History Of Bollywood Cinema. Pt 1
Created | Updated Jul 14, 2009
MUMBAI AND “BOLLYWOOD” INDUSTRY.
Mumbai, previously known as Bombay, having its name from the Hindu goddess “Mumba Devi” from Marathi, is the commercial and entertainment centre of India, lies at the mouth of the Ulhas River, off the western coast of India and is the state capital of Maharashtra.
The city is divided into two – Mumbai City and Mumbai southern district and is further divided into areas such as Bandra, Juhu, Worli, Malabar Hill, Chembur (in the central suburbs), Bandra, Colaba, Kandivali and Andheri. It has the world’s most popular Hotels – The Taj and the Oberoi (which were attacked by the terrorists in November 2008). The other most popular site is The Gate Way of India and has a deep natural harbour. Besides its historical sites, the city is more famous for its Hindi films, more popularly known in the west as “Bollywood,” which many consider to be derived from “Hollywood” and which many consider it to be derogatory. The city consists of many studios and companies that are involved in films and distribution, such as Yashraj Films, in Jogeshwari west, RK Studios in Chembur, Filmistan Studios in Goregaon west, Dharma Productions, based in the area of Khar and Mehboob Studios, in the area of Bandra, just to mention a few. The industry just does not consist of movies but also Television as well but the most famous is the movie aspects of it, which consists of many stars, not to mention the superstars such as Amitabh Bachchan and Shahrukh Khan. Some of the stars, such as Shashi Kapoor (Conrad Rook’s “Siddhartha” and Ruth Prawer Jhabwala’s “Heat and Dust”), the late I.S. Johar (David Lean’s “Lawrence of Arabia”) and Simi Garewall (Conrad Rook’s “Siddhartha”), Aishwarya Rai Bachchan (“The Last Legion”, “The Pink Panther 2 (released in 2009), Gurinder Chaddha’s “Bride and Prejudice,” “Provoked.” Also former Miss World – Aishwarya Rai), Om Puri (“East Is East” and “Charlie Wilson’s War” and “Gandhi.”), have worked in Hollywood films and crossover films. Movie director, Shekhar Kapoor, who directed famous Bollywood movie, “Mr India,” directed the movie “Elizabeth” and received an Academy Award for it and British director, Danny Boyle’s movie, “Slumdog Millionaire,” starred Bollywood actors, Anil Kapoor, Irrfan Khan and Mahesh Manjrekar. The music score was by A.R. Rehman (received Academy Award for this) who is very well known, not just in India but also in the UK for his work with Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Bollywood Dreams.” Some Hollywood companies, such as Sony and Walt Disney, who own Studios, are now going into making films in Mumbai and else where in India and some are now outsourcing animation works and costumes for their movies.
It is estimated that a thousand films are released every year and out of that only a few manage to be released on the multiplexes and single cinemas – each week there’s a new film released. Indeed “Bollywood” films are now popular in the west and the United Kingdom is considered to be the home of “Bollywood” cinema outside India – many of the films now are constantly in the UK top ten film listings. Yashraj Film’s “Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi (couple made in heaven),” which stars superstar Shahrukh Khan and new comer Anoushka Sharma, entered the UK charts at no. 5. And in 2007, film distributor for “Om Shanti Om,” starring Shahrukh Khan, Eros International is said to have made three quarters of a million pounds in the opening week of the film in the UK and a total of 19 million USD worldwide, making it the biggest opening week grosser in the history of Indian / Bollywood Cinema.
THE BEGINNING.
The history of “Bollywood” can be traced far back as 1896, when the Lumiere Brothers’ first unveiled six silent, short films at the Watson Hotel in what was then Bombay. But it wasn’t until 1899 when Harishchandra Bhatvadkar, filmed two short films and exhibited them on Edison’s projecting kinetoscope but it wasn’t until Dadasaheb Phalke released his silent film “Raja Harishchandra” on May 13, 1913, a film which really created the Indian Film Industry.
DADASAHEB PHALKE
Dadasaheb Phalke, whose real name was Dhundiraj Govind Phalke, the founder and the “father” of the Indian cinema, was born on 30 April, 1870 at Trimbakeshwar, near the Maharashtrian city of Nasik, India and was from a family of priests and had a strong religious upbringing.
At the age of fifteen, he joined J J School of Art in Bombay and after passing exams there, he went on to study at Kalabhavan (now a part of the University of Baroda), in the Gujarat city of Baroda. Here he studied Sculpture, Engineering Drawing, Painting and Photography. He started his career with the latter but was forced to leave business due to his wife’s and child’s death due to an outbreak of bubonic plague (swelling of the lymph nodes). He later met a German employee who worked for the Lumiere Brothers, Carl Heinz and from then on he grabbed the opportunity to work with the Archaeological Survey of India as a draftsman. But restless as he was with his job, he turned to the business of printing and went onto specialise in lithography and oleography and also worked for a certain Raja Ravi Varma as a painter. But with his experience in printing, he went onto establish his own press and made his first trip abroad to Germany to learn about the latest technology and machinery. But then he gave up his business after a dispute with his partners and after watching a silent movie, “The life of Christ,” turned to moving pictures and envisaged Indian gods on the screen and with this in mind, he began to make his first and India’s first silent feature length, movie, “Raja Harishchandra,” in 1912 and released it the following year. One of the problems that he faced was the lack of female artists willing to work with him, as it was regarded as a disreputable field at the time and the only women who responded to his advertisements for this were mostly prostitutes. He therefore settled for a delicate looking male to play the female role – that of a Queen in the silent movie. In 1914, another gentleman, Ramchandra Gopal, popularly known as “Dadasaheb Torne,” released his movie, “Pundalik,” but the credit went to Dadasaheb Phalke.
DADASAHEB PHALKE AND HINDUSTAN FILMS.
With five partners from Bombay, Phalke went onto to form “Hindustan Films” in the hope that by having financial aspect handled by experts of his business, he would be free to follow the creative side. He therefore set up a studio and trained people to act as well as to become technicians. But soon he ran into insurmountable problems with the partners and in 1920 he resigned and announced his retirement from cinema. Lacking Phalke’s imaginative genius, the company went into deep loss and he was persuaded to return. He soon began to feel the constraint and after directing a few films, he withdrew.
One of the constraints that was felt by Dadasaheb Phalke was that of the introduction of sound in the movies. He passed away, penniless, in 1944.
INTRODUCTION OF SOUND AND COLOUR.
The 1920’s saw the growth of Indian cinema and along with this came the purview of law and the decade saw many ne companies being formed and the entry of new film makers as well. But then in the 1930’s there was something newer and better – the introduction of sound in the movies and later colour.
The most remarkable thing about sound film was that it came with a “bang” and rapidly displaced silent movies and the person who introduced this was Ardeshir Irani.
ARDESHIR IRANI AND SOUND IN FILMS – “ALAM ARA.”
The thirties has been recognised as a decade of social protests and saw the rise of three big banners : Prabhat, Bombay Talkies and New Theatres and these gave the lead in making serious and gripping entertaining movies for all classes but it was the introduction of sound that led all this.
Ardeshir Irani, whose real name was Khan Bahadur Ardeshir Irani, was born on 5 December, 1886 in Poona, Maharashtra, India,. At the age of nineteen, he went onto represent Universal Studios and went on to operate Alexander Cinema in Bombay with Abdulally Esoofally, for four decades. It was here that he learnt the art of film making and became fascinated by this. In 1917, he went on to into film production and produced his first silent movie, a feature length movie, “Nala Dayamanti,” which was released in 1920. Two years later Irani joined former manager of Dadasaheb Phalke’s “Hindustan Films.” Bhogilal Dave and established their own company, “Star Films.” But after over a half a dozen films, the partnership was dissolved and in 1924, Irani established another company, “Majestic Films,” and was joined by two talented people, B.P. Mishra and Naval Gandhi. But this was also short lived.
In 1925, Irani established “Imperial Films” and with that he went onto make sixty two films and by the age of forty, he had managed to establish himself as “the film maker” of Indian cinema and began to be known as the father of talkie films, beginning with “Alam Ara” in 1931, followed by “Noor Jehan” and later, the first feature film in colour, “Kisan Kanya,” in 1937. He suspended his film making during the Second World and his last film, “Pujari (meaning “worshipper”) was released in 1945. He passed away on 14 October, 1969.
“ALAM ARA.”
The title simply means “The Light of The World,” in Urdu (language spoken in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh) and when making this film, Irani realised that sound would be playing a major affect in the cinema. The movie starred Prithviraj Kapoor (father of the late Raj, Shammi and Shashi Kapoor and great grandfather of Karishma, Kareena and Ranbir Kapoor.), master Vithal, Zubeida and Wazir Mohamed.
