Satyawadi Raja Harishchandra by Dadasaheb Phalke was the first full length feature film in India. But it was in the 1930s, with the introduction of sound in Alam Ara, that cinema took the first steps to melding itself into an essential part of the Indian identity, ecentually evolving into the behemoth called Bollywood..
As Indian cinema completes 100 years, here is a look at the greatest movies from the 1930s and 1940s.
Alam Ara (1931)
Director: Ardeshir Irani
Cast: Master Vithal, Zubeida, Prithviraj Kapoor, Jilloo
The first talkie, Alam Ara, took months to make. A period fantasy about an ageing king and his two rival queens, the movie changed the nature of Indian filmmaking forever.
Hunterwali (1935)
Director: Homi Wadia
Cast: Fearless Nadia, Sharifa, Gulsham
Actress Mary Evans aka Fearless Nadia is most remembered as the masked, cloaked, whip wielding adventuress who protects the poor and punishes the guilty. The Hunterwali brought to Indian cinema its first action heroine.
Devdas (1936)
Director: P C Barua
Cast: P C Barua, K L Saigal, Jamuna Barua, T R Rajakumari
Nearly two decades before Bimal Roy directed Dilip Kumar in the classic tale of the lovelorn Devdas bent on self-destruction, Assamese director P C Barua adapted Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay's masterpiece for the big screen. It starred Barua himself as the eponymous hero, Jamuna Barua as Paro, and singer-actor K L Saigal as Chunnilal.
Achhut Kanya (1936)
Director: Franz Osten
Cast: Ashok Kumar, Devika Rani
Thirties era Bollywood tackled many socio-economic themes that would later be left to parallel or art-house cinema. Among these, perhaps the most famous was this tale of illicit romance between an untouchable girl and a high caste boy.
Zindagi (1940)
Director: P C Barua
Cast: K L Saigal, Jamuna, Pahadi Sanyal
One of the highest grossing movies of the era, Zindagi revolved around an unemployed university graduate and is described as Barua's most beautiful films.
Bandhan(1940)
Director: N R Acharya
Cast: Leela Chitnis, Ashok Kumar, Suresh
As the pyrotechnics of World War 2 spread out from Europe, Indian cinema quickly acquired deeply patriotic undertones. A stirring song from this movie, Chal Chal Re Naujawan, was written by poet Kavi Pradeep, who was to later write Aye Mere Watan Ke Logo, and established his reputation as a nationalist writer.
Kismet (1943)
Director: Gyan Mukherjee
Cast: Ashok Kumar, Mumtaz Shanti, Shah Nawaz
One of the longest running movies in the history of Indian cinema, Gyan Mukherjee's Kismat ran for 150 weeks (three years). Produced by Bombay Talkies, it was the first film to feature an anti-hero character, broke social taboo by showing pregnancy out of wedlock and established Ashok Kumar, who played a double role in the film, as a superstar.
Tansen (1943)
Director: Jayant Desai
Cast: K L Saigal, Khursheed Bano, Mubarak, Nagendra, Kamala Chatterjee, Bhagwandas
A blockbuster musical hit, Tansen featured the singing sensations of the era, K L Saigal and Khursheed Bano, in the lead roles of Tansen and Tani respectively. The was music composed by Khem Chandra Prakash.
Rattan (1944)
Director: M Sadiq
Cast: Swaran Lata, Karan Dewan, Amir Banu
The film that made the careers of music composer Naushad and singer Zohrabai Ambalawali was notable for it's refreshingly un traditional portrayal of interpersonal relationships and male attitudes.
Gaon Ki Gori (1945)
Director: K Amarnath
Cast: Noorjahan, Nazir, Durga Khote
The rustic setting and a melodious soundtrack by Shyam Sundar made this film a superhit. It was among singer-actress Noorjahan's biggest successes and also marked Mohammed Rafi's first recorded song in a Hindi film, the duet Aji dil ho kaaboo mein.
As newly independent India evolved at breakneck pace, so did it's cinema. The Fifties were the golden age of Bollywood, with the first wave of superstars – Raj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar, Madhubala, Nargis and others.
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Awaara (1951)
Director: Raj Kapoor
Cast: Prithviraj Kapoor, Nargis, Raj Kapoor, Leela Chitnis, K N Singh and Shashi Kapoor
Directed and produced by legendary actor Raj Kapoor, Awaara became an overnight sensation not just in India but also in South Asia, the Soviet Union, and the Middle East. The film featured four of the Kapoors, well on it's way to becoming the first filmy dynasty - Prithviraj and Raj Kapoor played father and son on-screen, and Shashi Kapoor played the younger version of Raj. His grandfather, Dewan Bashwanath Kapoor, appeared in a cameo role. Awarawas the first film in which Raj Kapoor played the poor tramp character he based on Charlie Chaplin and would go on to play in later movies also. The film was nominated for the Grand Prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 1953.
