''''1980: Key Events'''

* Indira Gandhi’s Congress (I) returns to power, also winning Punjab with the support of Bhindranwale and other groups which unleash extreme Right terrorist attacks. 

* As a result of the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, the number of foreign companies in India falls from 510 in 1975 to 300 by 1980-1. 

* The second satellite launch from Sriharikota, the satellite ROHINI, is successful. The first colour telecast from [[Doordarshan]], an experiment on 18 July, announces the 1982 shift to colour and commercialisation. The Information & Broadcasting Minister makes colour TV one of the Congress (I)’s main election promises.

* India has 6368 permanent and 4024 temporary ‘touring’ theatres. 

* The Lotus Cinema, hired by the [[FFC]], becomes Bombay’s only venue for ‘art’ films, opening with Bimal Dutt’s Kasturi (1978). 

* The [[FFC]] merges with the Indian Motion Picture Export Corporation to become the [[NFDC]]. Independent film-makers start the Forum for Better Cinema and ask the government to invite [[Satyajit Ray]] to head the new organisation. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satyajit_Ray|Ray]] declines the offer, urging the Forum to exercise caution. The [[NFDC]]’s Board combines disparate interests and is unable to agree which kind of cinema to support. 

* K. S. Karanth’s Report of the Working Group on National Film Policy is published. It recommends, e. g. , the foundation of a Chalachitra Akademi for film in line with the academies for literature, theatre, dance and the visual arts. The academy would combine the Directorate of Film Festivals, the [[National Film Archive of India]], a non-commercial import/export agency, a film museum and the means to fund film societies, education and research programmes. The government ignores the report. 

* [[Satyajit Ray]] retrospective at the Indian International Film Festival; [[Mrinal Sen]] retrospective at the National Film Theatre, London. 

* The journal Cinema Vision (India) starts in Bombay with an issue on silent cinema.