The movie and its music were successful and the “hit” song, “De de Khuda ke naam per,” sung by Wazir Mohamed, who played the role of a fakir in the movie, became popular. The music and the songs of the movie were recorded live in the studio while filming the movie, with the use of an harmonium and tabla as playback singing was yet to start. This would set the trend of future films and would spell the “death of “silent films.
Irani, who handled the sound recording, used Taran Sound System and the movie was shot with Taran Single System camera, which recorded the sound directly on the film and since there were no sound proof studios at the time, the shooting was done at night in order to avoid noises and the microphone was hidden near the actors.
The film caused such a stir when it was released on 14 March, 1931, since it was the first movie with sound and music that Police had to be called to control the crowd.
In 1937, Irani released the first ever Indian film, “Kisan Kanya,” a film, which just didn’t have sound only but also colour He went on to make his last film, “Pujari (meaning “Worshipper”) in 1945.
Ardeshir Irani passed away on 14 October, 1969. “Alam Ara” was destroyed, along with many of the films in 2003 fire at the National Film Archives of India (NFAI), in Pune, previously known as “Poona.”
K.L. SAIGAL – THE FIRST SUPERSTAR
There have been many stars such as Prithviraj Kapoor, Ashok Kumar, Dilip Kumar, Raj Kapoor, Dev Anand, just to mention a few but when mentioning the title “superstar” and the name of Kundan Lal Saigal is thought of.
Kundan Lal Saigal, more famously remembered as K.L. Saigal, was born in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. His mother, Kesarbai, was deeply religious and fond of music and this is perhaps one of the reasons why her fourth child became influential with religious songs (bhajans and kirtans) and was to have major part in his later life. He left school at a very early age and began to earn his living by working as a railway timekeeper and soon after that, he started to work as a type writer salesman for Remington Typewriter Company. But then on one of his trips to the city of Lahore, he met Merchand Jain and the two became good friends by which time Saigal had become a budding singer and it was when he moved to the western Indian city of Calcutta (now known as Kolkatta), that his friend encouraged him to pursue this talent. And even while he worked as hotel manager, he didn’t give this up. However it was only when he joined the famous theatre company, New Theatre that he met many respected composers such as R.C. Boral and later the famous Pankaj Mullick.
It was not until 1933 that Saigal’s career really took off when four of his bhajans (religious songs) for the film “Puran Bhagat,” which created a sensation and after which he never looked back. His style of singing was such that he sang in front of the camera even though the method of playback singing (a method by where popular and professional singers record a track for the movie and the actors lip – sync the songs in front of the camera) was now coming into existence. The most remembered song that was sung by the legend was “Babul Mora” for the movie “Street singer,” which was released in 1938. But the film that he is mostly remembered for is “Devdas,” in which he played the role of the tragic hero, Devdas, who loses his childhood sweetheart due to family feud, opposite the then well known heroines, Zubeida, who played the role of “Parvati (Paro)” and Rajkumari as “Chandramukhi.” The film which was based on the novel by Saratchandra Chatterjee, was later re – made in 1955 with very well known Dilip Kumar as “Devdas,” Suchitra Sen as “Parvati (Paro)” and Vyjayantimala as “Chandramukhi” and was directed by the famous Bimal Roy. The film was, again, re – made and directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali and was re leased in 2003. This starred superstar Shahrukh Khan as the tragic hero, Aishwarya Rai as “Parvati (Paro)” and Madhuri Dixit as “Chandramukhi.”
Saigal had acted in a total of 36 feature films before he passed away in 1947. He moved to Bombay in 1941 and worked for the company Ranjit Movietone and with this his career moved towards greater heights. At the same time, he took up drinking and it is believed that he would not sing a song before touching liquor or some sort of alcoholic drink, which soon began to affect his health. However, he soon moved to the city of Jalandhar, in the state of Punjab and on 18 January, 1947, he passed away, leaving a wife, Asha Rani, who he married in 1935, a very young son, who would later become a very popular composer, Madan Mohan and two daughters.
THE RISE OF ASHOK KUMAR AND FILM: “ACHHUT KANIYA.”
During the 1930’s there was a mood for Independence as “Mahatma” Gandhi called for civil disobedience against the colonial authorities and more so after his march to the beach at Dandi. The British immediately began to impose censorship on the films being produced and showing movement for independence but there were films that managed to pass the censorship, films which contained indirect message regarding messages such as those which the “Mahatma” and Jawaharlal Nehru spoke about. For example about removing “untouchability” from the caste system as receiving Independence would not merely be enough.
One such film was “Achhut Kaniya,” meaning “Untouchable Maiden,” which introduced the famous actor, Ashok Kumar, whose real name was Sanjay Ashok Kumar Ganguly, who came from Bhagalpur, Bengal. The leading female role, as the untouchable maiden, was played by Devika Rani, wife of the producer and her husband, Himanshu Rai, and owner of “Bombay Talkies”. Prior to the shooting of the movie, the lead actor had eloped with the producer’s wife and left and that’s when laboratory assistant, Sanjay Ashok Kumar, was called in and Devika Rani decided to continue working as the leading actress.
The story was told in flashback and is about unhappy affair between Kasturi, an untouchable female and daughter of a railway crossing guard, played by Devika Rani and Pratap, son of a grocer and a high class Brahmin. The film went on to be very successful as well as popular and is considered to be an early super hit in the industry as it dealt with social position of the Dalit (untouchable) girls and is also considered to be a reformist period piece.
Ashok Kumar and Devika Rani went on to do a string of films but she was a bigger star then he and he was considered to be under her shadow until he began to work with another actress, Leela Chitnis and began to sing in his own films such as in “Kismet,” which was released in 1943. He also went on to produce films for “Bombay Talkies” and one of the most remembered and popular was “Mahal,” opposite the late Madhubala. The movie was directed by Kamal Amrohi. He went on to act in more films such as “Parineeta” opposite Meena Kumari, “Bandini” opposite Nutan Behl, “Jewel Thief,” “Safar,” “Aradhana,” “Pakeezah”, “Mili,” “Khubsoorat,”” and “The Return of Jewel Thief,” just to mention a few. He passed away on 19 December, 2001.
His co – star in “Achhut Kaniya,” Devika Rani, lost her husband, Himanshu Rai, in 1940 and took control of “Bombay Talkies,” the company that she formed with her late husband, with Sashadhar Mukherjee. But then soon began to face problems when Sashadhar Mukherjee, along with Ashok Kumar and other veterans in the company left and formed “Filimistan.” She married Russian painter Svetoslav Roerich in 1945. She left films and joined her husband in Bangalore, where on 8 March, 1994, she passed away.
FEARLESS NADIA, THE STUNT QUEEN.
The 30’s decade saw another change in the film industry and that was the introduction of a stunt woman, known popularly as “Fearless Nadia,” who was born as Mary Anne Evans, on 8 January 1908, Perth Australia, in the movie Lal-e-Yaman in 1933. She became an instant “hit" after she was introduced to Hindi movies by J.B.H Wadia, the founder and owner of “Wadia Movietone. But in 1935, her most memorable movie, “Hunterwali” was released in which she dressed in tight, revealing clothes, tall boots, while wielding a whip – which became iconic in the 1930’s. The following year another movie was released, “Miss Frontier Mail,” in which she played the role of Savita, aka Miss 1936, is an amateur hunter but the follow up to her famous iconic image was not followed until 1943 with the release of film entitled “Hunterwali Ki Beti (“Daughter of Hunterwali.”).”
Fearless Nadia continued to work in the films until 1970, when her last film, “Ek Nanhi Munni Ladki Thi” was released. The cast included Prithviraj Kapoor and Shatrughan Sinha, who had debuted in the movie “Sajan” in 1969.
Mary Anne Evans, “Fearless Nadia,” passed away on 9 January, 1996.
However a certain new Director, who was later to make some of the most memorable films, “Mother India,” “Andaz” and “Aan,” began to direct his first movie entitled “Judgement of Allah.” The director was none other than Mehboob Khan.
The end of the 1930’s saw the beginning of the Second World War and many films faced hardship at the hands of the censor board and many never mad e it to the screens but some did manage.
THE 1940’S.
One of the most memorable films of the early 1940’s was “Kismet,” which means “luck” and which starred Ashok Kumar and Mumtaz Shanti. This film set a trend on theme relating to separation of brothers in the film industry and one which was later adopted by Directors such as Nazir Hussein in “Yaadon Ki Baraat” and by Manmohan Desai in “Amar Akbar Anthony” in the 1970’s. “Kismet,” being produced during war time, captured the elusive temper of the times of the society in flux through its central character, “a lovable rogue.” This proved to be a huge success with the masses but what was more interesting was that it had a song, “Dur hato eh duniya walo, hindistan humara hai,” (keep away, India is ours”, which many consider to be patriotic and which passed the censor board, who at the time were “coming hard” on such themes and also on any films that would be considered “anti – war.” The movie was produced by “Bombay Talkies.”