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Do Bigha Zameen (1953)
Director: Bimal Roy
Cast: Balraj Sahni, Nirupa Roy, Ratan Kumar, Jagdeep, Murad, Nana Palsikar and Meena KumariBimal Roy directed Do Bigha Zameen after watching Italian filmmaker Vittorio De Sica's Bicycle Thieves(1948), a movie that was to also inspire another acclaimed Bengali director later – Satyajit Ray. A gritty examination of socio-economic conditions, the film was the first to win the Filmfare Best Movie Award and the first Indian film to win the International Prize at the Cannes Film Festival.
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Shree 420 1955
Director: Raj Kapoor
Cast: Raj Kapoor, Nargis and NadiraRaj Kapoor reprised his ‘little tramp' role in this story of a country boy seduced by the glamour of the big city. The song Mera Joota Hai Japani became hugely popular and a patriotic symbol of independent India.
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C I D. (1956)
Director: Raj Khosla
Cast: Dev Anand, Shakila and Waheeda RehmanWaheeda Rehman's debut film featured her in a small role as a vamp who meets a sticky end. Dev Anand plays a cop in this crime thriller and O P Nayyar provided a stellar soundtrack.
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Mother India (1957)
Director: Mehboob Khan
Cast: Nargis, Sunil Dutt, Rajendra Kumar and Raaj KumarEasily Bollywood's most important film ever made, Mother India was a remake of Mehboob Khan's 1940 film, Aurat. The film was India's first submission for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar in 1958 and was chosen as one of the five nominees. It lost to Federico Fellini's Nights of Cabiria by a single vote.
Telling the story of Radha, a poverty-stricken woman abandoned by her husband, her arduous journey raising two sons, and the moral choices she has to make, Mother India was the first film to put India on the world map.
The film swept the Filmfare Awards, including the Best Actress prize for Nargis who also scooped up the top honour at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival for her extraordinary portrayal of Radha.
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Naya Daur (1957)
Director: B R Chopra
Cast: Dilip Kumar, Vyjayanthimala, Ajit, Chand Usmani and JeevanEconomic churn in independent India inspired B R Chopra's tale of small town tongawallahs who's livelihood is threatened when the son of a rich landlord starts a bus service. The film also became infamous because of an extended court case in which Mr Chopra sued Madhubala, the original heroine, for dropping out after 15 days of shooting. In absolute filmy style, a stern patriarch was to blame – Madhubala's father considered the outdoor shoot schedule a mere ruse for Dilip Kumar to romance his daughter – and Mr Chopra dropped the case after the court ruled in his favour to save Madhubala from a prison sentence.
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Pyaasa (1957)
Director: Guru DuttCast: Guru Dutt, Mala Sinha, Waheeda Rehman, Johnny Walker and RehmanPyaasa tells the story of struggling poet, Vijay, trying to establish his identity in a corrupt and materialistic world. The film was rated as one of the 100 best films of all time by Time magazine. The story is also rumoured to be partly based on lyricist Sahir Ludhianvi's failed college romance with author Amrita Pritam.
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Madhumati (1958)
Director: Bimal Roy
Cast: Dilip Kumar, Vyjayanthimala, Johnny Walker and Pran
Among the earliest films to deal with reincarnation, the darkly beautiful Madhumati won nine Filmfare awards, a record it held for the next 37 years until the release of Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge which won ten awards. The film inspired many later re-incarnation themed movies including SRK hit Om Shanti Om.
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Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi (1958)
Director: Satyen Bose
Cast: Kishore Kumar, Madhubala, Ashok Kumar and Anoop KumarStarring all three Ganguly brothers and Kishore Kumar's future wife, Madhubala, Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi was an effervescent comedy in an era dominated by heavier fare from directors like Bimal Roy and Guru Dutt. S D Burman's superhit soundtrack featured songs sung by Kishore and Asha Bhosle. Ironically, Kishore Kumar made this film hoping it would fail commercially with a view to avoiding taxes, but so successful was the film that the Gangulys starred in a second comedy called Badhti Ka Naam Dadhi.
