First In Bollywood
There’s always a first time for everything and same goes for Bollywood. Beginning is what paves the way for a splendid future. So here’s an exclusive account of how various crafts of filmmaking actually began in Bollywood.
First Indigenous Film:
Dadaseheb Phalke’s Raja Harishchandra was released on 3rd May 1913. The film was 3700 film long in four reels taking up 50 minutes. The film had an all-male starcast, as no woman was available for playing female lead in the film.
First Film Certified
Set on the eve of the French Revolution, D.W. Griffith’s 1921 epic Orphans of the Storm interweaves history and melodrama in equal measure. It was the first film to undergo censor cuts due to Indian Censorship Act 1918.
First Women On Screen
Durgabai and her daughter Kamlabai Ghokhle acted in Phalke’s second film Mohini Bhasmasur (1913).
First Talkie Film
Alam Ara, directed by Ardeshir Irani, was the first Indian film with sound. Irani recognized the importance that sound could have on cinema and raced to complete Alam Ara before several other contemporary sound films. It was released on 4th February 1931. It had seven songs, was 10,500 ft. long and ran for seven weeks.
First Talkie Actress
Zubeida Begum Dhanrajgir or famously known as Rani Zubeida, who acted in 36 silent films, acted in first talkie Alam Aara, released in 1931.
First Cinemascope Films
Kagaaz Ke Phool (1959) was a box office disaster of its time but was later resurrected as a world cinema classic in the 1980s. The cinematographer of the film was the legendary V.K. Murthy and it has the distinction of being the first Indian film made in wide 75 mm Cinemascope. Guru Dutt made Kagaz Ke Phool in 1959 in black and white cinemascope. Technically, the film is perhaps his best ever. The camera work with its use of lights and shadows is magical. The frames have been beautifully composed keeping in mind the cinemascope format. Likewise, Mahesh Kaul made Pyar Ki Pyaas in colour in 1961.
First Color Film
Ardeshir Irani’s Kisan Kanya (1937) was the first color film followed by Mother India (1938). Ardeshir Irani firmly believed in sending Indians abroad to learn the craft of film-making rather than employing foreign experts. Kisan Kanya was made with the Cinecolor process whose process rights Irani had obtained from an American company.
Sohrab Modi’s Jhansi Ki Rani (1953) was the first Technicolor film shot.
First Debut Jubilee Hat Tricks:
Amol Palekar‘s first three films – Rajnigandha (1974), Chhoti Si Baat (1975), Chitchor (1976) – all directed by Basu Chatterji, became silver jubilee hits in Mumbai. This record is yet to be breached by any Bollywood actor.
First English Song
“Now The Moon Her Light Has Shed” sung by Devika Rani for the film Karma (1933) under the baton of music director Earnest Broadhurst was the first time an English song was used in a Hindi film.
First One-Actor One-Set Film
Yaadein is a unique venture. It is a one-man film, a solo effort with Sunil Dutt playing Anil, the protagonist. For some 113 odd minutes, he faces the camera as he essays the story of Anil, who comes home one night to find that his wife Priya has left the house and taken their two children, Pawan and Geeta with her as well.
First Playback
Maestro R C Boral introduced playback singing for the first time in the film Dhoop Chhaaon (1935). The song ‘Main Khush Hona Chahun’ had an all women chorus led by Parul Ghosh with Suprova Sarkar and Harimati.
First Horror Film
Ramsay Brothers’ Do Gaz Zameen Ke Neeche established the horror genre in Hindi films in 1972. This early 70’s effort by the Ramsay family is considered to be a major breakthrough in the horror genre. Not only did it score big time at the box-office but also paved the way for a new wave that veered away from the genteel white sari-clad ghostly figures of yesteryear to the more gory, blood curdling post-Hammer style that was to become the hallmark of local terror in times to come.
First film shot in foreign locations
One of the earliest movies that set up foreign locales as a major attraction was Raj Kapoor’s Sangam. It was his first film in colour and had an extended honeymoon sequence shot in Europe – Venice, Paris and yes, Switzerland. Sangam successfully paved the way for the trend of foreign locations in Hindi films.
First Film Insured
Producer-director Subhash Ghai’s banner Mukta Arts took a Rs.11 crore policy for Taal (’99) with United India Insurance against possible shooting schedule disturbances or accidents on sets during shooting.
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