DILIP KUMAR.
The forties decade saw rise of some stars, who would later go onto to become legends in the industry and one of them was an actor, who has been considered to be a “thespian” by many and also a superstar, Dilip Kumar.
Dilip Kumar, born in 1922, whose real name is Yusuf Khan, is the son of Ghulam Sarvar, a Phustun, fruit merchant, who owned large orchards in Peshawar, now in Pakistan and in Deolali, in the Indian state of Maharashtra. He was spotted in a market fruit stall by a leading director from “Bombay Talkies,” Amiya Chakravarty who was a protege of Devika Rani., and it was he who gave him the screen name “Dilip Kumar.” His first film, “Jwar Bhata,” released in 1944, went unnoticed but he shot to fame three years later with the release of “Jugnu,” in which he starred opposite Noor Jehan and Shashikala. But it was Mehboob Khan’s big film, in 1949, entitled “Andaz,” that enabled him to act opposite a famous screen couple, Raj Kapoor and Nargis.
Throughout the 1950’s Dilip Kumar was one of the biggest stars along with Raj Kapoor and Dev Anand. Besides acting in romantic roles, he also acted in lighthearted roles such as a swashbuckling peasant in Mehboob khan’s “Aan,” which was the first ever film in colour, opposite a new actress, Nadira, and then opposite Meena Kumari in “Azaad.” But he is mostly known for roles that were not only just romantic but also involved tragedy, such as in Bimal Roy’s “Devdas” and “Madhumati.” Later, in 1961, he went on to produce one of the most remembered classics, his first and only, “Ganga Jumna,” opposite his female co – star, with who he acted in “Madhumati”, Vyjayantimala, in which he played the lead role with his brother, Nasir Khan. Five years later, at the age of 44, he married 22 year old, Saira Banu, daughter of the 1930’s actress, Naseem Banu Saira Banu, .shot to fame with her first film, “Junglee,” which was released in 1961 and starred the younger brother of Raj Kapoor, Shammi Kapoor. However, prior to his marriage, in 1962, British Film director, David Lean, offered Dilip Kumar the role of “Sheriff Ali,” in his blockbuster, “Lawrence of Arabia” but he declined it and the role went to Omar Sheriff.
As the 1960’s decade began, so did some flops but in 1967, he managed to make a comeback with the biggest hit of the year, “Ram Aur Shyam,” in which played a double role as a brother, opposite Waheeda Rehman and the not so well known actress, Mumtaz, until the release of the film. But then again, many of his films began to flop and in 1976, he took a five year break. Then in 1981, he came back in the biggest hit of the year, in Manoj Kumar’s “Kranti” and soon he began to play character roles and roles of a father. Then came the coming of the two superstars of the industry when the movie, “Shakti,” which was directed by Ramesh Sippy and in which Kumar played the role of a Police officer, who refuses kidnappers demands, who are also holding his son as a hostage. The elder version of the son was played by the superstar, Amitabh Bachchan.
Dilip Kumar’s last film, “Qila,” which was released in 1998, didn’t make any impact on the audience and since then he has retired.
On the midnight of 14 August, 1947, the partition took place and the state of Pakistan came into existence and at midnight, India received its independence. The partition affected thousands of people, some of who found themselves in a country that they had not expected to live and thousands crossed the borders causing a mass exodus. But this didn’t just affect the partition of land, but also land, home s, families, furniture and also items such as kitchen utensils and this also made many actors move as well. One of the actresses to move to Pakistan was Noor Jehan.
NOOR JEHAN.
Noor Jehan; whose real name was Allah Wasai, was born on 21 September, 1926 in a family of musicians and though she wanted to be an actress, she was pushed into singing and at the age of five began singing and showed a keen interest in a variety of styles. After moving to Calcutta, in 1936, she acted in her first film, “Misar Ka Sitara.” But it was not until she moved to Lahore (now in Pakistan), that she became popular after songs were composed for her by the composer, Ghulam Haider and in 1943, after moving to Bombay, she sang melodies with another well known singer, Shanta Apte in the movie “Duhai” and had already started acting in movies and two years later, she played a leading role with, the now “Nightingale of India,” Lata Mangeshkar and her, equally well known sister, Asha Bhonsle in the movie “Badi Maa.” But her most remembered and well known film was “Anmol Ghadi (meaning “unique / priceless watch”) which was released in 1946 and was directed by Mehboob Khan. A year later, her last film in India, entitled, “Mirza Sahiban,” opposite the well known Prithviraj Kapoor, was released.
Noor Jehan passed away in 2000 in the Pakistani city of Karachi.
“ANMOL GHADI.”
One of the most remembered films of the 1940’s was “Anmol Ghadi,” which was released in 1946 and was directed and produced by Mehboob Khan and starred Surendra, Suraiya and Noor Jehan. The songs were also memorable and the playback for the movie was by Shamshad Begum, Noor Jehan, Suraiya, Surendra and Mohd Rafi.
The story is that of a Chandrabahan (Surendra), who as a child falls in love with Lata (Noor Jehan) but she leaves the town and the only thing he has is a small clock, as a reminder of her. But as years go by, he finds work in a music shop and he becomes fascinated with poetry and soon finds out that this is written by a certain Renuka Devi but instead meets her friend Basanti (Suraiya), who falls in love with him. Problem is, he is not able to forget Lata. Later, he finds out that the owner of the music shop is to marry Renuka Devi, who turns out to be Lata.
The three most memorable songs of this film, which went on to become popular were “Jawan Hai Mohabat (Young love),” “Mere Bachpan Ke Saathi (My Childhood friend)” and “Aaja Meri Barbad Mohabat Ke Sahare.” However, lip synching by the actors at the time was not perfect but still managed to work properly on screen
“Anmol Ghadi,” set the trend of new films relating to love story and triangular love stories.
MADHUBALA.
One of the most memorable actresses of old time, along side with Nargis and Meena Kumari, has to be Mumtaz Begum Jehan Dehlavi, more popularly remembered as “Madhubala,” who starred in some films, which are now known as classics, such as “Mughal – E – Azam”, “Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi,” “Howrah Bridge” and “Mahal.”
Born in 1933, in a conservative Muslim family and ethnic Pathan, in Delhi, she was the fifth child of Ataullah Khan, out of eleven children. After her father lost his job, the family, struggling many hardships, including death of four sisters and two brothers. Eventually they moved to Bombay in search of a better life but faced struggle and frequently visited film studios for work. She got her first film at the age of nine, entitled, “Basant,” which was released in 1942, in which she played the role of a daughter with a very popular actress at the time, Mumtaz Shanti. She then went onto act in several films as a child artist but it was the wife of Himanshu Rai and the owner of “Bombay Talkies,” Devika Rani, who was very impressed with her acting, who advised her to change her name to “Madhubala.”
Madhubala’s real break came in 1947, at the age of fourteen, when film maker, Kidar Sharma cast her opposite Raj Kapoor in his film, “Neel Kamal.” Until now, she was known as “Mumtaz” and soon changed her name to “Madhubala” and though the film was not a success, her talent was recognised and she soon went on to become a star. But it was not until 1949, when “Bombay Talkies,” released the movie “Mahal,” which was directed by Kamal Amrohi and starred Ashok Kumar. The film went onto become a success and the song “Aayega Aanewala,” went on to herald the arrival of two new superstars, Madhubala and the lady who has now gone on to become known as the “nightingale” of India, Lata Mangeshkar.
MADHUBALA’S SERIOUS ILLNESS.
Unknown to almost everyone, Madhubala had been born with a heart defect – “a hole in the heart” and by 1950, she began to cough up blood on sets of her films. At the time heart surgery was not widely available. This was kept silent from those within the industry for many years but soon, when filming in Madras, now called “Chennai,” she vomited blood. The director and his wife were said to have taken care for her until she was well enough and as good gesture, the actress, who had not even attended her own film premieres, decided to attend the film premieres for the director, films were “Bahut Din Huwe” in 1954 and “Insaniyat” in 1955 and she kept on working as the incident in Madras was soon forgotten and her family went on to become protective and she would only eat home cooked food, even though her illness was slowly taking control of her.
MADHUBALA , HOLLYWOOD. AND “MUGHAL – E – AZAM.”
With the success of “Mahal,” Madhubala shot to such fame, that she began to secure herself as well as her family financially by working in as many films as she could – an estimated twenty four films within the first four years of her adult career. But not all films were that she appeared in were considered to be that of “A grade” and as consequence many were under impression that this was due to her beauty rather than acting. She was, however, one of the most soughted actresses in India. But she soon began to attract interest from Hollywood and she appeared in many American magazines but the most remembered issue was of that in “Theatre Arts,” which was published in 1952 in which there was an extensive article on her with a full page photograph. The heading was: “The Biggest Star in the World (And she’s not in Beverly Hills). The article went on to present her as a mysterious, delicate woman with mythical beauty with a legion of fans.
