A Year in Hindi Movies 1932
A total of 60 Hindi talkies were made in 1932. Apart from Calcutta and Bombay, there were movies from Kolhapur, Poona, Lahore and Hyderabad this year. Many famous movies were released. Most famous of these was perhaps the first talkie from Prabhat Film Company, Kolhapur, “Ayodhya Ka Raja” starring Durga Khote and Govind Rao Tembe who also provided the musical score. The Marathi version was the first Marathi talkie. It was directed by V. Shantaram. Another film, “Zarina”, directed by Ezra Mir, starring Jal Merchant and Zubeida (the heroine of the first talkie) has the most screen kisses before kissing was “voluntarily” renounced by the movie producers in the mid-thirties on the ground that “Indians do not kiss in public”. As everybody knows kissing was restored in Hindi movies by Raj Kapoor in “Satyam Shivam Sundaram” released on March 22, 1978. [Check!] The fabulous K. L. Saigal was introduced in “Mohabbat Ke Ansu” and acted in two more movies, “Subah Ka Tara” and “Zinda Laash”. All three had music by R. C. Boral and were produced by New Theaters, Calcutta. And then there was “Indrasabha” which has the distinction of having the largest number of songs, 71. The songs were set to tunes by Wazir Khan and Nagar Das Nayak recorded them for the movie apparently using only harmonium for the purpose. Typical songs:
Challa hamara yaad rakhna, Kati raat maze mein saari, Kab se khadi hun tere dwara, Chaman ko yun mere saqi ne maikhana bana dala, Dil de diya hai unko dekhen wo kya karenge, Maharaj se neha lagaibe, hamaar koi ka karibe.
Some other movies and their distinctions:
Bilwamangal — The first colored Indian film printed abroad. Hathili Dulhan — based on Taming of the Shrew. Heer Ranjha — First talkie by A. R. Kaardaar, made in Lahore. Raadhe Shyam — Rajkumari was a child artiste. Shikari — First talkie for Jairaj. Shyam Sunder — First movie by Shahu Modak, starring as a young Krishan. Shanta Apte was Radha.
Courtesy- Surjit Singh (hindi-movies-songs)
