TALKIES AND COLOUR MOTION PICTURES (1931 – 1950)

II. ADVENT OF THE TALKIES AND COLOUR MOTION PICTURES (1931 – 1950)

By the 1930’s the Indian Film industry was churning out more than 200 films a year and actors like Chetan Anand, S S Vasan and Devki Bose were among the very first movie stars that India had known.

The year 1931 was another landmark in the history of Indian cinema. The first talkie in the form of Ardeshir Irani's Alam Ara was released and became an instant hit. The talkies had the same effect as they did in the western countries and in no time had replaced the silent film with great speed. India is a vast country with over 28 official languages; dialects change 100 miles and finally here was a way by which dialog in different Indian languages was possible. This inevitably gave a boost to the regional (vernacular) film industries that could now produce content meant specifically for their local audiences. First talkie films in Bengali (Jumai Shasthi), Telugu (Bhakta Prahlad) and Tamil (Kalidass) established in the true sense the regional film industry in India as we know it today.

The advent of talkies also meant inclusion of musical numbers in the films. Alam Ara was a great hit mainly because it had seven song and dance sequences which proved to be hugely popular among the masses. Traditional arts of Indian music and dance always held a strong influence in Indian entertainment and it was but obvious that the cinema should adopt the same crowd pleasing attributes. This is probably the reason why musical numbers are still a staple in almost every film made in India till today. Regardless, talkies gave it a big push forward so much so that J.J. Madan’s Indrasabha (1932) featured a grand total of 71 songs.

The first colour film was made in the year 1937 by Ardeshir Irani called Kisan Kanya (Peasant Girl). Though the colour format didn’t not become popular till the 1950’s the film was a great commercial success and but no one could even remotely imagine the form that the Indian film industry was going to take in the coming decades. The commercial success of the film industry also established Mumbai as the hub of the Indian film industry having a number of self-contained production units. The thirties saw hits like Madhuri (1932), Indira, M A (1934), Anarkali (1935), Miss Frontier Mail (1936), and Punjab Mail (1939).

Yet another anthropologically significant turn in the history of cinema was its gradual shift towards becoming a powerful mode of communication. Till the late 30’s films on religious subjects were predominant but this was about to change. The country was in the throes of a raging freedom struggle and the frustrations of the independence movement increasingly seeped into the content of movies. The films quickly became a medium of expression and social awareness. Cinema was no longer a periphery of entertainment but a potent instrument to reach the masses. These films were not only full of songs and the usual glamour that the audiences had become used to but also gave out a vibrant message of social awareness that had a great impact. This was also the time when playback singing first emerged and gave India its first super star in the form of none other than celebrated singer and national treasure K. L Saigal.

Important filmmakers like V Shantaram established themselves as not only gifted directors but also expressed genuine social concern in their films like Admi (1939), Amrit Manthan and Dharmatma (1935). Another important personality who influenced the course of Indian cinema was a man called Raj Kapoor. The son of a popular silent era actor, Raj Kapoor began his career in films at the age of 11. Soon Raj Kapoor would start one his own film Production Company and change the face of Indian cinema forever with films like Andaz (1949), Aag (1948) and Amar Prem (1948) and most importantly Awara in (1950). A new golden era of the Indian film industry was about to start and Raj Kapoor and RK Studios were at its masthead.