One Hollywood director, Frank Capra, director of films such as “Riding High” and “State of Union,” visiting India and meeting some prominent members of the film industry, was keen on meeting the actress who was conspicuous by her absence but he went on to discuss a possible entry of her into Hollywood. But her father refused and this put an end of her making any entries into Hollywood.
As a star, Madhubala worked with many actors in the Industry such as Raj Kapoor, Shammi Kapoor, Dev Anand, Dilip Kumar with who she is said to have an affair with, Sunil Dutt and Ashok Kumar. She also worked with directors such as Mehboob Khan. But her most memorable movie was K. Asif’s “Mughal – E – Azam,” which was released in 1960 and starred Dilip Kumar as “Prince Salim”, Prithviraj Kapoor as his father, “Emperor Akbar” and Durga Khote as “Empress Jodhabai.” In this, Madhubala played the character of “Anarkali,” a dancer with who Prince Salim falls in love with.
“MUGHAL – E – AZAM.”
When “Mughal – E – Azam” was released the affair between Dilip Kumar and Madhubala, which had lasted for five years was over and the actress went on to marry playback singer, actor and Ashok Kumar’s youngest brother, who was married to a Bengali singer, Kishore Kumar.
It took K Asif ten years to complete this movie which was in “Black and White” even though colour had been I existence since the 1950’s. One particular song that is still remembered today and one which was filmed in colour at “Sheesh Mahal (Palace of Mirrors) at Amber Fort in the Indian State of Rajasthan, is “Pyar Kiya to Darna Kya,” with the voice of Lata Mangeshkar and lip synched by Madhubala. This is the only song that was filmed entirely in colour. The Music director, Naushad, unable to get a echo, is said to have recorded this in the studio bathroom. Dilip Kumar’s costume was imported from Britain and the movie itself was one of the most expensive to be made. The film cost 38.29 crores (Indian Rupees).
The film went on to break box office records in India and held the record for the highest grossing film until 1975, when “Sholay” was released.
Health, however, was not in her favour and though she went on to appears in a few more films, her health deteriorated and had to travel to London for a possible heart surgery. But this was refused as her chances of survival were minimal and advised her to rest and they predicted that she would only live for another twelve months. But she defied this and returned to India and in 1966, began to work in the film “Chalack,” with Raj Kapoor. This caused a sensation and this was heralded as her come back and photographs of her were taken by the media, in which, though she looked beautiful but pale. The film was never completed.
In 1969, it became evident that the actress was no longer in condition to work in films and she took up film making and began with “Farz Aur Ishq,” which was never made, as during the pre – production, she finally succumbed to her illness. On 23 February, 1969, just after her thirty sixth birthday, one of the greatest Indian actresses, Madhubala, passed away and was buried at Santa Cruz cemetery by her family and husband.
Mughal – E – Azam was re- released in 2004 / 2005 and was complete in colour.
After Independence, the main theme of the films was based on the Indian struggle for Independence. One such film, which is remembered today was “Shaheed” (Martyr), which starred Dilip Kumar, Kamini Kaushal and Chandra Mohan – his last film. Chandra Mohan passed away in 1949. The songs of this movie, "Watan ki Raah Men Watan Ke Naujawan Shaheed Ho" and "Badnaam Na Ho Jaaye Mohabbat Ka Fasana" are still remembered today and have not lost their appeal.
Later in 1948, saw the man who would later go onto become known as the “showman” of the industry and one who made meaningful but yet commercial films, which appealed to many, the legendary Raj Kapoor make his debut as a director with his film, “AAG, in which he starred with Nargis, his brother – in – law, Premnath, his younger brother, Shashi Kapoor and Nigar Sultana. This was the first ever film to be made under the R.K. banner.
RAJ KAPOOR
Raj Kapoor, whose real name was Ranbirraj Kapoor, elder brother of Shammi and Shashi Kapoor, father of Randhir, Rishi and Rajeev Kapoor and grandfather of actresses Karishma and Kareena Kapoor and actor Ranbir Kapoor (who is also known as Ranbirraj), was born on 14 December , 1924 and was the son of the actor Prithviraj Kapoor. He was also know as “Charlie Chaplin” due to his dressing in movies
Raj Kapoor began his career as a clapper boy who assisted Kidar Sharma. But in 1935, at the age of eleven, he was introduced in film, “Inquilab” but his real big break came in 1947, with the movie “Neel Kamal,” opposite Madhubala. A year later, he went onto establish his own studio, “R.K. Films,” by releasing his movie, “Aag,” one which he produced, directed and starred opposite Nargis, with who he was to work in many more films.
“AAG”
The word “Aag” means “fire” and this is what was in this movie. A man who loves theatre from his childhood days and sets up a theatre company with a partner but one day, after finding out that his childhood sweetheart is in love with his partner, he sets fire to himself only to get horribly disfigured. The film itself didn’t do well at the Box office but had some of the most memorable songs – “Zinda Ho Istare…” by Mukesh and “Dekh Chand Ki Aur.”
The playback singer, Mukesh, went on to provide playback for Raj Kapoor in almost all his films and was considered by Raj Kapoor himself as his voice. Thirty years later, the theme of disfigurement, again, appeared in his film, “Satyam Shivam Sunderam,” which was released in 1978 and starred his younger brother, Shashi Kapoor and Zeenat Aman. This was also the last film in which Mukesh would provide a playback for “R.K. Films” as he passed away soon afterwards.
The theme of theatre, however, was copied by another actor and director, “Bhagwan” in his film, “Albela,” which was released in 1951.
Raj Kapoor went on to make many films as well as act in them. His most memorable films were “Sangam,” (an area where the three holy rivers in India, the Ganga (Ganges), Jumna (Yumna) and Saraswati meet), which was released in 1964 in which, he himself starred with his friend Rajendra Kumar and Vyjayantimala. The movie was one of the first to be filmed oversesas namely in France and Switzerland and also had a theme of a love triangle and one which leads to tragedy. One of the most remembered songs in this movie, was “Dost Dost Na Raha” (I have no friend), of which the playback Mukesh and sung by Kapoor himself. This was considered to be a very close song to Raj Kapoor and some say that when he first heard it, he had tears in his eyes as his friend, Mukesh, had managed to evoke so much sentiment in it with his voice. Even today, after 45 years, those listening to the song as “beautiful and very sentiment.” The other film was “Mera Naam Joker (My Name is Clown),” which was released in 1970. This has been considered to be based on his life and had a multi cast: Rajendra Kumar, Dharmendra, Padmini, Simi Garewall, Achala Sachdev, Om Prakash, Sunder, Eduard Sjereda (Russian actor), Kseniya Ryabinkina (Russian actress). In this Raj Kapoor, also introduced his second son, a very young Rishi Kapoor as a younger version of himself in the movie. In this he also had some sentimental songs, again sung by his friend, Mukesh – “Jeena Yahan, Marna Yahan (live here, die here” and “Jaane kahan gaye who din (where are those days gone).” The film was over three and a half hours in duration and bombed at the Box office. In 1988, as tribute to hi, it was shown in some of the cinemas when it was announced that the actor, director and producer, had passed away and proved to be successful with many.
Two years after the release of “Mera Naam Joker,” Raj Kapoor, released his film, “Bobby,” in 1973, in which he introduced Dimple Kapadia opposite his son, Rishi Kapoor and also had two legendary actors, Pran and Prem Nath, who it has been said, did not charge him anything. The theme here, was not just a love story, but also had the theme of a falling in love with a person from another caste and religion – something that leads to a conflict between father and son and between the two families, who end up uniting in the end. This set the trend for future “Love Story” based films and those who wanted to introduce their off springs into films. It also contained a song, which, would be considered as an “item” song now, but something which was not heard of much at the time, though they were present.
Raj Kapoor, suffering from asthma in later years, passed away on 2 June, 1988 after suffering from complications related to the illness. At the time, he was working on his next project entitled, “Henna,” which his eldest son, Randhir, father of Karishma and Karina Kapoor, also well know “Bollywood” actresses, completed.
In 1949, another movie, that is most remembered today, “Andaz,” starring Dilip Kumar, Nargis and Raj Kapoor, directed by Mehboob Khan was released. This had some of the most popular songs, such as “Jhum Jhum Ke Nacho Aaj (Dance Today” and “Hum Aaj Kahin Dil Kho Bethe (Today I have lost my heart”), “Tote Na Dil Tote Na (Let my heart not break”), sung by the playback singer Mukesh, who sounded like the legendary K.L. Saigal.
Raj Kapoor’s “Aag” did not do so well overall but it was appreciated by many. It was “Andaz” that took the audience by storm as it had a love triangle, a well known cast and storyline that ended in tragedy and songs that almost everyone could remember. The next decade was to further enhance this and was to re – introduce colour.
