian cinema has surprisingly few places where its history is treated as art rather than nostalgia. The National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA), Mumbai, in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture, Government of India, is attempting to change that with "Lens & Legacy: Bollywood in Focus," a landmark exhibition that traces Indian cinema's journey from the silent era to the present day through photographs, paintings, and rare archival material. Given the response it has received since opening, the show's run has now been extended till July 31, 2026, giving visitors additional weeks to walk through what is being described as one of the most comprehensive visual histories of Hindi cinema ever assembled under one roof.

The exhibition brings together the work of some of the industry's most respected photographic chroniclers — photojournalists Pradeep Chandra, Sudharak Olwe, Shantanu Das, and Bandeep Singh — alongside contributions from film historian-archivist SMM Ausaja, who curated the show, and Neha Kamat of Kamat Foto Flash, whose family studio has documented Bollywood's biggest stars for decades. Together, their archives form a sweeping timeline: black-and-white portraits of early icons give way to candid set photography, publicity stills, and behind-the-scenes frames that capture the industry's biggest names not as polished stars, but as working actors and technicians building what would become one of the world's largest film industries. The promotional artwork for the show itself is a visual essay in miniature, layering portraits of Dilip Kumar, Rajesh Khanna, Shah Rukh Khan, and other legends across a backdrop of film reels and vintage bulbs, positioning the exhibition as a bridge between cinema's analogue past and its present-day stardom.

A particularly moving section of the exhibition is dedicated to tribute walls honouring Dharmendra and Asha Bhosle, two towering figures whose contributions span acting and playback singing respectively, and whose careers have run almost parallel to the evolution of the industry itself. Rather than treating them as background figures in a broader cinema story, the curators have given both legends dedicated space, reflecting just how central their work has been to shaping Hindi cinema's sound and image over the decades.

The exhibition has also become something of a magnet for the very industry it documents, along with the political and cultural establishment. It was formally opened by Maharashtra Governor Jishnu Dev Varma, a moment that effectively elevated decades-old film stills to the status of national cultural heritage — a rare gesture for an industry more accustomed to being covered in tabloids than gallery catalogues. Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs and Minority Affairs Kiren Rijiju visited the show on what he described as his first tour of one of Mumbai's most vibrant cultural centres, and was visibly moved by the curation. "I'm visiting NGMA Mumbai for the first time. I don't call it Bollywood since it's a Western term; we call it the Indian film industry," Rijiju remarked during his walkthrough, adding that the exhibition beautifully captures the decades-long journey of cinema in Mumbai. He was guided through the show by NGMA Mumbai Director Nidhi Choudhari, alongside photographers Pradeep Chandra, Shantanu Das, and Sudharak Olwe, historian SMM Ausaja, Neha Kamat, and deputy curator Shruti Das. Rijiju went on to praise the preservation of rare photographs and artworks, noting that visitors could piece together the entire history of the Indian film industry simply by walking through the gallery. "The way this journey has been presented is incredible. You don't need any explanation; if you just take a walk around the exhibition, you will understand it," he said.

The exhibition has drawn its share of star power too. Veteran actor Jackie Shroff visited and, by several accounts, got visibly nostalgic while walking through the archival material, even breaking into song at points as old memories resurfaced. Hema Malini has also been among the notable visitors, joined on occasion by Maharashtra's Cultural Affairs Minister Ashish Shelar, underscoring the show's crossover appeal between the film fraternity, the art world, and the state's cultural leadership.

What makes "Lens & Legacy" stand out isn't just the scale of the archive on display, but the framing: this is Indian cinema treated with the same institutional seriousness usually reserved for painting, sculpture, or classical art. For an industry that has often had to fight for cultural legitimacy despite its massive popular reach, having its history housed inside a government-run modern art gallery — and drawing governors, union ministers, and screen legends alike — marks a genuine shift in how Bollywood's visual legacy is being preserved and presented. With the run now extended to July 31, there's still time for Mumbai's film lovers, historians, and casual visitors alike to walk through more than a hundred years of Indian cinema, one photograph at a time.