Bombay Talkies

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Bombay Talkies
Industry Entertainment
Founded22 June 1934 (1934-06-22)
Founders
Defunct13 October 1953 (1953-10-13)
Headquarters Malad, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Area served
British India
Products

Bombay Talkies was a movie studio founded in 1934. During its period of operation, Bombay Talkies produced 40 movies in Malad, a suburb of the Indian city of Bombay.

Contents

The studio was established in 1934 by Himanshu Rai and Devika Rani. After Rai's death in 1940, Rani took over the studio. Besides the founders, Ashok Kumar was the leading actor of the studio until 1943, when he founded another studio, Filmistan, with Shashadhar Mukherjee. After Rani's retirement, Kumar and Mukherjee took over Bombay Talkies. The company went out of business in 1953. A last film produced by the studio was released in June 1954. [1] [2]

Early years

For the period in cinematic history it represented, Bombay Talkies was considered to be an innovative and highly resourced movie studio. In line with international standards, the studios' facilities included sound and echo-proof stages, laboratories, editing rooms and a preview theater. The reputation of Bombay Talkies was further enhanced by employing experienced European technicians, the most prominent of whom was Franz Osten.[ citation needed ]

Bombay Talkies set a high technical standard for film making in India and was credited with introducing a level of professionalism to the medium of movie making and acting, reputedly higher than standards set by rival Indian film production companies. Bombay Talkies acquired a reputation for changing the aesthetics and technology traditionally associated with Indian films. It was also renowned for producing films on (then) controversial topics such as those dealing with love between an untouchable lower caste girl and a high caste Hindu Brahmin boy e.g. ( Achhut Kanya ).[ citation needed ]

Devika Rani, who became one of Bombay Talkies' most successful actresses, and India's first film diva, appeared in Jawani ki Hawa (1935) and Jeevan Naiya (1936), as well as a number of other highly successful productions by the company. The studio was similarly recognized as having launched the careers of several prominent Indian film actors including Devika Rani, Ashok Kumar, Leela Chitnis, Mehmood Ali, Madhubala and Dilip Kumar. Madhubala and Dilip Kumar, who co-starred in four Bombay Talkies films, engaged in a long term, highly covert love affair. [3] Raj Kapoor worked as an assistant to Amiya Chakravarty of Bombay Talkies, before becoming a famous director. [4]

Success

Following the outbreak of World War II in 1939, the company faced a number of problems. The most significant change for the studio involved Himanshu Rai, the studio's founder, suffering a nervous breakdown which ultimately resulted in his demise. Following the shock caused by his demise, control of the film company passed on to Devika Rani who was appointed as the key producer of the Bombay Talkies studios. Despite, or perhaps because of, her prior experience as an actress, Devika Rani was highly successful in sustaining the production values of the company, and the studio subsequently retained its dominance over the rapidly expanding Indian film industry. The most successful Bombay Talkies films produced during this period included Kangan and Bandhan, both of which featured Leela Chitnis and Ashok Kumar. In 1943, Kismet created a local record for the longest continual showing of the same film. The movie continued to run for more than three and half years at the Roxy movie theater in Calcutta, India.[ citation needed ]

Decline

Despite Devika Rani's success as the Bombay Talkies' head producer, in 1943 a rift arose between her and her managers Sashadhar Mukherjee and Ashok Kumar. Although reasons for the rift have never been made public and largely remain unclear to film industry observers, Sashadhar Mukheerjee and Ashok Kumar allegedly attempted to begin their own production house under the guise of Bombay Talkies. Despite Devika Rani, Sashadhar Mukherjee, and Ashok Kumar attempting to create a working relationship which involved alternating production of major films between the two rival production camps, the relationship proved untenable and was fraught with allegations of sabotage, dramatic ego clashes, in-fighting, and the relentless circulation of malicious rumors.[ citation needed ]

Negotiations between Devika Rani on the one hand and Sashadhar Mukherjee and Ashok Kumar on the other failed to unite the company. Shashdhar Mukherjee, Ashok Kumar and a few others left the company in 1943 to found Filmistan. In 1945, Devika Rani married the Russian painter Svetoslav Roerich, sold her Bombay Talkies shares and left the industry. After several attempts to reunite the studio, it was sold to Tolaram Jalan, a businessman, who decided to cease its operations in 1953.[ citation needed ]

