Down The Years

1931

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Frame to Frame

¤ India's first talkie film Alam Ara was released on 14th March 1931, at Bombay's Majestic cinema hall. It had seven songs and was 10,500 ft. long and ran for seven weeks. It was a costume drama and was directed by Ardeshir Irani. Music was composed by Phiroz Shah Mistry and Behram Irani. Master Vitthal, Zubeida, Zillo, Prithviraj Kapoor, W M Khan, Jagdish Sethi were the main cast.

¤ Dada Sahab Phalke released his 'Setubandhan' with background music and sounds.

¤ Kalidaas, first Tamil talkie film, Bhakt Prahlad , first Telugu talkie film and Jamai Sasthi, first Bangali talkie film got released in the same year.

¤ Krishna Tone's 'Ghar Ki Lakshmi' was released in Bombay in 1931 as the second talkie film with songs.

Poopular Films

Alam Ara: Ardeshir Irani
Cast: Vitthal, Zubeida, Prithviraj, W M Khan

Daulat Ka Nasha: Pesi Karani
Cast: Zillo, Khalil, Tara, Hadi

Davi Devyani: Chandulal Shah
Cast: Gauhar, Bhagwandas, Billimoria

Noor Jahan: Izra Meer
Cast: Vimla, Mubarak, Zillo, Nayampalli

Popular Songs

De De Khuda Ke Naam Par Pyare : Alam Ara
W M Khan

Badla Diwayega Ya Rab Too : Alam Ara
Zubeida

Total Films Released

Total Talkie Films Released : 28

Hindi : 23 Bengali : 4 Tamil : 1

Total Silent Films : 64

Master Vitthal
Vitthal was the hero of the first talkie film Alam Ara. He was trained in horse riding and sword playing. He was pretty comfortable in doing emotional as well as romantic scenes. Initially he worked for Sharda film co. for 3 years and after that he joined Imperial film co. for Rs. 200 per month. His prominent films are: Alam Ara, Vande Matram Ashram, Ramshastri, Chhatrapati Shivaji, etc.

Wazir Mohammad Khan
With the release of Alam Ara, talkie films came into existence. W M Khan played a begger in Alam Ara and he got the chance of being the first film song singer of Indian cinema. He sang ' De De Khuda Ke Naam Pe Pyaare, Taaqat Ho Gar Dene Ki, Kuchh Chahe To Maang Le Mujhse, Himmat Ho Gar Lene Ki..'. He died in Bombay in 1974.