125 Years of Indian Cinema Screening

 

You would be surprised to note that the pioneers of the Indian Cinema were actually foreigners. On 7th July 1896, the Lumiere brothers demonstrated the art of cinema when they screened Cinematography consisting of six short films to an enthusiastic audience at the Hotel Watson in Bombay. 

This was the first time that the screening of any film took place in India. Six films that screened that day were Entry of Cinematographe, The Sea Bath, Arrival of a Train, A Demolition,  Ladies, and Soldiers on Wheels, and Leaving the Factory. The price of the ticket was Rs one which was unaffordable by the common people.

The second film screening by the Lumiere Brothers took place on July 14th at a new venue, the Novelty Theatre, Bombay, and twenty-four films were screened that day, including A Stormy Sea and The Thames at Waterloo Bridge. Alternating between these two venues, the shows culminated on August 15th, 1896.

 The shows received an overwhelming response and motion pictures were soon introduced to India, in Kolkata (Calcutta) and Chennai (Madras). Professor Stevenson staged a show at Calcutta’s (now Kolkata) Star Theatre. Using Stevenson’s camera Hiralal Sen one of India's first filmmakers. made his first film, "A Dancing Scene" from the opera The Flower of Persia. With assistance from his brother, Motilal Sen, he bought an Urban Bioscope from Charles Urban's Warwick Trading Company in London. In the following year, with his brother, he formed the Royal Bioscope company. They arranged a first film screening on April 4, 1898.

 In 1900, he imported the necessary equipment for filmmaking. For this purpose, he communicated with then renowned theatre activist Amarendranath Dutta. At that time Amarendranath was the owner of Classic Theatre. Hiralal took snaps of a Classic Theatre production, Sitaram, which made him the first-ever Bengali filmmaker.  Between 1901 and 1904, he produced many films for Classic Theatre including Bhramar, Hariraj, and Buddhadev. His longest film, produced in 1903, titled Alibaba and the Forty Thieves, was also based on an original Classic Theatre performance. However, not much is known about this feature film since it was never screened. 

Hiralal Sen also produced a number of advertising films. Having made two films advertising Jabakusum Hair Oil and Edwards Tonic, he may have been the first Indian to use film for advertising purposes. He is also credited to make  India's first political film, documenting the anti-Partition demonstration and 'Swadeshi' movement at the Town Hall, Calcutta on September 22, 1905

However, the first film ever to be shot by an Indian was called The Wrestlers made in 1899 by H.S Bhatavdekar depicting a wrestling match in Mumbai’s Hanging Gardens. This was also India’s first documentary film. Bhatavdekar continued to make films until the mid-1900s, when he made a sideways move and bought the Gaiety Theatre in Mumbai – which he ran successfully, and lucratively, until his death. The first short film released in India was Sree Pundalik a silent film by Dadasaheb Torne on May 18th, 1912. The first feature film 'Raja Harishchandra' 1913 was by  Dada Phalke.

Looking at the successful screening of the cinema in hotels or theatres Jamshedji Framji Madan built the first-ever Cinema Hall in India(1907) known as Elphinstone Picture Palace, later known as Chaplin. The second cinema theatre was Royal Talkies, Grant Road Bombay started in 1911

For more on Earlier Cinema Theatres please go through my earlier blog 'The Iconic Cinema Halls of India'

Link is given below

https://bolywoodfiles.blogspot.com/search/label/cinema%20hall

Anil Biswas - One of the Pioneers of Hindi Film Music

 

Anil Biswas, Pankaj Mallick, Saraswati Devi, and Master Ghulam Haider were the first generation composers of Hindi Films. They started giving music in the mid-1930s and continued till the independence of the country.

Anil Biswas made his debut as a music director with "Dharam ki Devi" (1935). It was the popularity of the Mehboob Khan film "Jagirdar" (1937), which proved that he could turn out hit songs. Soon many more independent assignments came his way, most notably, 300 Days and After, Gramophone Singer, Hum Tum Aur Woh, Ek Hi Raasta, and Mehboob Khan's Watan (1938), Alibaba (1940), the classic, Aurat(1940), Bahen (1941), before working with him again, in Roti (1942).He was a mentor to many singers like Zohrabai Ambalewali, Begum Akhtar, Mukesh, Talat Mahmood,  Lata Mangeshkar, Meena Kapoor.

