The Vibrant Era of Black and White Films
By Ruchi Verma
Indian cinema is as versatile as it is old. The largest national film industry in the world in terms of number of films produced every year, the Indian film industry has a history that is symbolic of the richness and diversity of its culture and society. After the silent films, that were also black and white films, India witnessed a beautiful era in cinema with evergreen films that were shot in black and white and had sound too.
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| A still from Awara |
The Father of Indian Cinema
The history of cinema in India dates back to a time before the country became independent. The pioneer of the Indian film industry, Dhundiraj Govind Phalke, popularly known as Dadasaheb Phalke, was a producer-director-screenwriter and gave India its first full-length feature film - Raja Harishchandra - that laid a strong foundation for the film industry in India.
Raja Harishchandra was a silent film in Marathi and released on 3 May 1913 and earned its pioneering director the title 'Father of Indian Cinema'. The roles of females also were played by men actors in the film that was a great commercial success at the time. The mythology-inspired Raja Harishchandra is about a righteous king who endures several tests for having distracted Vishwamitra from his meditation.
For his film, Dadasaheb Phalke published advertisements in various newspapers like Induprakash calling for the cast and crew required for the film. Dattatraya Damodar Dabke played the lead role of King Harishchandra and Anna Salunke as Queen Taramati. Phalke's elder son Bhalchandra played the role of Rohidas - son of Harishchandra and Taramati. Interestingly, Dadasaheb Phalke donned multiple caps in the making of this film including scripting, direction, editing, production design, make-up and film processing as well. The filming completed in six months and 27 days and premiered on 21 April 1913 at Olympia Theatre in Bombay and had its theatrical release on 3 May 1913 at the Coronation Cinema in Girgaon, Bombay followed by huge success.
The original print of the film comprised four reels that were destroyed after a few years of the film's release. In 1917, Dadasaheb Phalke directed a frame-by-frame remake of Raja Harishchandra at a shorter running length.
In his career that spanned 19 years, Phalke went on to make 95 feature-length films and 27 short films until 1937. His most noted works include Mohini Bhasmasur (1913), Satyavan Savitri (1914), Lanka Dahan (1917), Shri Krishna Janma (1918) and Kaliya Mardan (1919). He was a scholar of Indian languages and culture. The Dadasaheb Phalke Award, awarded for lifetime contribution to cinema by the Government of India, is named in his honour.
The beginning of cinema in South India
The first silent film in South India was the Tamil film Keechaka Vadham made by R. Nataraja Mudaliar in 1916 and was also the first film to be made in South India. The film was produced, directed, filmed and edited by R. Nataraja Mudaliar and starred stage actors Raju Mudaliar and Jeevarathnam as the central characters of Keechaka and Draupadi, respectively. The screenplay was written by C. Rangavadivelu that was based on an episode of Mahabharat - the Virata Parva segment where Keechaka attempts to woo Draupadi. The film was shot in just five weeks at Nataraja Mudaliar's production house. It is considered to be the first ‘Tamil’ silent film because all its actors were Tamils.
R. Nataraja Mudaliar was a car dealer based in Madras who developed an interest in films after watching Dadasaheb Phalke's 1913 mythological film Raja Harishchandra at Gaiety Theatre in Madras. He then learned the basics of photography and filmmaking from a Pune-based British cinematographer Stewart Smith. Nataraja bought a Williamson 35 mm camera and printer and in 1915 established the India Film Company that was also South India's first production company.
It was on the advice of a friend that Nataraja Mudaliar decided to depict the story of Draupadi and Keechaka from the Virata Parva segment of Mahabharat. It were Raja Ravi Varma's paintings that further inspired Nataraja Mudaliar to recreate the story on screen. Unfortunately, the prints of many silent films including Keechaka Vadham and talkies such as Kalidas that was the first Tamil talkie released in 1931 have been lost.
From silent to talkies
After 18 years of the making of India's first feature film Raja Harishchandra came India's very first talkie or the first talking film - Alam Ara. The film was made by Ardeshir Irani and released on 14 March 1931. As the first sound film, Alam Ara was considered a major breakthrough in the Indian film industry. Unfortunately, even for Alam Ara, no print or gramophone record of the film is known to survive, thereby making it a lost film. The only artefacts that remain include its stills and theatrical release posters.
Alam Ara's story revolves around a king and his two wives, Navbahaar and Dilbahaar, who are childless. A fakir tells the king that the former wife will give birth to a boy, later named Qamar, but the child will die following his 18th birthday if Navbahaar cannot find the necklace he asks for. Meanwhile, the king finds out that Dilbahaar falls for senapati Adil leading the king to arrest the senapati and evict his pregnant wife, who later gives birth to Alam Ara. The film's cast included Master Vithal as Qamar, Zubeida as Alam Ara, Prithviraj Kapoor as senapati Adil and Muhammad Wazir Khan as a fakir (in a cameo appearance).
It were Ardeshir Irani and Rustom Bharucha, a lawyer and the manager of his other production company, Imperial Studios, worked as sound technicians for the film. Before the shooting of the film started, the two learned the basics of sound recording from American expert Wilford Deming. The film is considered as a turning point of Irani's career who was later called the 'Father of Indian Talkies'. Following the release of Alam Ara, producer Birendranath Sircar acquired the recording equipment of the film and contacted Deming to work with him in Calcutta.
Irani later used the sets of Alam Ara to shoot his next production venture Kalidas which would become the first Indian multilingual film following its release in 1931. Kalidas, a Tamil and Telugu-language biographical film, based on the life of poet Kalidas, directed by H. M. Reddy and produced by Ardeshir Irani is known to be the first sound film in the Tamil and Telugu languages and the first sound film to be made in a language from South India. The film featured P. G. Venkatesan in the title role and T. P. Rajalakshmi as the female lead with L. V. Prasad, Thevaram Rajambal, T. Susheela Devi, J. Sushila and M. S. Santhanalakshmi in supporting roles.
The legacy of monochrome
Before moving to colour films, Indian audience got a chance to watch several iconic black and white films. These include Shree 420, Awara, Pyaasa, Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam, Chaudavi Ka Chand, Boot Polish, etc. These films inspired film-makers to experiment with technology and make films with modern equipment. The last black and white films were shot in the 1960s and included Saheb Biwi aur Ghulam (1962), Bees Saal Baad (1962), Bandini (1963) and Aasmaan Mahal (1965). However, being a crossover period when both black and white and colour films were being made, the demarcation is difficult.
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