Part 3 - The Talkies (in Indian cinema)

Ardeshir Irani, who is regarded as the ‘Father of Indian talkies’, has many other milestones to his credit. In partnership with Bhogilal Dave, a graduate from the New York School of Photography, Irani established his first film production company Star Films in 1920. Irani’s directorial debut, a silent film called Veer Abhimanyu was produced by the company in 1922. In 1930, Irani watched the film Show Boat at Bombay’s Excelsior Cinema, which was a 40 per cent talkie produced under the banner of Universal Studios. This led him to dream about creating his part of the cinema history by planning for an Indian talkie.

The film Alam Ara was adapted from a popular stage play of Parsi theatre, written by Joseph David, who also adapted it for the screen. In contrast to an average silent film that required roughly a month of shooting, Alam Ara took much longer time of completion because of the ‘single system’ camera that, in addition to shots, also directly recorded the sound onto the film. Alam Ara was also ahead of its times in terms of budget, which stood at a lofty amount of Rs. 40,000. Indian film historian B.D. Garga, writes in his book Art of Cinema, ‘Irani’s studio was adjacent to the railway tracks and the sound of trains passing by was too loud and distracting. This led to the introduction of the concept of night shoots.’ Garga also quotes Ardeshir Irani, ‘there were no soundproof stages. We preferred to shoot indoors and at night’ (Deol: 2019). However, FTII visiting faculty Karan Bali told during an online Film Appreciation Course conducted by the institute (it was conducted during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 and the research scholar was one of the participants) that late night shoot of Alam Ara from 1 to 4 AM was not only done to avoid the noise of the passing trains but also to keep the project a secret, since Ardeshir Irani dreamt of being the pioneer of talkies in India.

Alam Ara was premiered on 14 March 1931, making Irani a notable figure of Indian film history. The film had a song called ‘De de khuda ke naam pe pyare…’ which introduced the concept of songs in Indian cinema. People who acted in the film include Zubeida, the star heroine of yesteryears as the female lead and Master Vitthal as the male lead. Prithviraj Kapoor played the antagonist. Master Vitthal worked secretly for Ardeshir Irani, for which he was sued by the company where he had an agreement. Irani fought the trial on behalf of Master Vitthal and won it. The lawyer whom he had appointed was Md. Ali Zinnah.

Later the reels of Alam Ara were sold against the price for the silver. Ardeshir Irani also produced the first south Indian talkie Kalidasa which was directed by H.M. Reddy. It was released on 31 October 1931. Kalidasa was a mixed language film with dialogues in Tamil and Telugu. Another milestone which Irani acquired to his credit was the release of the first Indian coloured film Kisan Kanya in 1937.

During the initial phase of the talkies in India, some films were originally made in Urdu or Persian to entertain an elite audience. Jamai Shashthi produced by Madan Theatres Limited was the first Bengali film to be released as a talkie. It was however a short film which was released on 11 April 1931 at Crown Cinema Hall in Calcutta, hardly a month after Alam Ara’s release. However the first Bengali full length talkie was Dena Paona, released on 30 December 1931 at Chitra Cinema Hall in Calcutta. One of the prominent heroes of early Bengali films, Debaki Bose directed Chandidas in 1932, the film which is noted for its breakthrough in recording sound, as sound recordist Mukul Bose had solved the problem of spacing out dialogue and frequency modulation in films.

Towards the end of the thirties, a situation of unflinching self-belief seemed to flourish in Indian cinema. Priya Jaikumar comments that, ‘asserting a cultural identity was crucial to the industry’s survival as a trade, which was artificially impeded by its government and domestically dominated by film imports until the late 1930s’ (Jaikumar: 2006: 195).

The Motion Picture Society of India was formed in 1935 with regional branches being established by turns at Bombay, Calcutta and Madras. Each of these branches published journals and bulletins on films along with statistical reports. Bombay rose to be the centre of the Indian film industry with big names of production houses like Bombay Talkies (owned by Himangshu Rai), Ranjit Movietone (owned by Chandulal Shah and Gohar Kayoum Mamajiwala), Wadia Movietone (owned by Wadia Brothers J.B.H. Wadia and Homi Wadia) and Minerva Movietone (owned by Sohrab Modi). Pune had the famous Prabhat Film Company established by V. Shantaram. This company was so self-sufficient in all respects that it even had its own zoo that contained tigers, deer and birds. It also had a swimming pool for recreation which was also used for production needs. Prabhat simultaneously made bilingual films in Hindi and Marathi. The New Theatres Limited, owned by B.N. Chitrakar, set up in Calcutta did the same with Bengali and Hindi films. Bombay Talkies produced glossy movies sugarcoating entertainment on social issues. One of the finest examples in this regard is Achyut Kanya (1936, Dir. Franz Osten), which had the storyline spinning relationship between a high-caste boy and an untouchable girl. On the contrary, at the time when the film industry that was growing up across the country was all absorbed in mythology and musical funfair, the industry in Bengal was much more sophisticated and aesthetically sound than the rest. Moreover the Calcutta film industry laid importance on adaptation of literature.

One of the earliest known studios of the time was the East India Film Company, based in Calcutta. This company was the pioneer in taking Indian films to foreign festivals with its production Seeta (1933, Dir. Debaki Bose) being shown at the Venice Film Festival in 1934. The film won an honorary diploma. In 1933, the East India Film Company produced its first Telugu film, Sati Savithri, which was made with a lavish budget of Rs. 75,000. Based on a stage play by Mylavaram Bala Bharathi Samajam, the film was directed by C. Pullaiah. Apart from its commercial success, the film also received an honorary diploma at the second Venice International Film Festival.

Due to the series of significant events that the decade of 1930s witnessed in terms of the rise of the cinema industry in India, it is regarded as the first Golden Age of Indian Cinema by many film writers and critics, the second era being the 1950s.

The end of the silent film era marked a sudden rise in production of talkies, in terms of both Hindi-Urdu and Bengali films. The use of sound proved to be a bane for the nonnative actors and Anglo-Indians, who were neither convergent with the Indian languages nor were their voices conducive enough. They were forced to take a back seat, paving the way for local talents. Moreover, the rise in specialized functions of dialogue writing, music composition, sound recording and shooting in artificial light, had overall reshaped the film industry, creating newer avenues for engagement. As a result, the number of Indian technicians, music composers, script writers, choreographers and actors kept increasing manifold (Gooptu: 2010: 69).