Mumbai, previously known as Bombay, having its name from the Hindu goddess “Mumba Devi” from Marathi, is the commercial and entertainment centre of India, lies at the mouth of the Ulhas River, off the western coast of India and is the state capital of Maharashtra.
The city is divided into two – Mumbai City and Mumbai southern district and is further divided into areas such as Bandra, Juhu, Worli, Malabar Hill, Chembur (in the central suburbs), Bandra, Colaba, Kandivali and Andheri. It has the world’s most popular Hotels – The Taj and the Oberoi (which were attacked by the terrorists in November 2008). The other most popular site is The Gate Way of India and has a deep natural harbour. Besides its historical sites, the city is more famous for its Hindi films, more popularly known in the west as “Bollywood,” which many consider to be derived from “Hollywood” and which many consider it to be derogatory. The city consists of many studios and companies that are involved in films and distribution, such as Yashraj Films, in Jogeshwari west, RK Studios in Chembur, Filmistan Studios in Goregaon west, Dharma Productions, based in the area of Khar and Mehboob Studios, in the area of Bandra, just to mention a few. The industry just does not consist of movies but also Television as well but the most famous is the movie aspects of it, which consists of many stars, not to mention the superstars such as Amitabh Bachchan and Shahrukh Khan. Some of the stars, such as Shashi Kapoor (Conrad Rook’s “Siddhartha” and Ruth Prawer Jhabwala’s “Heat and Dust”), the late I.S. Johar (David Lean’s “Lawrence of Arabia”) and Simi Garewall (Conrad Rook’s “Siddhartha”), Aishwarya Rai Bachchan (“The Last Legion”, “The Pink Panther 2 (released in 2009), Gurinder Chaddha’s “Bride and Prejudice,” “Provoked.” Also former Miss World – Aishwarya Rai), Om Puri (“East Is East” and “Charlie Wilson’s War” and “Gandhi.”), have worked in Hollywood films and crossover films. Movie director, Shekhar Kapoor, who directed famous Bollywood movie, “Mr India,” directed the movie “Elizabeth” and received an Academy Award for it and British director, Danny Boyle’s movie, “Slumdog Millionaire,” starred Bollywood actors, Anil Kapoor, Irrfan Khan and Mahesh Manjrekar. The music score was by A.R. Rehman (received Academy Award for this) who is very well known, not just in India but also in the UK for his work with Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Bollywood Dreams.” Some Hollywood companies, such as Sony and Walt Disney, who own Studios, are now going into making films in Mumbai and else where in India and some are now outsourcing animation works and costumes for their movies.
It is estimated that a thousand films are released every year and out of that only a few manage to be released on the multiplexes and single cinemas – each week there’s a new film released. Indeed “Bollywood” films are now popular in the west and the United Kingdom is considered to be the home of “Bollywood” cinema outside India – many of the films now are constantly in the UK top ten film listings. Yashraj Film’s “Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi (couple made in heaven),” which stars superstar Shahrukh Khan and new comer Anoushka Sharma, entered the UK charts at no. 5. And in 2007, film distributor for “Om Shanti Om,” starring Shahrukh Khan, Eros International is said to have made three quarters of a million pounds in the opening week of the film in the UK and a total of 19 million USD worldwide, making it the biggest opening week grosser in the history of Indian / Bollywood Cinema.
THE BEGINNING.
The history of “Bollywood” can be traced far back as 1896, when the Lumiere Brothers’ first unveiled six silent, short films at the Watson Hotel in what was then Bombay. But it wasn’t until 1899 when Harishchandra Bhatvadkar, filmed two short films and exhibited them on Edison’s projecting kinetoscope but it wasn’t until Dadasaheb Phalke released his silent film “Raja Harishchandra” on May 13, 1913, a film which really created the Indian Film Industry.
DADASAHEB PHALKE
Dadasaheb Phalke, whose real name was Dhundiraj Govind Phalke, the founder and the “father” of the Indian cinema, was born on 30 April, 1870 at Trimbakeshwar, near the Maharashtrian city of Nasik, India and was from a family of priests and had a strong religious upbringing.
At the age of fifteen, he joined J J School of Art in Bombay and after passing exams there, he went on to study at Kalabhavan (now a part of the University of Baroda), in the Gujarat city of Baroda. Here he studied Sculpture, Engineering Drawing, Painting and Photography. He started his career with the latter but was forced to leave business due to his wife’s and child’s death due to an outbreak of bubonic plague (swelling of the lymph nodes). He later met a German employee who worked for the Lumiere Brothers, Carl Heinz and from then on he grabbed the opportunity to work with the Archaeological Survey of India as a draftsman. But restless as he was with his job, he turned to the business of printing and went onto specialise in lithography and oleography and also worked for a certain Raja Ravi Varma as a painter. But with his experience in printing, he went onto establish his own press and made his first trip abroad to Germany to learn about the latest technology and machinery. But then he gave up his business after a dispute with his partners and after watching a silent movie, “The life of Christ,” turned to moving pictures and envisaged Indian gods on the screen and with this in mind, he began to make his first and India’s first silent feature length, movie, “Raja Harishchandra,” in 1912 and released it the following year. One of the problems that he faced was the lack of female artists willing to work with him, as it was regarded as a disreputable field at the time and the only women who responded to his advertisements for this were mostly prostitutes. He therefore settled for a delicate looking male to play the female role – that of a Queen in the silent movie. In 1914, another gentleman, Ramchandra Gopal, popularly known as “Dadasaheb Torne,” released his movie, “Pundalik,” but the credit went to Dadasaheb Phalke.
DADASAHEB PHALKE AND HINDUSTAN FILMS.
With five partners from Bombay, Phalke went onto to form “Hindustan Films” in the hope that by having financial aspect handled by experts of his business, he would be free to follow the creative side. He therefore set up a studio and trained people to act as well as to become technicians. But soon he ran into insurmountable problems with the partners and in 1920 he resigned and announced his retirement from cinema. Lacking Phalke’s imaginative genius, the company went into deep loss and he was persuaded to return. He soon began to feel the constraint and after directing a few films, he withdrew.
One of the constraints that was felt by Dadasaheb Phalke was that of the introduction of sound in the movies. He passed away, penniless, in 1944.
INTRODUCTION OF SOUND AND COLOUR.
The 1920’s saw the growth of Indian cinema and along with this came the purview of law and the decade saw many ne companies being formed and the entry of new film makers as well. But then in the 1930’s there was something newer and better – the introduction of sound in the movies and later colour.
The most remarkable thing about sound film was that it came with a “bang” and rapidly displaced silent movies and the person who introduced this was Ardeshir Irani.
ARDESHIR IRANI AND SOUND IN FILMS – “ALAM ARA.”
The thirties has been recognised as a decade of social protests and saw the rise of three big banners : Prabhat, Bombay Talkies and New Theatres and these gave the lead in making serious and gripping entertaining movies for all classes but it was the introduction of sound that led all this.
Ardeshir Irani, whose real name was Khan Bahadur Ardeshir Irani, was born on 5 December, 1886 in Poona, Maharashtra, India,. At the age of nineteen, he went onto represent Universal Studios and went on to operate Alexander Cinema in Bombay with Abdulally Esoofally, for four decades. It was here that he learnt the art of film making and became fascinated by this. In 1917, he went on to into film production and produced his first silent movie, a feature length movie, “Nala Dayamanti,” which was released in 1920. Two years later Irani joined former manager of Dadasaheb Phalke’s “Hindustan Films.” Bhogilal Dave and established their own company, “Star Films.” But after over a half a dozen films, the partnership was dissolved and in 1924, Irani established another company, “Majestic Films,” and was joined by two talented people, B.P. Mishra and Naval Gandhi. But this was also short lived.
In 1925, Irani established “Imperial Films” and with that he went onto make sixty two films and by the age of forty, he had managed to establish himself as “the film maker” of Indian cinema and began to be known as the father of talkie films, beginning with “Alam Ara” in 1931, followed by “Noor Jehan” and later, the first feature film in colour, “Kisan Kanya,” in 1937. He suspended his film making during the Second World and his last film, “Pujari (meaning “worshipper”) was released in 1945. He passed away on 14 October, 1969.
“ALAM ARA.”
The title simply means “The Light of The World,” in Urdu (language spoken in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh) and when making this film, Irani realised that sound would be playing a major affect in the cinema. The movie starred Prithviraj Kapoor (father of the late Raj, Shammi and Shashi Kapoor and great grandfather of Karishma, Kareena and Ranbir Kapoor.), master Vithal, Zubeida and Wazir Mohamed.
The movie and its music were successful and the “hit” song, “De de Khuda ke naam per,” sung by Wazir Mohamed, who played the role of a fakir in the movie, became popular. The music and the songs of the movie were recorded live in the studio while filming the movie, with the use of an harmonium and tabla as playback singing was yet to start. This would set the trend of future films and would spell the “death of “silent films.