From 1942 to 1947 he worked for Bombay Talkies.During this period he gave many hit fils few of them were Kismet(1943),Jwar Bhatta" (1944) and "Milan" (1946).During the 1950's, he served as the music director for a number of films.  Some notable films of his were "Abhimaan" (1957) and "Pardesi" (1957).The last film he did was "Chhoti Chhoti Baatein" (1965)

First Song of Begum Akhtar

Song of Roti 1942

Song of Kismet  1943

Song of Jwar Bhatta" (1944) 

First Song of Mukesh

Song of Pehli Nazar 1945

Lata Mangeshkar: Tumhare Bulane Ko Jee Chahta Hai (Ladli, 1949)

Song of Ladli 1949

Talat Mahmood: Ae Dil Mujhe Aisi Jagah Le Chal (Arzoo, 1950)

Song of Arzoo, 1950

Shukriya Shukriya Ae Pyar Tera Shukriya

Song of Aaram 1951

Seene Mein Sulagte Hain Armaan

Song of Tarana 1951

Song of Chaar Dil Chaar Rahen 1959

Meena Kapoor: Kuchh Aur Zamana Kehta Hai (Chhoti Chhoti Baten, 1965)

Song of Chhoti Chhoti Baten, 1965

The Iconic Mirror Scenes of Bollywood

Recall this scene from Amar Akbar Anthony when  Anthony (Amitabh Bachchan) has been bashed up by Parveen Babi’s boyfriend in the song My name is Anthony Gonsalves, in a drunk state he talks to his reflection and tries to apply for the medicine, not on himself but his reflection in the mirror. This scene became immortal in Bollywood history. 

Another iconic mirror scene was in the 1960 film Kohinoor performed by Dilip Kumar and Jeevan. This was the copy of a Hollywood film 'Duck Soup' released in 1933, performed by Harpo Marx and Groucho Marx. The same scene was repeated in the 1985 film 'Mard' performed by Amitabh Bachchan and Prem Chopra.

Scene from Kohinoor 1960

Original scene from Duck Soup 1933

Mirror Scene of Amae Akbar anthony 1977

In 1977 film there was a fight sequence in which the hero is surrounded by many mirrors that prevent him from locating the villain. This scene came earlier in the 1973 film Enter the Dragon in which Bruce Lee is surrounded by mirrors  His solution: to break the mirrors with his bare fists. 
Like Bruce Lee, Vinod shatters every surface with his hands, but then seems to be felled by one of Chacha’s bullets… Or not. Sometimes, the mirror lies too.

Tinnu Anand’s Kaalia (1981) incorporates reflective surfaces in the climax, where Kaalia (Amitabh Bachchan) bursts into the den of Shahani Seth (Amjad Khan) and shoots him – only to realize it’s a mirror image.

Scene from Kaalia

Omkara: released in 2006  Langda Tyagi (Saif Ali Khan) is enraged about not being made a baahubali by Omkara (Ajay Devgn). Saif apparently sees his reflection of what he was and was supporting and serving Omkara day-in and day-out and realizes he needs to shatter this image and move up the ladder of success. This is his transformative moment in the movie. What follows the next moment is, he literally shatters the mirror with his arm and applies the blood on his forehead signaling vengeance.

Scene from Omkara

No Smoking:The central character of the movie K (yeah, just K, John Abraham) is a narcissist and thus talks to himself in the mirror admiring his lean physique speaking ‘Nobody tells me what to do’ over and over again. Mirror has been very smartly used here as a medium to show his narcissistic traits.

Scene from No Smoking

Ghazni mirror scene

Tamasha is a 2015 movie where Ranbir Kapoor is always looking in the mirror and his reflection is depicting what he desires from all his heart. Remember the dialogue at the beginning of the movie where the clown (Deepika Padukone) says ‘Main hoon na, iske dil ki aawaz’ 

Scene from Tamasha

"Taqdeer ka Fasana Ja Kar Kise Sunayen"- A Gem by Ramlal

 

This song from the 1963 film Sehra was written by Hasrat Jaipuri, sung by Mohammad Rafi, and composed by an unsung music director Ramlal. He was a renowned Shehnai & Flute player. He came to Mumbai in 1944 and started working as an assistant with composer Ram Ganguly for Prithvi theatre. In 1948 he played Flute and Shahnai in many songs for composer Ram Ganguli in Raj Kapoor’s debut film as Director “Aag”.

This song is a twin song ( Dual Version Song) to be sung in male and female voices separately. Originally the male voice was sung by Mahendra Kapoor and was recorded but V Shantaram the producer and director was not satisfied with the song, Then Ramlal suggested that Mohammad Rafi could give justice to this song but the problem was that Rafi was always ignored by the great filmmaker, both of them never worked together. So Ramlal ji assured him that he will convince Rafi Saab to sing in the film.

Rafi Saab was able to inject tremendous pathos in this song and as usual, excels in the high notes. The prelude of the song a 28-second Shehnai piece was played by Ramlal Ji himself. In this song only. Ramlal JI in an interview told that Rafi Saab dubbed this song, the music track was kept as it is.

Taqdeer ka Fasana Md Rafi

Taqdeer ka Fasana Lata Mangeshkar

Filmindia - The Film Magazine Known for Harsh & Cruel Words

 

Filmindia was perhaps the first and most popular film magazine started in 1935 by Baburao Patel, who was known for its film reviews & cruel words that sharply cut through films, actors, directors and didn’t seem to spare anyone. Dev Anand once said “He made and unmade stars. He established or destroyed a film with just a stroke of his pen.

