Ashok Kumar, was an Indian actor who attained iconic status in Indian cinema. He was a pioneering actor who introduced natural acting to Hindi cinema. He was the first 'superstar' of Hindi cinema in the black-and-white era of the 40s and 50s as well as the first lead actor to play an anti-hero. He also became the first star to reinvent himself, enjoying a long and hugely successful career as a character actor. He was a member of the cinematic Ganguly family. He was honoured in 1988 with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, the highest national award for cinema artists, by the Government of India. He also received the Padma Bhushan in 1999 for his contributions to Indian cinema.
Ramchandra Gopal Torne, also known as Dadasaheb Torne was an Indian director and producer, best known for making the first feature film in India, Shree Pundalik. This historic record is well established by an advertisement in The Times of India published on 25 May 1912. Several leading reference books on cinema including The Guinness Book of Movie Facts & Feats, A Pictorial History of Indian Cinema and Marathi Cinema : In Restrospect amply substantiate this milestone achievement of the pioneer Indian feature-filmmaker.
Marathi cinema, also known as Marathi Chithrapat, is the segment of Indian cinema, dedicated to the production of motion pictures in the Marathi Language widely spoken in the state of Maharashtra. It is based in Mumbai. It is the oldest film industry of India and one of the leader in Filmmaking in India's film industry. The first Marathi talkie film was Ayodhyecha Raja, released in 1932, just one year after Alam Ara the first Hindi talkie, before releasing the Aayodhyecha Raja, all the Marathi films until then were Silent films with Intertitles.
Prabhat Film Company was an Indian film production company and film studios founded in 1929 by the noted film director V.Shantaram and his friends.
Maharashtra Film Company was an Indian film production company, established by Baburao Painter in Kolhapur. Established in 1918, it was a silent film studio, which was a pioneer in Maharashtra and Marathi cinema, under the patronage of the Shahu Maharaj, the Maharaja of Kolhapur. It released the first significant historical, Sairandhari, released in Pune 7 February 1920. In the coming decade the only other major company was Dada Saheb Phalke's Hindustan Film Company. It made numerous films till the advent of talkies in 1931, but started collapsing after V. Shantaram left in 1929, to form Prabhat Film Company, it finally closed down in 1931.
Cinema of South India, refers to the cinema of the four major film industries in South India; primarily engaged in making feature films in the four major languages of the region, namely — Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam. They are often colloquially referred to as Tollywood, Kollywood, Sandalwood and Mollywood, respectively.
Jamshed Boman Homi Wadia, commonly referred to as J. B. H. Wadia, was a prominent Bollywood movie director, screenwriter, producer and founder of Wadia Movietone Studio. He was born in prominent Parsi family which hailed from Surat, Gujarat whose ancestral business was ship building. Their family name of Wadia stands for master shipbuilders. In a family of entrepreneurs Wadia is credited with creation of movies involving populist stunt roles including those by Fearless Nadia and bringing concept of stunt actresses in Indian cinema.
John Cawas was a stuntman and actor in Hindi movies. Cawas made his debut in the Hindi film Hunterwali (1935), which became a career-defining movie for Fearless Nadia and Wadia Movietone. Cawas himself was famous for his performance of Tarzan in various movies.
Bambaiwali is a Bollywood action adventure film. It was released in 1941. The film was directed by Homi Wadia and produced by Wadia Movietone. It starred Fearless Nadia, John Cawas, Sardar Mansoor, Dalpat and Boman Shroff.
Hunterwali is a 1935 Indian Hindi-language action film by the Wadia Movietone company of Bombay, featuring Fearless Nadia as the heroine. A story of a princess who fights injustice as the masked crusader Hunterwali, the film propelled Nadia and the Wadia brothers of Wadia Movietone to fame.
Diamond Queen is a 1940 Hindi action adventure comedy film. It was directed by Homi Wadia and produced by Wadia Movietone. It starred Fearless Nadia, John Cawas, Radha Rani, Sayani Atish, Sardar Mansur, Dalpat, Kunjru, and Boman Shroff. This film was the seventh in the Diamond thriller series with the first being Veer Bharat in 1934, directed by Homi Wadia under the production of J. B. H. Wadia. It is cited as one of the best films produced by the Wadia brothers. The film's success saw Homi Wadia becoming a producer by which he was able to obtain raw stock for his films due to the rationing of two films per producer during the Second World War.
Lutaru Lalna is a 1938 Indian Hindi-language action adventure film directed by Homi Wadia and produced by Wadia Movietone. The music was composed by Master Mohammed and Baldev Naik. The film starred Fearless Nadia, Boman Shroff, Sardar Mansoor, Sayani Atish and Sarita Devi.
Punjab Mail is 1939 action adventure Hindi film directed by Homi Wadia for Wadia Movietone. The score was provided by Madhavlal Damodar Master, and stars Fearless Nadia, John Cawas, Sayani Atish, Sardar Mansoor, Boman Shroff and Sarita Devi. The film once again had Nadia playing the avenging female with mask and whip astride a horse dispensing justice and beating up the villains.
Hatim Tai is a 1956 Indian Hindustani language fantasy film directed by Homi Wadia for Basant Pictures. The story, script and scenario were by JBH Wadia, with dialogues by Hakim Latta and Chand Pandit. The film had several past favorites of Wadia Brothers credited in the film title role, such as Sardar Mansoor, Mithoo Miyan and Dalpat as actors and Boman Shroff as production manager. The cast included Shakila, P. Jairaj, Meenaxi, Naina, Krishna Kumari, S. N. Tripathi, B.M. Vyas and Sheikh.
Dhoomketu is a 1949 action adventure film directed by Homi Wadia. Made under the Basant Pictures banner, the music was composed by A. Karim with lyrics by Rajjan and A. Karim. Raja Sandow an early hero and director of films played a supporting role in this film. The film starred Fearless Nadia, John Cawas, Sona Chatterji, Dalpat, Boman Shroff, Ram Singh and Raja Sandow.
Jungle Ka Jawahar is a 1953 Hindi action adventure film directed by Homi Wadia and produced by Basant Pictures. The story was written by Boman Shroff and the special effects were by Babubhai Mistry. Having played daredevil roles starting in the 1930s, Fearless Nadia was still playing lead action roles in the 1950s and continued to act till 1968. The film starred Fearless Nadia, John Cawas, Leela Kumari, Shyam Sunder and Shapoor Aga.
Wadia Movietone was a noted Indian film production company and studio based in Mumbai, established in 1933 by Wadia brothers J. B. H. Wadia and Homi Wadia. It was most known for stunt, fantasy and mythological films, including Hunterwali (1935).
Toofani Tarzan is a 1937 Hindi action adventure film directed by Homi Wadia. Produced by Wadia Movietone, the film had music by Master Mohammed with lyrics by Gyan Chander. It starred John Cawas, Gulshan, Nazira, Boman Shroff, Chandrashekhar and Dalpat.
Bhaurao Datar was an Indian silent film actor, popularly known for his role as the 17th century Maratha king Shivaji.
Padma Devi (1917–1983) was a popular Indian Bengali Hindi/Hindustani Film Actress and playback singer of Indian cinema, in the silent era and the early talkies. Starting her career with the main role in Sea Goddess (1931), directed by Dhirubhai Desai and produced by Saroj Film Company, Padma went on to act in over one hundred films in her career.