Timeline

Filmography

YearFilmDirectorMusic DirectorCast
1935Jawani Ki Hawa Franz Osten Saraswati Devi Najamul Hussain, Devika Rani
1936 Achhut Kanya Franz OstenSaraswati DeviAshok Kumar, Devika Rani
1936 Janmabhoomi Franz OstenSaraswati DeviAshok Kumar, Devika Rani
1936 Jeevan Naiya Franz OstenSaraswati DeviAshok Kumar, Devika Rani
1936Mamta and Miya BiwiFranz OstenSaraswati DeviDevika Rani, Najmul Hussain, J. S. Casshyap
1937 Izzat Franz OstenSaraswati DeviAshok Kumar, Devika Rani
1937 Jeevan Prabhat Franz OstenSaraswati DeviKishore Sahu, Devika Rani
1937 Prem Kahani Franz OstenSaraswati DeviAshok Kumar, Maya Devi
1937 Savitri Franz OstenSaraswati DeviAshok Kumar, Devika Rani
1938 Bhabhi Franz OstenSaraswati DeviRenuka Devi, P Jairaj
1938 Nirmala Franz OstenSaraswati DeviAshok Kumar, Devika Rani
1938 Vachan Franz OstenSaraswati DeviAshok Kumar, Devika Rani
1939DurgaFranz OstenSaraswati DeviDevika Rani, Rama Shukul
1939KanganFranz OstenSaraswati Devi + Ramchandra PaalLeela Chitnis, Ashok Kumar
1939Navjeevan'Franz OstenSaraswati DeviHansa Wadkar, Rama Shukul
1940 Azad N R AcharyaSaraswati Devi + Ramchandra PaalLeela Chitnis, Ashok Kumar
1940 Bandhan N. R. AcharyaSaraswati Devi + Ramchandra PaalLeela Chitnis, Ashok Kumar
1940 Punar Milan Najam NaqviRamchandra PaalSnehprabha, Kishore Sahu
1941 Anjaan Amiya ChakrabartyPannalal GhoshDevika Rani, Ashok Kumar
1941 Jhoola Gyan MukherjeeSaraswati DeviLeela Chitnis, Ashok Kumar
1941 Naya Sansar N. R. AcharyaSaraswati Devi + Ramchandra PaalRenuka Devi, Ashok Kumar
1942 Basant Amiya ChakrabartyPannalal GhoshMumtaz Shanti, Ullhas, Madhubala (debut)
1943 Hamari Baat M.I. DharamseyAnil BiswasDevika Rani, Jairaj
1943Kismat (or Kismet or Qismat)Gyan MukherjeeAnil BiswasAshok Kumar, Mumtaz Shanti
1944Char AnkhenSushil MajumdarAnil BiswasJairaj, Leela Chitnis
1944 Jwar Bhata Amiya ChakravartyAnil Biswas Dilip Kumar (debut), Mrudula, Shamim
1945 Pratima JairajArun Kumar MukherjeeDilip Kumar, Swarnalata, Jyoti, Mukri
1946 Milan Nitin BoseAnil BiswasDilip Kumar, Meera Mishra, Ranjana, Moni Chatterjee
1947NateejaNajam NaqviRasheed AtreYaqub, Shamim, Majid Khan
1947 Noukadubi Nitin BoseAnil BiswasAbhi Bhattacharya, Meera Mishra
1948MajboorNazir AjmeriGhulam HaiderMunnawar Sultana, Shyam, Sohan
1948 Ziddi Shaheed LatifKhemchand PrakashKamini Kaushal, Dev Anand, Veera
1949 Mahal Kamal AmrohiKhemchand PrakashAshok Kumar, Madhubala, Kumar
1950SamarNitin BoseS. D. BurmanSumitra Devi, Ashok Kumar
1950 Sangram Gyan Mukherjee C. RamchandraNalini Jaywant, Ashok Kumar, Nawab
1950MashaalNitin BoseS. D. BurmanAshok Kumar, Sumitra Devi, Ruma Devi
1952 Maa Bimal RoyS. K. PalBharat Bhushan, Leela Chitnis, Kusum Deshpande, Arun Kumar
1952 Tamasha Phani MajumdarManna Dey, S. K. Pal, Khemchand PrakashDev Anand, Meena Kumari, Ashok Kumar
1954 Baadbaan Phani MajudarTimir Baran, S. K. PalDev Anand, Ashok Kumar, Meena Kumari

References

  1. Tejaswini Ganti (2013). Bollywood: A Guidebook to Popular Hindi Cinema. Routledge. p. 17. ISBN   9780415583848.
  2. Christian Rogowski (2010). The Many Faces of Weimar Cinema. Camden House. p. 169. ISBN   9781571134295.
  3. "The legend of Madhubala | Magazines | DAWN.COM". Archived from the original on 8 June 2011.
  4. Madhu Jain (2009). Kapoors: The First Family of Indian Cinema. Penguin UK. ISBN   9788184758139.

Further reading

19°10′45″N72°50′35″E / 19.17903°N 72.84292°E / 19.17903; 72.84292 (Bombay Talkies Compound)