NOSTALGIA: Alam Ara (1931)

SLICE OF HISTORY

Ardeshir Irani's Alam Ara is not just a movie, it is a legend. Movie history records it as the first Indian talkie.

Irani the head of Imperial Film company and maker of silent films like Navalsha Hirji (1925), Mumbai Ni Sethani (1924) Paap No Fej (1924) and Shahjehan (1924), was a visionary who saw that the film industry was about to be revolutionalized by sound and beat several others to get Alam Ara to the theatres first. Irani's family was in the musical instruments business but wanted to get into films.

He began as an exhibitor, moving on to co-own Alexandra Theatre with Abdulally Esoofally in 1914. The success of Dadasaheb Phalke's Kaliya Mardan and Krishna Janam convinced him to get into film production.

The first Indian talkie, Alam Ara, was released on March 14, 1931, at the Majestic Cinema in Bombay, narrowly ahead of Madan Theatres' Shirin Farhad. It was advertised as "All Living, Breathing 100% Talking Peak Drama, Essence of Romance, Brains and Talents unheard of under one banner."

The film had the first ever film singer WM Khan, the first hit number De de khuda ke naam pe (then a big favourite with beggars) among its 10 odd songs, a real-life princess Zubeida as heroine, the handsome Master Vithal as hero and Prithviraj Kapoor as villain.

There were huge crowds outside the theatre. Tickets were sold 'in black' According to reports, "Police aid had to be summoned to control the crowds ....Four¬anna tickets were quoted at Rs.4 and Rs.5." Later, units went on tour with the film, taking sound projection equipment with them, and everywhere the crowds were uncontrollable.

The audiences went crazy over Alam Ara and Indian films haven't stopped taking or singing since. The first talkie films in Bengali (Jumai Shasthi), Telugu (Bhakta Prahlad) and Tamil (Kalidass) were released in the same year plus 22 Hindi films. A year later, several talkie films were made in Marathi -- including V Shantaram's Ayodhyecha Raja, which made a star out of Durga Khote. Filmmakers went a bit berserk over songs, with a film called Indrasabha having an incredible 71. By 1933, sound was well entrenched in the Indian film.

American Michael Denning was the song recordist for Alam Ara, and according to available information, Irani (inspired by the English film Showboat) made the film with junk equipment. But he learnt the basics of the then tedious process himself.

With typical Indian disdain for history, no print of the film exists. Just a few stills and scraps of the film have been preserved. It was a fantasy based on Joseph David's popular Parsi theatre play --like most other films of that era.

In an interview with film historian B.D.Garga, Irani said, "Since there were no soundproof stages, we preferred to shoot indoors at night. Since our studio is located near a railway track... most of our shooting was done between hours that the trains ceased operation. We worked with a single system Tanar recording equipment...There were also no booms. Microphones had to be hidden in incredible places to keep out of camera range."

All other films by Ardeshir Irani have been forgotten—he was also the one to attempt international projects and a colour film in 1937 with Kisan Kanya—but he will always be remembered as a pioneer because of a lost movie called Alam Ara.

Comments

[Sheila Nath]

It is great to get such information. I have only heard about this movie. I was born in 1939, I am sorry we have lost it and cannot see it, what a loss! I remember my father saying that it was a film where actors don't talk but fight. It surely is a big loss.

[Rajeev B. Agarwal]

An Indian colour film in 1937? Pray tell some more.