Irani, who handled the sound recording, used Taran Sound System and the movie was shot with Taran Single System camera, which recorded the sound directly on the film and since there were no sound proof studios at the time, the shooting was done at night in order to avoid noises and the microphone was hidden near the actors.
The film caused such a stir when it was released on 14 March, 1931, since it was the first movie with sound and music that Police had to be called to control the crowd.
In 1937, Irani released the first ever Indian film, “Kisan Kanya,” a film, which just didn’t have sound only but also colour He went on to make his last film, “Pujari (meaning “Worshipper”) in 1945.
Ardeshir Irani passed away on 14 October, 1969. “Alam Ara” was destroyed, along with many of the films in 2003 fire at the National Film Archives of India (NFAI), in Pune, previously known as “Poona.”
K.L. SAIGAL – THE FIRST SUPERSTAR
There have been many stars such as Prithviraj Kapoor, Ashok Kumar, Dilip Kumar, Raj Kapoor, Dev Anand, just to mention a few but when mentioning the title “superstar” and the name of Kundan Lal Saigal is thought of.
Kundan Lal Saigal, more famously remembered as K.L. Saigal, was born in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. His mother, Kesarbai, was deeply religious and fond of music and this is perhaps one of the reasons why her fourth child became influential with religious songs (bhajans and kirtans) and was to have major part in his later life. He left school at a very early age and began to earn his living by working as a railway timekeeper and soon after that, he started to work as a type writer salesman for Remington Typewriter Company. But then on one of his trips to the city of Lahore, he met Merchand Jain and the two became good friends by which time Saigal had become a budding singer and it was when he moved to the western Indian city of Calcutta (now known as Kolkatta), that his friend encouraged him to pursue this talent. And even while he worked as hotel manager, he didn’t give this up. However it was only when he joined the famous theatre company, New Theatre that he met many respected composers such as R.C. Boral and later the famous Pankaj Mullick.
It was not until 1933 that Saigal’s career really took off when four of his bhajans (religious songs) for the film “Puran Bhagat,” which created a sensation and after which he never looked back. His style of singing was such that he sang in front of the camera even though the method of playback singing (a method by where popular and professional singers record a track for the movie and the actors lip – sync the songs in front of the camera) was now coming into existence. The most remembered song that was sung by the legend was “Babul Mora” for the movie “Street singer,” which was released in 1938. But the film that he is mostly remembered for is “Devdas,” in which he played the role of the tragic hero, Devdas, who loses his childhood sweetheart due to family feud, opposite the then well known heroines, Zubeida, who played the role of “Parvati (Paro)” and Rajkumari as “Chandramukhi.” The film which was based on the novel by Saratchandra Chatterjee, was later re – made in 1955 with very well known Dilip Kumar as “Devdas,” Suchitra Sen as “Parvati (Paro)” and Vyjayantimala as “Chandramukhi” and was directed by the famous Bimal Roy. The film was, again, re – made and directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali and was re leased in 2003. This starred superstar Shahrukh Khan as the tragic hero, Aishwarya Rai as “Parvati (Paro)” and Madhuri Dixit as “Chandramukhi.”
Saigal had acted in a total of 36 feature films before he passed away in 1947. He moved to Bombay in 1941 and worked for the company Ranjit Movietone and with this his career moved towards greater heights. At the same time, he took up drinking and it is believed that he would not sing a song before touching liquor or some sort of alcoholic drink, which soon began to affect his health. However, he soon moved to the city of Jalandhar, in the state of Punjab and on 18 January, 1947, he passed away, leaving a wife, Asha Rani, who he married in 1935, a very young son, who would later become a very popular composer, Madan Mohan and two daughters.
THE RISE OF ASHOK KUMAR AND FILM: “ACHHUT KANIYA.”
During the 1930’s there was a mood for Independence as “Mahatma” Gandhi called for civil disobedience against the colonial authorities and more so after his march to the beach at Dandi. The British immediately began to impose censorship on the films being produced and showing movement for independence but there were films that managed to pass the censorship, films which contained indirect message regarding messages such as those which the “Mahatma” and Jawaharlal Nehru spoke about. For example about removing “untouchability” from the caste system as receiving Independence would not merely be enough.
One such film was “Achhut Kaniya,” meaning “Untouchable Maiden,” which introduced the famous actor, Ashok Kumar, whose real name was Sanjay Ashok Kumar Ganguly, who came from Bhagalpur, Bengal. The leading female role, as the untouchable maiden, was played by Devika Rani, wife of the producer and her husband, Himanshu Rai, and owner of “Bombay Talkies”. Prior to the shooting of the movie, the lead actor had eloped with the producer’s wife and left and that’s when laboratory assistant, Sanjay Ashok Kumar, was called in and Devika Rani decided to continue working as the leading actress.
The story was told in flashback and is about unhappy affair between Kasturi, an untouchable female and daughter of a railway crossing guard, played by Devika Rani and Pratap, son of a grocer and a high class Brahmin. The film went on to be very successful as well as popular and is considered to be an early super hit in the industry as it dealt with social position of the Dalit (untouchable) girls and is also considered to be a reformist period piece.
Ashok Kumar and Devika Rani went on to do a string of films but she was a bigger star then he and he was considered to be under her shadow until he began to work with another actress, Leela Chitnis and began to sing in his own films such as in “Kismet,” which was released in 1943. He also went on to produce films for “Bombay Talkies” and one of the most remembered and popular was “Mahal,” opposite the late Madhubala. The movie was directed by Kamal Amrohi. He went on to act in more films such as “Parineeta” opposite Meena Kumari, “Bandini” opposite Nutan Behl, “Jewel Thief,” “Safar,” “Aradhana,” “Pakeezah”, “Mili,” “Khubsoorat,”” and “The Return of Jewel Thief,” just to mention a few. He passed away on 19 December, 2001.
His co – star in “Achhut Kaniya,” Devika Rani, lost her husband, Himanshu Rai, in 1940 and took control of “Bombay Talkies,” the company that she formed with her late husband, with Sashadhar Mukherjee. But then soon began to face problems when Sashadhar Mukherjee, along with Ashok Kumar and other veterans in the company left and formed “Filimistan.” She married Russian painter Svetoslav Roerich in 1945. She left films and joined her husband in Bangalore, where on 8 March, 1994, she passed away.
FEARLESS NADIA, THE STUNT QUEEN.
The 30’s decade saw another change in the film industry and that was the introduction of a stunt woman, known popularly as “Fearless Nadia,” who was born as Mary Anne Evans, on 8 January 1908, Perth Australia, in the movie Lal-e-Yaman in 1933. She became an instant “hit" after she was introduced to Hindi movies by J.B.H Wadia, the founder and owner of “Wadia Movietone. But in 1935, her most memorable movie, “Hunterwali” was released in which she dressed in tight, revealing clothes, tall boots, while wielding a whip – which became iconic in the 1930’s. The following year another movie was released, “Miss Frontier Mail,” in which she played the role of Savita, aka Miss 1936, is an amateur hunter but the follow up to her famous iconic image was not followed until 1943 with the release of film entitled “Hunterwali Ki Beti (“Daughter of Hunterwali.”).”
Fearless Nadia continued to work in the films until 1970, when her last film, “Ek Nanhi Munni Ladki Thi” was released. The cast included Prithviraj Kapoor and Shatrughan Sinha, who had debuted in the movie “Sajan” in 1969.
Mary Anne Evans, “Fearless Nadia,” passed away on 9 January, 1996.
However a certain new Director, who was later to make some of the most memorable films, “Mother India,” “Andaz” and “Aan,” began to direct his first movie entitled “Judgement of Allah.” The director was none other than Mehboob Khan.
The end of the 1930’s saw the beginning of the Second World War and many films faced hardship at the hands of the censor board and many never mad e it to the screens but some did manage.
THE 1940’S.
One of the most memorable films of the early 1940’s was “Kismet,” which means “luck” and which starred Ashok Kumar and Mumtaz Shanti. This film set a trend on theme relating to separation of brothers in the film industry and one which was later adopted by Directors such as Nazir Hussein in “Yaadon Ki Baraat” and by Manmohan Desai in “Amar Akbar Anthony” in the 1970’s. “Kismet,” being produced during war time, captured the elusive temper of the times of the society in flux through its central character, “a lovable rogue.” This proved to be a huge success with the masses but what was more interesting was that it had a song, “Dur hato eh duniya walo, hindistan humara hai,” (keep away, India is ours”, which many consider to be patriotic and which passed the censor board, who at the time were “coming hard” on such themes and also on any films that would be considered “anti – war.” The movie was produced by “Bombay Talkies.”
DILIP KUMAR.
