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| Home > History of Indian Cinema > History of Talkie Films
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| | History of Talkie Films in India
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 Until now all films were silent. At the beginning of the 4th decade, the film viewers were bestowed with a surprising gift, the silent era had ended, and films now had sound, so we could hear actors and actresses talking. In 1931 came the first Indian talkie: Alam Ara. It was a costume drama full of fantasy and with many melodious songs to intensify the audience`s emotions and it was a stunning success. It was produced by Imperial Movie tone, Bombay. The film was released on 14th March 1931 at Majestic Cinema, Girgaon, Bombay. The film starred Prithviraj Kapoor (father of late Raj Kapoor), Zubeida, Master Vithal, Zillo and Wazir Mohd. Khan. The film had 7 songs and the music director was Firozeshah M. Mistri.
The second talkie film released in India was Shirin Farhaad, on 30th May 1931. It was produced by Madan Theatres, Calcutta and directed by its owner Mr. J.J. Madan. It had 18 songs. Indra Sabha which was released in 1932 had as much as 69 songs in it! It was produced by Madan Theatre, Calcutta and directed by J.J. Madan. The film starred Master Nissar, Jahan Aara, Kazzam, Miss Silvasia and others.
The dialogues for the first Hindustani film were written by Joseph David. The first ever color film made in India was Kissan Kanhaiya produced by Imperial Film Co. This film was released in 1973. Moti B. Gidwani directed it, and its music was composed by Ram Gopal Pandey. The film had 10 songs, which were released by Gramophone Records.
The first ever female role depicted by a male artiste was played by Salunke for the film Raja Harishchandra released in 1913. D.D. Dhabke played the title role.
In that year, 27 films were made in four languages - Hindi, Bengali, Tamil and Telugu. The introduction of sound generated ever-increasing emphasis on music and song. The phenomenal success of Alam Ara inspired many other directors to follow in its footsteps. Music and fantasy came to be seen as vital elements of the filmi experience. At times, the emphasis on music was overdone. Film historians record that, for example, the film Indrasabha (1932) contained 70 songs. But what is significant is that music came to be regarded as a defining element in Indian cinema. Even to this day, some moviegoers repeatedly go to the same film because of its music.
With the spreading popularity of this new medium of mass entertainment, film directors became more audacious and explored new areas. The 1930s saw the emergence of a fascination with social themes that affected day to day living. V. Shantaram, for example, in his film Amritmantha (1934), held up for scrutiny the theological absolutisms and ritualistic excesses that were gathering momentum at the time, while the landmark Devdas (1935) sought to explore the self-defeating nature of social conventionalist. The character of Devdas has been reincarnated many times in Indian cinema. Jeevana Nataka (1942), another significant film of this period, had as its theme the injurious effects of modernization - a love triangle in which Mohan, driven to alcoholism by his infatuation with the main actress, drives his wife to suicide.
The interplay between tradition and modernity in its various guises began to interest Indian filmmakers more and more, as evident in films like Maya (1936) and Manzil (1936). At the same time, they were toying with the diverse formulae that would readily appeal to the masses and a film such as Manmohan (1936) by Mehboob Khan succeeded in its broad-based appeal largely because Khan was able to fashion a formula. At the same time Indian filmmakers were paying great attention to stylistic and technical innovation. Their increasing exploitation of the potentiality of the medium and its imaginative reach was to be seen in movies like Duniya Na Mane (The Unexpected, 1937) by V. shantaram and Jagirdar (Landlord, 1937) by Mehboob Khan. In Duniya Na Mane, for example, V. Shantaram made effective and highly imaginative use of sound, controlling it in much the same way as his visuals. Throughout the film, he used no background music, only atmospheric sounds and voices; even the few songs in the film had no musical accompaniment.
Western influences, however, still loomed large in at least one dimension of the Indian popular cinema in the late 1930s. India`s most exciting daredevil from the 1930s to the 1950s was Nadia, daughter of a British father and Greek mother. Billed as fearless, Nadia, her story has recently been told by her grand nephew, Rijad Vinci Wadia (1993) in Fearless: The Hunterwali Story, a 75-minute film documentary.
