Introduction to Hindi: Language, Literature, Grammar & Cinema

Introduction to Hindi

Hindi is one of India's official languages, spoken by over 58% of its population. It has its roots in ancient Sanskrit and was developed from Middle Indo-Aryan dialects, originating close to Delhi around the seventh century AD. In fact, the name 'Hindustani', which refers to Indian languages based on Persian influence, comes from 'Hindu' meaning Hindu, with 'stan' being derived from 'stand' meaning country. Although there is some debate among scholars regarding the origins of Hindi grammar, it does have considerable commonality with other North Indian languages such as Punjabi and Urdu.

Hindi Literature

The oldest known works written in Hindi were poems dating back to the 8th century AD. Many regional dialects existed until the mid-nineteenth century when a standard Hindi emerged. Rashtrakavi Tulsidas wrote the famous epic Ramayana in Awadhi, a form of Hindustani. Additionally, Bihari Lal Gupta published his novel Shatranj Ke Khiladi ("Checkmate") in Hindi in 1917. Furthermore, Rabindranath Tagore received a Nobel Prize in Literature for his Bengali works, including Gitanjali and the short story collection The Post Office.

Modern Hindi literature includes poetry, prose fiction, essays, drama, journalism, criticism, translation, folk tales, mythology, science fiction, and short stories. Notable poets include Kabir Das (1440–1518), Surdas (c.1478 – c.1575) who composed verses in praise of Krishna, and Bhartrihari (450-510 A.D.) whose work is marked by a certain subtlety. Famous prose writers include Amritlal Nagar (1907-1942) and Champaklayam Madhavadas (1906-1987).

Hindi Grammar

Hindi grammar mainly follows the Vyākaraṇa system, although standardization efforts began under the British Raj. The alphabet consists of 13 vowels, 9 consonants, 5 diphthongs, and 3 semi-vowels. There are three main declensions: masculine, feminine, and neuter. Most verbs fall into two classes - present tense active voice and past tense active voice - with conjugations based on person (I, you, he etc.), number (singular, plural), gender (masculine, feminine), mood (present continuous, future perfect, conditional etc.), aspect (perfective, imperfective), and tense (past simple, past progressive, etc.). Nouns can be modified to show comparisons like this is more beautiful than that.

Common Hindi Phrases

Some basic Hindi phrases useful for travelers include:

• Hello: Namaste!
• Thank you very much: Dhanyavad
• Yes: Haan
• No: Nahīn
• How much?: Kitne?
• What is your name?: Apko kya milta hai?

Hindi Films

India's film industry produces over 1,000 movies per year in many languages. However, just a few dominate the box office, amongst them Malayalam, Telugu, Kannada, Tamil, Marathi, and Hindi. Bollywood features predominantly in Hindi cinema and produces between 1,600 to 2,000 feature films every year. Popular genres include action, romance, social dramas, horror, comedy, thrillers, documentaries, biographies, historical epics, musicals, fantasy, war, children's films, crime, animation, adventure, mystery, sports, erotica, religious and spiritual themes. Some notable actors in Hindi cinema today include Shahrukh Khan, Amitabh Bachchan, Salman Khan, Akshay Kumar, Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Anushka Sharma, Ranbir Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Varun Dhawan, Hrithik Roshan, Ayushmann Khuranna, Sonam Kapoor, and others.