The forties decade saw rise of some stars, who would later go onto to become legends in the industry and one of them was an actor, who has been considered to be a “thespian” by many and also a superstar, Dilip Kumar.
Dilip Kumar, born in 1922, whose real name is Yusuf Khan, is the son of Ghulam Sarvar, a Phustun, fruit merchant, who owned large orchards in Peshawar, now in Pakistan and in Deolali, in the Indian state of Maharashtra. He was spotted in a market fruit stall by a leading director from “Bombay Talkies,” Amiya Chakravarty who was a protege of Devika Rani., and it was he who gave him the screen name “Dilip Kumar.” His first film, “Jwar Bhata,” released in 1944, went unnoticed but he shot to fame three years later with the release of “Jugnu,” in which he starred opposite Noor Jehan and Shashikala. But it was Mehboob Khan’s big film, in 1949, entitled “Andaz,” that enabled him to act opposite a famous screen couple, Raj Kapoor and Nargis.
Throughout the 1950’s Dilip Kumar was one of the biggest stars along with Raj Kapoor and Dev Anand. Besides acting in romantic roles, he also acted in lighthearted roles such as a swashbuckling peasant in Mehboob khan’s “Aan,” which was the first ever film in colour, opposite a new actress, Nadira, and then opposite Meena Kumari in “Azaad.” But he is mostly known for roles that were not only just romantic but also involved tragedy, such as in Bimal Roy’s “Devdas” and “Madhumati.” Later, in 1961, he went on to produce one of the most remembered classics, his first and only, “Ganga Jumna,” opposite his female co – star, with who he acted in “Madhumati”, Vyjayantimala, in which he played the lead role with his brother, Nasir Khan. Five years later, at the age of 44, he married 22 year old, Saira Banu, daughter of the 1930’s actress, Naseem Banu Saira Banu, .shot to fame with her first film, “Junglee,” which was released in 1961 and starred the younger brother of Raj Kapoor, Shammi Kapoor. However, prior to his marriage, in 1962, British Film director, David Lean, offered Dilip Kumar the role of “Sheriff Ali,” in his blockbuster, “Lawrence of Arabia” but he declined it and the role went to Omar Sheriff.
As the 1960’s decade began, so did some flops but in 1967, he managed to make a comeback with the biggest hit of the year, “Ram Aur Shyam,” in which played a double role as a brother, opposite Waheeda Rehman and the not so well known actress, Mumtaz, until the release of the film. But then again, many of his films began to flop and in 1976, he took a five year break. Then in 1981, he came back in the biggest hit of the year, in Manoj Kumar’s “Kranti” and soon he began to play character roles and roles of a father. Then came the coming of the two superstars of the industry when the movie, “Shakti,” which was directed by Ramesh Sippy and in which Kumar played the role of a Police officer, who refuses kidnappers demands, who are also holding his son as a hostage. The elder version of the son was played by the superstar, Amitabh Bachchan.
Dilip Kumar’s last film, “Qila,” which was released in 1998, didn’t make any impact on the audience and since then he has retired.
On the midnight of 14 August, 1947, the partition took place and the state of Pakistan came into existence and at midnight, India received its independence. The partition affected thousands of people, some of who found themselves in a country that they had not expected to live and thousands crossed the borders causing a mass exodus. But this didn’t just affect the partition of land, but also land, home s, families, furniture and also items such as kitchen utensils and this also made many actors move as well. One of the actresses to move to Pakistan was Noor Jehan.
NOOR JEHAN.
Noor Jehan; whose real name was Allah Wasai, was born on 21 September, 1926 in a family of musicians and though she wanted to be an actress, she was pushed into singing and at the age of five began singing and showed a keen interest in a variety of styles. After moving to Calcutta, in 1936, she acted in her first film, “Misar Ka Sitara.” But it was not until she moved to Lahore (now in Pakistan), that she became popular after songs were composed for her by the composer, Ghulam Haider and in 1943, after moving to Bombay, she sang melodies with another well known singer, Shanta Apte in the movie “Duhai” and had already started acting in movies and two years later, she played a leading role with, the now “Nightingale of India,” Lata Mangeshkar and her, equally well known sister, Asha Bhonsle in the movie “Badi Maa.” But her most remembered and well known film was “Anmol Ghadi (meaning “unique / priceless watch”) which was released in 1946 and was directed by Mehboob Khan. A year later, her last film in India, entitled, “Mirza Sahiban,” opposite the well known Prithviraj Kapoor, was released.
Noor Jehan passed away in 2000 in the Pakistani city of Karachi.
“ANMOL GHADI.”
One of the most remembered films of the 1940’s was “Anmol Ghadi,” which was released in 1946 and was directed and produced by Mehboob Khan and starred Surendra, Suraiya and Noor Jehan. The songs were also memorable and the playback for the movie was by Shamshad Begum, Noor Jehan, Suraiya, Surendra and Mohd Rafi.
The story is that of a Chandrabahan (Surendra), who as a child falls in love with Lata (Noor Jehan) but she leaves the town and the only thing he has is a small clock, as a reminder of her. But as years go by, he finds work in a music shop and he becomes fascinated with poetry and soon finds out that this is written by a certain Renuka Devi but instead meets her friend Basanti (Suraiya), who falls in love with him. Problem is, he is not able to forget Lata. Later, he finds out that the owner of the music shop is to marry Renuka Devi, who turns out to be Lata.
The three most memorable songs of this film, which went on to become popular were “Jawan Hai Mohabat (Young love),” “Mere Bachpan Ke Saathi (My Childhood friend)” and “Aaja Meri Barbad Mohabat Ke Sahare.” However, lip synching by the actors at the time was not perfect but still managed to work properly on screen
“Anmol Ghadi,” set the trend of new films relating to love story and triangular love stories.
MADHUBALA.
One of the most memorable actresses of old time, along side with Nargis and Meena Kumari, has to be Mumtaz Begum Jehan Dehlavi, more popularly remembered as “Madhubala,” who starred in some films, which are now known as classics, such as “Mughal – E – Azam”, “Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi,” “Howrah Bridge” and “Mahal.”
Born in 1933, in a conservative Muslim family and ethnic Pathan, in Delhi, she was the fifth child of Ataullah Khan, out of eleven children. After her father lost his job, the family, struggling many hardships, including death of four sisters and two brothers. Eventually they moved to Bombay in search of a better life but faced struggle and frequently visited film studios for work. She got her first film at the age of nine, entitled, “Basant,” which was released in 1942, in which she played the role of a daughter with a very popular actress at the time, Mumtaz Shanti. She then went onto act in several films as a child artist but it was the wife of Himanshu Rai and the owner of “Bombay Talkies,” Devika Rani, who was very impressed with her acting, who advised her to change her name to “Madhubala.”
Madhubala’s real break came in 1947, at the age of fourteen, when film maker, Kidar Sharma cast her opposite Raj Kapoor in his film, “Neel Kamal.” Until now, she was known as “Mumtaz” and soon changed her name to “Madhubala” and though the film was not a success, her talent was recognised and she soon went on to become a star. But it was not until 1949, when “Bombay Talkies,” released the movie “Mahal,” which was directed by Kamal Amrohi and starred Ashok Kumar. The film went onto become a success and the song “Aayega Aanewala,” went on to herald the arrival of two new superstars, Madhubala and the lady who has now gone on to become known as the “nightingale” of India, Lata Mangeshkar.
MADHUBALA’S SERIOUS ILLNESS.
Unknown to almost everyone, Madhubala had been born with a heart defect – “a hole in the heart” and by 1950, she began to cough up blood on sets of her films. At the time heart surgery was not widely available. This was kept silent from those within the industry for many years but soon, when filming in Madras, now called “Chennai,” she vomited blood. The director and his wife were said to have taken care for her until she was well enough and as good gesture, the actress, who had not even attended her own film premieres, decided to attend the film premieres for the director, films were “Bahut Din Huwe” in 1954 and “Insaniyat” in 1955 and she kept on working as the incident in Madras was soon forgotten and her family went on to become protective and she would only eat home cooked food, even though her illness was slowly taking control of her.
MADHUBALA , HOLLYWOOD. AND “MUGHAL – E – AZAM.”
With the success of “Mahal,” Madhubala shot to such fame, that she began to secure herself as well as her family financially by working in as many films as she could – an estimated twenty four films within the first four years of her adult career. But not all films were that she appeared in were considered to be that of “A grade” and as consequence many were under impression that this was due to her beauty rather than acting. She was, however, one of the most soughted actresses in India. But she soon began to attract interest from Hollywood and she appeared in many American magazines but the most remembered issue was of that in “Theatre Arts,” which was published in 1952 in which there was an extensive article on her with a full page photograph. The heading was: “The Biggest Star in the World (And she’s not in Beverly Hills). The article went on to present her as a mysterious, delicate woman with mythical beauty with a legion of fans.