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Navrang (1959)
Director: V Shantaram
Cast: Agha, Chandrakant, Mahipal, Sandhya, Ulhas and Vatsala Deshmukh
A surrealist tale of a married poet obsessed with his muse, a fantasy woman, Navrang was remarkable as much for it's spectacular set design as for it's unusual storyline.
no photos of Raja Harishchandra?Here you go:
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The mood of the Sixties was romantic. If the Fifties were about social and economic change, the next decade was awash with emotion. It was also a time of technical innovation with sound and light. In the third installment of our series celebrating Bollywood's centenary year, we look at the films that defined the Sixties.
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Mughal-e-Azam (1960)
Director: K. Asif
Cast: Prithviraj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar, Madhubala, Durga Khote and Nigar Sultana
K Asif's magnum opus, Mughal-e-Azam took twelve years to complete and was the first film for which people queued outside theatres the night before the release to buy tickets. An epic tale of a doomed love affair between Mughal Prince Salim and court dancer Anarkali, the film had an uninterrupted run for three years in full shows. Considered a milestone in Indian cinema, it won the National Award for Best Feature Film in 1961 and three Filmfare awards the same year. It was famous also for the spectacular song Pyar Kiya To Darna Kya, shot at an unprecedented cost of Rs 1 million in a room full of mirrors. It was one of three sequences shot in colour in the otherwise black and white film. In November 2004, the film was restored and colourised in a year-long process becoming the first full feature-length film to be revived for a theatrical re-release in the history of world cinema.
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Chaudhvin Ka Chand (1960)
Director: Mohammad Sadiq
Cast: Guru Dutt, Waheeda Rehman, Rehman, Minoo Mumtaz, Johnny Walker, Mumtaz Begum
Guru Dutt's biggest box office hit and his first to go to an international film festival, Chaudhvin Ka Chand which tells the story of three friends who fell in love with the same woman began the trend of love triangles in Indian cinema. Like in Mughal-e-Azam, one song was shot in colour while the rest of the film was in black and white.
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Ganga Jamuna (1961)
Director: Nitin Bose
Cast: Dilip Kumar, Vyjayanthimala, Nasir Khan, Azra and Leela Chitnis
Dilip Kumar's second success right after Mughal-e-Azam was a blockbuster hit that year. The story of two brothers, portrayed by real life brothers Dilip Kumar and Nasir Khan, became a trendsetter for future movies based on the theme of brothers on the opposite sides of the law, most famously Deewar. Ganga Jamuna became the highest grossing film that year and the third highest grossing film of the decade behind Mughal-e-Azam and Sangam.
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Junglee (1961)
Director: Subodh Mukherjee
Cast: Shammi Kapoor, Saira Banu, Shashikala
Actor Shammi Kapoor screaming 'Yahoo' in a snow-clad valley is one of Bollywood's most unforgettable moments. The lighthearted Junglee was a superhit and was the career-making film for Shammi Kapoor who played the scion of an aristocratic family who dares to laugh, literally, in the face of his family's gravitas.
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Bees Saal Baad (1962)
Director: Biren Nag
Cast: Biswajeet, Waheeda Rehman, Madan Puri, Asit Sen
Inspired by Sherlock Holmes story The Hound of Baskervilles, this suspense thriller is memorable for it's superhit soundtrack composed and sung by Hemant Kumar who produced the movie. Especially unforgettable were Kahin deep jale kahin dil sung by Lata Mangeshkar and Beqarar karke humein sung by Hemant Kumar.
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Mere Mehboob (1963)
Director: Harnam Singh
Cast: Rajendra Kumar, Sadhana, Nimmi, Ashok Kumar, Pran, Johnny Walker
Muslim society was the setting for many films of the era, of which Mere Mehboob was the most successful. It tells the story of a poor poet who falls in love with a burqa clad girl after bumping into her at college, but cannot identify her because he has only seen her hands.
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Bandini(1963)
Director: Bimal Roy
Cast: Nutan, Ashok Kumar, Dharmendra
This was the last film from the director of such classics as Do Bigha Zameen and Devdas. Critically acclaimed Bandini, which is based on a Bengali novel by author Jarasandha, tells the story of a village girl jailed for committing a murder. It received six Filmfare Awards that year, including the Best Actress prize for Nutan who delivered a career best performance.
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Tere Ghar Ke Saamne (1963)
Director: Vijay Anand
Cast: Dev Anand, Nutan
Nutan followed up her emotion-heavy performance in Bandini with the role of a chirpy, modern girl in this film. Vijay Anand, who was then best known for suspense thrillers, came up with a romantic comedy about two feuding millionaires who each wanted to build their house across from the other. The film is also known for songs like Dil ka bhanwar kare pukar and Tere ghar ke samne.
