''1950: Key Events'''

* India declares itself a sovereign democratic republic (26 January): population 350 million. The Republic is elected member of the UN Security Council for two years. 

* The Assam earthquake (1 August). 

* The Faculty of Fine Arts, Baroda, starts; ten years later, it becomes the pre-eminent centre for contemporary Indian art.

* Jean Renoir and Satyajit Ray meet on the shoot of The River in Bengal. 

* Nemai Ghosh makes Chinnamul in Calcutta. 

* The celebrated Tamil film Ezhai Padum Padu establishes Ramnoth, Nagaiah and Arudra. 

* C. R. Subburaman, Samudrala Raghavacharya, Vedantam Raghavaiah and others start the Vinoda Studio. 

* Vijaya Pictures starts with Shavukaru. 

* The Pakistan government levies a tax of Re 1 per foot on all imported Indian films.