By the 1940s, however, a winning formula for success at the box office had been forged, consisting of song, dance, spectacle, rhetoric and fantasy. A close and significant relationship between the epic consciousness and the art of cinema had been established. Moreover, film was increasingly being recognized as a vital instrument of social criticism. It was against this background that film directors like V. Shantaram, Raj Kapoor, Mehboob Khan, Bimal Roy had chosen to make their films, films that were to generate not only national but also international interest.
The foundations of the Indian popular cinema as both entertainment and industry were laid in the 1940s during a period of great social change and trauma for the country. Even as India was moving rapidly towards capitalism and modernization, it was also coping with issues of nationalism, independence and ethnic and religious divisions. The popular films produced during this period offer an interesting perspective on these changes.
Raj Kapoor became a celebrity not only in India but also in other parts of South Asia, Southeast Asia, East Africa, the Middle East and the Soviet Union. Gifted film directors such as Bimal Roy, Guru Dutt and Raj Kapoor won increasing recognition for Indian popular cinema in many parts of the world. Film historians regard the 1950s as the Golden Age of Indian popular cinema. By now cinema was firmly established as art, entertainment and industry. However, cinema is basically an urban art the world over and during this time urbanisation of Indian consciousness was taking place as never before. This facilitated the development of Indian cinema. Interestingly, some of the most well-known films of the time like Awaara (The Vagabond,1951), Pyaasa (Thirst, 1957), Kaagaz Ke Phool (Paper Flower, 1959), Shree 420 (Mr 420, 1955) dealt with city life one way or another. In Awaara, for example, the city was both a nightmare and a dream and in Pyaasa the unreality of city life is rejected.
While the popular tradition of Indian filmmaking was developing with undiminished vigour, by the mid 1950s, a distinctly `artistic` cinema took shape, thanks to the pioneering efforts of the Bengali filmmaker Satyajit Ray. His Pather Panchali (Song of the Road) of 1955 won for Indian cinema great international recognition and critical acclaim. It was given the `best human document` award at the 1956 Cannes film festival and went on to win awards at film festivals in San Francisco, Vancouver, Ontario and elsewhere. Pather Panchali, based on a well-known Bengali novel, realistically and sensitively chronicles the privations and hardships encountered by a Brahmin family at the beginning of the present century. If Indian popular filmmakers looked towards Hollywood musicals for inspiration, Satyajit Ray`s cinematic imagination was stirred by the work of French director Renoir and the Italian neo-realists.
Pather Panchali along with Aparajito (The Unvanquished, 1956) and Apur Sansar (The World of Apu, 1959) - generally referred to as the Apu Trilogy - are regarded as masterpieces of world cinema. After making the trilogy, Satyajit Ray went on to create such outstanding works of cinema as Charulata (The Lonely Wife, 1964), Devi (Goddess, 1960) and lalsaghar (Music Room, 1958). Ray`s cinema with its emphasis on realism, psychological probing, visual poetry, outdoor rather than studio shooting, and the use of non-professional actors was in sharp contrast to the practices of Indian popular cinema. Before his death, Ray was awarded the Lifetime Award by Hollywood and was the only Indian director to be singularly honoured by President Mitterand of France, who flew to Calcutta to bestow on him the Legion of Honour. Satyajit Ray was largely responsible for the creation of an internationally recognised artistic cinema in India.
Very quickly, a number of highly talented directors, including Mrinal Sen, Adoor Gopalakrishnan, G. Aravindan, Mani Kaul, Kumar Shahani, Buddhadeb Dasgupta, Gautam Ghose, Ketan Mehta, Aparna Sen, Govind Nihalani, Shyam Benegal, Vijaya Mehta, Shaji Karon emerged as able expositors of artistic cinema. Their body of work is normally referred to as New Cinema, as characterised by the qualities established by Ray. Another filmmaker and contemporary of Ray, Ritwik Ghatak, has belatedly won national and international recognition for his audacious exploration of political themes, using the strengths of artistic and popular cinema.
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