Social realism was also adopted by Hindi films of the 1940s and 1950s , including Chetan Anand 's '' Neecha Nagar '' ( 1946 ) , which won the Palme d'Or at the first Cannes Film Festival , and Bimal Roy 's '' Two Acres of Land '' ( 1953 ) , which won the International Prize at the 1954 Cannes Film Festival . The success of these films gave rise to the Indian New Wave , with early Bengali art films such as Ritwik Ghatak 's '' Nagarik '' ( 1952 ) and Satyajit Ray 's '' The Apu Trilogy '' ( 1955 – 59 ) . Realism in Indian cinema dates back to the 1920s and 1930s , with early examples including V. Shantaram 's films '' Indian Shylock '' ( 1925 ) and '' The Unaccpected '' ( 1937 )
first Cannes Film Festival
1946 Cannes Film Festival
Social realism