On reviewing 'Jwar Bhata', the debut film of Dilip Kumar, it described Dilip Kumar as  “the new anemic hero”. His appearance on the screen creates both laughter and disappointment. His acting effort in this picture amounts to nil.” Who would have thought Dilip Kumar would have ever faced such withering criticism?

Reviewing Navketan's first film Afsar(1950), Patel wrote  “Avoid Afsar ( Dev Anand movie) on health grounds”, Dev Anand’s 1956 noir film CID was described as an “unpleasant but stupid crime tale” where “Dev Anand fails to look like an inspector even for a single second”,

The magazine was immensely sought-after and Patel’s reviews carried a lot of weight. Habib Tanvir was the first assistant editor of the magazine and Manto also used to write for this magazine.

The magazine reading target was the "elite readership", including college-going youth.It used to be a status symbol to carry the magazine in their own hand, Dev Anand once said about the magazine that in his Lahore college days, "boys in the campus used to carry copies of film India along with their textbooks. It was their Bible".

Baburao Patel was born on 4 April 1904, The young Baburao did not do well and left school without completing his matriculation. The lack of formal education always bothered him, and he had great respect for intellectuals and scholars, but it did not stop him from his pursuit of knowledge. 

in 1926 Baburao joined a newly started Hindi & Urdu film magazine, Cinema Samachar. In 1935, Baburao joined hands with DN Parker, who owned New Jack Printing Press... The magazine, called Filmindia, was launched as a monthly in April 1935, at a price of 4 annas (One-fourth of a rupee)

Before starting his own publication, he made five films in the period between 1929-'35, beginning with Kismet (1929), Sati Mahananda (1933), then Maharani and Bala Joban (1935), and Chand ka Tukda (1933-'35).

Along with the review section, the magazine’s Editor’s Mail section which often ran up to five pages was about how its readers followed the magazine and the witty answers written by Baburao himself to the questions of his readers. It also had a Pictures in Making section where analyses of movies that were currently in production were provided. There was also a Bombay Calling gossip column written under the pseudonym of Judas (which many believed was Patel himself) served as gossip about everyone in the Hindi movie industry.

Baburao Patel also had an interest in politics, along with The Bombay Chronicle‘s Khwaja Ahmad Abbas, launched a nationwide campaign against “anti-Indian” films in 1938 including “empire films” like The Drum (1938) and Gunga Din (1939), which reinforced imperialist stereotypes of the “racially inferior” and “weak” colonized subjects. Filmindia slowly became a more political publication, its pages echoing with the strident sentiments of Baburao’s commentaries. Finally, in July 1960, Baburao announced that since his magazine no longer dealt exclusively with film-related content, it would need to be renamed: Mother India was born two months later.

He fought elections, lost and won, and eventually, became a member of Parliament. His political allegiances veered as time went on, but nothing dimmed his fondness for broadcasting his opinion, however, slanted it was.He lost the 1957 Lok Sabha elections but winning the 1967 elections and becoming an MP. Although the Emergency dimmed his lustre and he died a shaken man in 1982,

 Even after Baburao’s death in 1982, Sushila, his wife continued to publish the magazine until its 50th anniversary in 1985.

Here are some reviews from the Filmindia 

Baazi (1951) - “And if you forget the unholy mess the director (Guru Dutt) and those two new girls (Roopa Verman and Kalpana Kartik) make, Baazi can be seen for its beautiful bits.” 

Devdas (1955) - Vyjayanthimala was assessed as having made an emotional mess of the role 

Shree 420 (1955) - It is a pathetic piece of confusion, a sight of an empty vessel making the most noise, a spectacle of half-baked knowledge emitting odious odor. In the concluding remark, it said  “a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”

Awaaz (1956) - Rajendra Kumar looks stupid and acts stupid. The reasons? He looks stupid because he tries to look like Dilip Kumar and acts stupid because he tries to act like Dilip Kumar.

Kaagaz ke Phool (1959) - Guru Dutt Films’ Kaagaz Ke Phool is a dismal incoherent funeral-,paced picture that has hardly anything more remarkable about it than that it is the first Indian picture to be made in cinemascope

Navrang (1959) - Navrang is a colourless affair. It tells a story, of a sort, but conveys no theme. In his concluding remarks, it said "Mental Masturbation of a Senile Soul!"

Another area of close scrutiny in Filmindia was the female anatomy

Noor Jehan, her face was described as looking aged, having seen two World Wars.

Suraiya called one of the Hindi screen’s ugly ducklings besides being told her nostrils were repulsive 

Kalpana Kartik was referred to as a pigeon-chested heroine.

Mala Sinha called for her ‘potato face.