Kannada cinema, also known as Sandalwood, or Chandanavana, is the segment of Indian cinema dedicated to the production of motion pictures in the Kannada language widely spoken in the state of Karnataka. Kannada cinema is based in Gandhi Nagar, Bangalore. The 1934 film Sati Sulochana directed by Y. V. Rao was the first talkie film released in the Kannada language. It was also the first film starring Subbaiah Naidu and Tripuramba, and the first screened in the erstwhile Mysore Kingdom. It was produced by Chamanlal Doongaji, who in 1932 founded South India Movietone in Bangalore.

The Cinema of India, consisting of motion pictures made by the Indian film industry, has had a large effect on world cinema since 2nd half of 20th century. Indian cinema is made up of various film industries, including Hindi cinema, which makes motion pictures in the Hindi language and is one of the biggest film industries in the country. In 2021, Telugu cinema became the largest film industry in India in terms of box-office. Major centers of film production across the country include Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kolkata, Kochi, Bangalore, Bhubaneswar-Cuttack and Guwahati. For a number of years the Indian film industry has ranked first in the world in terms of annual film output. In 2022, Indian cinema earned ₹15,000 crore at the box-office.