In the 1920s the pioneering stage of Indian cinema was over and many talented people entered this field. All sorts of genres were attempted, such as, comedy, historical films, action and social subjects. In a way it provided the foretaste of the shape Indian cinema would take in the future. There was a greater focus to the cinematographic industry and it attained a more satisfactory technical level.

The studio dominated the scene until the 1940s and 1950s. One of the legendary ones was the Kohinoor Film Company in Bombay. It was founded in 1918 by Dwarkadas N Sampat, a professional showman of repute. In the same year he made a film, Sati Ansuya. He also made a Gandhian film using the allegorical mythological subject, Bhakta Vidur. The Kohinoor launched the majority of the actors of the silent screens, like the graceful Sulochana (Ruby Myers), Gohar, Zebunissa and Zubeida. From the beginning the influence of Hollywood on the Indian film industry was evident. The characteristics of the first studios, such as, a full team covering all the aspects of filmmaking from acting, technical expertise to distribution resembled that of Hollywood.

The employees of these studios at Bombay and Kolhapur were more or less permanent ones. They were remunerated on a monthly basis. Bu 1921, twenty-one such units existed in India, though initially most of them were quite small.