One Hollywood director, Frank Capra, director of films such as “Riding High” and “State of Union,” visiting India and meeting some prominent members of the film industry, was keen on meeting the actress who was conspicuous by her absence but he went on to discuss a possible entry of her into Hollywood. But her father refused and this put an end of her making any entries into Hollywood.
As a star, Madhubala worked with many actors in the Industry such as Raj Kapoor, Shammi Kapoor, Dev Anand, Dilip Kumar with who she is said to have an affair with, Sunil Dutt and Ashok Kumar. She also worked with directors such as Mehboob Khan. But her most memorable movie was K. Asif’s “Mughal – E – Azam,” which was released in 1960 and starred Dilip Kumar as “Prince Salim”, Prithviraj Kapoor as his father, “Emperor Akbar” and Durga Khote as “Empress Jodhabai.” In this, Madhubala played the character of “Anarkali,” a dancer with who Prince Salim falls in love with.
“MUGHAL – E – AZAM.”
When “Mughal – E – Azam” was released the affair between Dilip Kumar and Madhubala, which had lasted for five years was over and the actress went on to marry playback singer, actor and Ashok Kumar’s youngest brother, who was married to a Bengali singer, Kishore Kumar.
It took K Asif ten years to complete this movie which was in “Black and White” even though colour had been I existence since the 1950’s. One particular song that is still remembered today and one which was filmed in colour at “Sheesh Mahal (Palace of Mirrors) at Amber Fort in the Indian State of Rajasthan, is “Pyar Kiya to Darna Kya,” with the voice of Lata Mangeshkar and lip synched by Madhubala. This is the only song that was filmed entirely in colour. The Music director, Naushad, unable to get a echo, is said to have recorded this in the studio bathroom. Dilip Kumar’s costume was imported from Britain and the movie itself was one of the most expensive to be made. The film cost 38.29 crores (Indian Rupees).
The film went on to break box office records in India and held the record for the highest grossing film until 1975, when “Sholay” was released.
Health, however, was not in her favour and though she went on to appears in a few more films, her health deteriorated and had to travel to London for a possible heart surgery. But this was refused as her chances of survival were minimal and advised her to rest and they predicted that she would only live for another twelve months. But she defied this and returned to India and in 1966, began to work in the film “Chalack,” with Raj Kapoor. This caused a sensation and this was heralded as her come back and photographs of her were taken by the media, in which, though she looked beautiful but pale. The film was never completed.
In 1969, it became evident that the actress was no longer in condition to work in films and she took up film making and began with “Farz Aur Ishq,” which was never made, as during the pre – production, she finally succumbed to her illness. On 23 February, 1969, just after her thirty sixth birthday, one of the greatest Indian actresses, Madhubala, passed away and was buried at Santa Cruz cemetery by her family and husband.
Mughal – E – Azam was re- released in 2004 / 2005 and was complete in colour.
After Independence, the main theme of the films was based on the Indian struggle for Independence. One such film, which is remembered today was “Shaheed” (Martyr), which starred Dilip Kumar, Kamini Kaushal and Chandra Mohan – his last film. Chandra Mohan passed away in 1949. The songs of this movie, "Watan ki Raah Men Watan Ke Naujawan Shaheed Ho" and "Badnaam Na Ho Jaaye Mohabbat Ka Fasana" are still remembered today and have not lost their appeal.
Later in 1948, saw the man who would later go onto become known as the “showman” of the industry and one who made meaningful but yet commercial films, which appealed to many, the legendary Raj Kapoor make his debut as a director with his film, “AAG, in which he starred with Nargis, his brother – in – law, Premnath, his younger brother, Shashi Kapoor and Nigar Sultana. This was the first ever film to be made under the R.K. banner.
RAJ KAPOOR
Raj Kapoor, whose real name was Ranbirraj Kapoor, elder brother of Shammi and Shashi Kapoor, father of Randhir, Rishi and Rajeev Kapoor and grandfather of actresses Karishma and Kareena Kapoor and actor Ranbir Kapoor (who is also known as Ranbirraj), was born on 14 December , 1924 and was the son of the actor Prithviraj Kapoor. He was also know as “Charlie Chaplin” due to his dressing in movies
Raj Kapoor began his career as a clapper boy who assisted Kidar Sharma. But in 1935, at the age of eleven, he was introduced in film, “Inquilab” but his real big break came in 1947, with the movie “Neel Kamal,” opposite Madhubala. A year later, he went onto establish his own studio, “R.K. Films,” by releasing his movie, “Aag,” one which he produced, directed and starred opposite Nargis, with who he was to work in many more films.
“AAG”
The word “Aag” means “fire” and this is what was in this movie. A man who loves theatre from his childhood days and sets up a theatre company with a partner but one day, after finding out that his childhood sweetheart is in love with his partner, he sets fire to himself only to get horribly disfigured. The film itself didn’t do well at the Box office but had some of the most memorable songs – “Zinda Ho Istare…” by Mukesh and “Dekh Chand Ki Aur.”
The playback singer, Mukesh, went on to provide playback for Raj Kapoor in almost all his films and was considered by Raj Kapoor himself as his voice. Thirty years later, the theme of disfigurement, again, appeared in his film, “Satyam Shivam Sunderam,” which was released in 1978 and starred his younger brother, Shashi Kapoor and Zeenat Aman. This was also the last film in which Mukesh would provide a playback for “R.K. Films” as he passed away soon afterwards.
The theme of theatre, however, was copied by another actor and director, “Bhagwan” in his film, “Albela,” which was released in 1951.
Raj Kapoor went on to make many films as well as act in them. His most memorable films were “Sangam,” (an area where the three holy rivers in India, the Ganga (Ganges), Jumna (Yumna) and Saraswati meet), which was released in 1964 in which, he himself starred with his friend Rajendra Kumar and Vyjayantimala. The movie was one of the first to be filmed oversesas namely in France and Switzerland and also had a theme of a love triangle and one which leads to tragedy. One of the most remembered songs in this movie, was “Dost Dost Na Raha” (I have no friend), of which the playback Mukesh and sung by Kapoor himself. This was considered to be a very close song to Raj Kapoor and some say that when he first heard it, he had tears in his eyes as his friend, Mukesh, had managed to evoke so much sentiment in it with his voice. Even today, after 45 years, those listening to the song as “beautiful and very sentiment.” The other film was “Mera Naam Joker (My Name is Clown),” which was released in 1970. This has been considered to be based on his life and had a multi cast: Rajendra Kumar, Dharmendra, Padmini, Simi Garewall, Achala Sachdev, Om Prakash, Sunder, Eduard Sjereda (Russian actor), Kseniya Ryabinkina (Russian actress). In this Raj Kapoor, also introduced his second son, a very young Rishi Kapoor as a younger version of himself in the movie. In this he also had some sentimental songs, again sung by his friend, Mukesh – “Jeena Yahan, Marna Yahan (live here, die here” and “Jaane kahan gaye who din (where are those days gone).” The film was over three and a half hours in duration and bombed at the Box office. In 1988, as tribute to hi, it was shown in some of the cinemas when it was announced that the actor, director and producer, had passed away and proved to be successful with many.
Two years after the release of “Mera Naam Joker,” Raj Kapoor, released his film, “Bobby,” in 1973, in which he introduced Dimple Kapadia opposite his son, Rishi Kapoor and also had two legendary actors, Pran and Prem Nath, who it has been said, did not charge him anything. The theme here, was not just a love story, but also had the theme of a falling in love with a person from another caste and religion – something that leads to a conflict between father and son and between the two families, who end up uniting in the end. This set the trend for future “Love Story” based films and those who wanted to introduce their off springs into films. It also contained a song, which, would be considered as an “item” song now, but something which was not heard of much at the time, though they were present.
Raj Kapoor, suffering from asthma in later years, passed away on 2 June, 1988 after suffering from complications related to the illness. At the time, he was working on his next project entitled, “Henna,” which his eldest son, Randhir, father of Karishma and Karina Kapoor, also well know “Bollywood” actresses, completed.
In 1949, another movie, that is most remembered today, “Andaz,” starring Dilip Kumar, Nargis and Raj Kapoor, directed by Mehboob Khan was released. This had some of the most popular songs, such as “Jhum Jhum Ke Nacho Aaj (Dance Today” and “Hum Aaj Kahin Dil Kho Bethe (Today I have lost my heart”), “Tote Na Dil Tote Na (Let my heart not break”), sung by the playback singer Mukesh, who sounded like the legendary K.L. Saigal.
Raj Kapoor’s “Aag” did not do so well overall but it was appreciated by many. It was “Andaz” that took the audience by storm as it had a love triangle, a well known cast and storyline that ended in tragedy and songs that almost everyone could remember. The next decade was to further enhance this and was to re – introduce colour.
