Hindi talkie was released. The movie was AALAM AARA [Also Known As:
The Beauty of the World (International: English title) (informal literal title)
The Light of the World (India: English title) ]
Producer: Imperial Movietone, Bombay
Director: Ardeshir M. Irani
Music: Pirojshah Mistry, B Irani
Lyricist: unknown
Screenplay: A. M. Irani
Cinematography:Wilford Deming ,Adi M. Irani
Dialogues: Joseph David
Editing:Ezra Mir
Sound:Wilford Deming
The main actors were
1)Master Vitthal as hero(character name:Adil),
2)Zubeida as Aalam Aara, the heroine,
3)Zilloo,
4)Prithviraj Kapoor as the villain(Father of Raj Kapoor),
5)Wazir Mmohammed Khan as the singing faqeer,
6)Jagdish Sethi (the bad guy in "Phir Subah Hogi," with a typical
Panjabi accent, who bothers Mala Sinha ).
7)Elizer
8)L V Prasad
The movie had seven songs and ran for seven weeks.
The very first song in the movie was the very first song in any
Hindi movie. The whole song is,
"de de khudaa ke naam pyaare taaqat ho gar dene ki,
kuchh chaahe agar to maang le mujhse himmat ho gar lene ki."
It was sung by Mr. W. Z. Khan, the first singer of a Hindi movie song.
Another song of the film was:badla dilwaayega yaarab tu sitamgaaron se(sung by Zubeida)
This movie was released on March 14, 1931 in Majestic cinema, Bombay.
Run Time:124 minutes.
Story:The film was based on Parsi play written by Joseph David. The story was about the ageing king of Kamarpur, and his two rival queens, Navbahar and Dilbahar, and their rivalry when a fakir predicts that Navbahar will bear the king's heir. Dilbahar unsuccessfully tries to seduce the army chief Adil (Vithal) and vengefully destroys his family, leaving his daughter Alam Ara (Zubeida) to be raised by nomads. Eventually, Alam Ara's nomad friends invade the palace, expose Dilbahar's schemes, release Adil from the dungeon and she marries the prince of the realm.
However since early 1929, Calcutta’s Madan Theatres(who had produced all seven talkies that was made in calcutta in 1931.) have been making and releasing short items consisting of songs, dances, scenes from stage plays and musical audio-visual recordings.
The sound reproduction of Alam Ara was ‘patchy’, and the hero Master Vithal did not speak at all. No records were issued and no prints survive of the first talkie. Miss Zubeida sang a line from one of her songs, ‘badala dilwayega ya rab tu sitamgaron se’ in a 1982 television program called ‘Mortal Men, Immortal Melodies’.
Although the future Director Mehboob was scheduled to play the lead in Alam Ara, Master Vithal; from Sharda Studios got the part. When Sharda sued Vithal for breach of contract, he was defended by M A Jinnah.
The film was remade in 1956 & 1973 by Nanubhai Vakil.
And now something about the leadig pair of this film:
Master vitthal:- He wasBest-known Marathi and Hindi film stunt star. Stage debut at the Rajapurkar Natak Mandali. Worked as editor at Maharashtra Film, a studio with a reputation for stunts in their mythologicals. Vithal started playing a dancing girl in Kalyan Khajina. Acted in Bhalji Pendharkar silents before breaking through at the Sharda Studio. He was its top star for several years, usually playing Douglas Fairbanks-type roles grafted onto indigenous Rajput and Maratha legends. Bhogilal Dave’s special effects accompanied his work, along with the rapid editing of directors like A P Kapur, Nanubhai Desai, Harshadrai Mehta , Luhar etc. The style Vithal helped shape had a tremendous impact, making the Sharda Studio synonymous with low-budget stunt films in the silent era. Wadia Movietone later tried to redefine the stunt genre with direct reference to the Niblo/Fairbanks figure of Zorro to distance the genre from Vithal. Apart from Alam Ara, Vithal also starred in Sagar and other Saraswati studio production, ending his career in the 60s, playing minor parts in Marathi films.
Zubeida:- She was born in Surat as a Muslim princess, daughter of the Nawab of Sachin and Fatma Begum (later India’s first woman director). Started her career in silent films at Kohinoor at age 12. Early career was dominated by her beautiful sister Sultana, a better-known star in the 20s. Her second sister Shehzadi also became a teenage actress. Zubeida’s best-known silent work was for Manilal Joshi at the Kohinoor and Laxmi studios. Identified with courtesan roles in big Urdu, stage-derived costume pictures, a tradition extended by Meena Kumari. Developed the tragic dimension of her image in several of Naval Gandhi’s socials including the prestigious Tagore adaptation Balidan. Freelanced at the Ranjit and Sagar studios in her mother’s films: Bulbul-e-Paristan, Heer Ranjha, Milan Dinar. Set up Mahalakhsmi Cinetone (1934) with filmmaker Nanubhai Vaki. Retired at the height of her stardom in the late 30s, doing only a few films later on.
No comments:
Post a Comment