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Sangam (1964)
Director: Raj Kapoor
Cast: Raj Kapoor, Rajendra Kuamr, Vyjantimala
Sangam started the trend of shooting sequences in picturesque locales abroad. It was also the first to incorporate an English song, I Love You, into a Hindi film. The film was Raj Kapoor's first in colour and told the story of two friends who fall in love with the same woman.
Kashmir Ki Kali (1964)
Director: Shakti Samantha
Cast: Shammi Kapoor, Sharmila Tagore, Pran
O P Nayyar's melodious tunes and the picturesque landscapes of Kashmir made the film one of the most visually sumptuous and entertaining of that decade. Counted among Shammi Kapoor's best movies, Kashmir Ki Kali was also Sharmila Tagore's debut Hindi film.
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Waqt(1965)
Director: Yash Chopra
Cast: Balraj Sahni, Sunil Dutt, Sadhana, Raaj Kumar, Shashi Kapoor, Sharmila Tagore
The original lost and found movie featuring an ensemble cast, Waqt dealt with the consequences of tempting fate. The movie also gave Bollywood some of its most famous dialogues, including Raaj Kumar's signature Jaani phrase, and the beloved song Ae Meri Zohra Jabeen. It won five Filmfare Awards.
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Guide (1965)
Director: Vijay Anand
Cast: Dev Anand, Waheeda Rehman, Leela Chitnis
The Anand brothers' ambitious adaptation of R K Narayan's novel was made in two versions - an English one in collaboration with Pearl Buck to introduce Dev Anand to Western audiences and a Hindi version for India. Considered one of Dev Anand's best films, Guide won seven Filmfare Awards that year sweeping all the top awards including Best Movie, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Actress. Waheeda Rehman's performance as troubled dancer Rosie was among her finest.
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Phool Aur Patthar (1966)
Director: O.P. Ralhan
Cast: Dharmendra, Meena Kumari, Shashikala
This movie went on to become a golden jubilee hit and Dharmendra rose to stardom. Dharmendra-Meena Kumari became a popular couple and they went on to act in more movies like Chandan Ka Palna, Manjhli Didi and Baharon Ki Manzil.
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Mera Saaya (1966)
Director: Raj Khosla
Cast: Sunil Dutt, Sadhana, Prem Chopra
Sunil Dutt and Sadhana both put in exemplary performances in this tale of grief-stricken lawyer and a woman who claims to be his dead wife. The film gave Bollywood some of it's best music like the title track Mera Saaya, Naino Mein Badra Chhaya and Jhumka Gira Re.
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Teesri Manzil (1966)
Director: Vijay Anand
Cast: Shammi Kapoor, Asha Parekh
The story revolves around a woman who blames a drummer of a nightclub for her sister's death, but ends up falling in love with him. Vijay Anand's vision of a Hitchcock style thriller with R D Burman's bouncy score makes it a must see classic.
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Ram Aur Shyam (1967)
Director: Tapi Chanakya
Cast: Dilip Kumar, Waheeda Rehman, Mumtaz, Pran
The first movie about identical twins separated at birth, Ram Aur Shyaminspired many future movies including Seeta Aur Geeta, Chaalbaaz and Kishen Kanhaiya. The double-role act bagged Dilip Kumar the Filmfare Award for the Best Actor that year.
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Jewel Thief (1967)
Director: Vijay Anand
Cast: Dev Anand, Vyjayanthimala, Ashok Kumar, Tanuja
This era belonged to Vijay Anand who delivered hit movie after hit movie. Crime caper Jewel Thief dealt with the theme of mistaken identity, drawing influences from Hitchcock thrillers and James Bond's style.
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An Evening In Paris (1967)
Director: Shakti Samantha
Cast: Shammi Kapoor, Sharmila Tagore,Pran
Most famous for a song featuring a swim-suited waterskiing Sharmila romanced by a helicopter-borne Shammi Kapoor, the film was another riff on the increasingly popular lost and found them with Sharmila in a double role playing twins separated at birth.
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Aradhana(1969)
Director: Shakti Samanta
Cast: Sharmila Tagore, Rajesh Khanna, Sujit Kumar, Farida Jalal
Sharmila Tagore won her first Filmfare award for this movie which was a remake of the 1946 Hollywood film, To Each His Own. Aradhana shot Rajesh Khanna to super stardom and also began his successful onscreen pairing with Sharmila Tagore and they went on to star in films like Safar,Amar Prem and Daag. Kishore Kumar also won his first Filmfare Best Male Playback Singer Award for the hit Roop Tera Mastana.
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