Shobhana Samarth was an Indian director, actress and producer, who began her career in the early days of talkie movies in the Hindi film industry and continued in lead roles into the 1950s.
Motilal Rajvansh was an Indian actor and the winner of Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award for Devdas (1955) and Parakh (1960). He is credited with being among Hindi cinema's first natural actors.
Bambai Ki Sair also known as Holiday in Bombay is a Bollywood social comedy film. It was released in 1941 and directed by Sarvottam Badami for Sudama Productions. The music direction was by Khemchand Prakash with lyrics by D. N. Madhok, Munshi Dil, B.R. Sharma and Pandit Indra. The film starred Shobhna Samarth, Sabita Devi, E. Billimoria, Jal Merchant, Arun, Vatsala Kumtekar Kantilal and Ghory.
Hum Tum Aur Woh is a 1938 Hindi/Urdu social drama film. The film was directed by Mehboob Khan for Sagar Movietone. The music was composed by Anil Biswas with lyrics by Wajahat Mirza and Zia Sarhadi. The cinematographer was Faredoon Irani. The film starred Motilal, Maya Banerjee, Rose, Yakub and Sankatha Prasad. The film was a romantic triangle involving Moti (Motilal), Bina the girl he's engaged to and Leela (Rose) who is obsessed with him.
Al Hilal is a 1935 Urdu/Hindi costume drama film. It was the debut directorial venture of Mehboob Khan. He went on to become "one of the pioneer directors of Indian Cinema". The film is thought to be inspired by Cecil B. DeMille's The Sign of the Cross. The film was produced by Sagar Movietone. The director of photography was Faredoon Irani. The music composer was Pransukh Nayak with lyrics by Munshi Ehsan Lucknavi. It starred Kumar, Indira, Yakub, Sitara Devi, Kayam Ali and Mehboob Khan. The film depicted fictionalised history in the form of a Roman-Arab conflict, with the son of the Ottoman Empire being captured by the Roman army and his escape from them.
Watan (transl. Homeland) is a 1938 Hindustani costume drama film directed by Mehboob Khan. Produced by Sagar Films, the film had story by Mehboob Khan and Wajahat Mirza. The cinematographer, as for most Sagar films, was Faredoon Irani. Following the successful music of Manmohan (1936), Sagar Movietone retained Anil Biswas as the in-house music director, scoring music for Watan along with other releases of the time from the studio. The cast of the film included Kumar, Bibbo, Maya Banerjee, Yakub Lala, Sitara Devi and Kayam Ali.
Deccan Queen is a 1936 Hindustani action-adventure film directed by Mehboob Khan. It was the first "stunt" film from Sagar Movietone and the first film for actor Surendra, who was credited as "Surendra Nath B.A., L.L.B.". The film helped launch him as a singing star. This was the only action film directed by Mehboob Khan as he later shifted to films with social and political slant. This was Mehboob Khan's second directorial venture after Al Hilal (1935). He asked Zia Sarhadi then an unknown small-time actor, to write the screenplay, dialogue and songs for Deccan Queen. The music direction was by Pransukh Nayak along with Ashok Ghosh. The cinematographer was Faredoon Irani. The film starred Surendra, Aruna Devi, Ramchandra Pal and Kayam Ali.
Jagirdar (Landlord) is a 1937 Hindi romantic melodrama film directed by Mehboob Khan, and starring Bibbo, Motilal, Surendra, Yakub, Pande, Sankatha Prasad, Pesi Patel and Maya Banerjee.
Sarvottam Badami (1910–2005) was an Indian film director of Hindi, Telugu, and Tamil films. He started his career as a sound recordist for the first talkie in India, Alam Ara (1931). In 1948 he helped set up the Films Division for news-reel and documentaries, where he worked as the chief producer in the newsreel department and also made documentaries. His active years were from 1932 to 1952 when he retired from the Films Division and from making feature films to settle in Bangalore.
Grihalakshmi is a 1934 Hindi social family melodrama film directed by Sarvottam Badami with story by Dr. Jayant Shyam and cinematography by Faredoon Irani. The film was produced by Sagar Movietone and had music by S. P. Rane. The cast included Sabita Devi, Jal Merchant, Yakub, Kamala Devi, K. C. Dey, Swaroop Rani and Asooji.
Vengeance is Mine also called Vair Ka Badla is a 1935 social Hindi film directed by Sarvottam Badami based on K. M. Munshi's story. After directing three regional language films for Sagar Movietone, Badami was now directing films exclusively in Hindi. After the first Hindi film he directed Chandrahasa (1933), he shifted his focus to socially relevant topics and made two films based on Munshi's stories, Vengeance is Mine (1935) and Dr. Madhurika (1935). Vengeance is Mine was made on a story Munshi had written in Gujarati language as "Ver Ni Vasulat" in 1913 under the nom de plume "Ghanshyam". The cast included Kumar, Sabita Devi, Yakub, Sitara Devi, Padma Devi and Mehboob Khan.
Dr. Madhurika is a 1935 social film directed by Sarvottam Badami based on a story by K. M. Munshi. The cinematography was by Faredoon Irani and the film starred Sabita Devi, Motilal, Gulzar, Bhudo Advani and Padma Shaligram. The dialogue and lyrics were by Waqif with music by Pransukh Nayak and Ashok Ghosh.
Teen Sau Din Ke Baad is a 1938 Hindi social comedy film directed by Sarvottam Badami. This was Badami's first comedy film and it was a success at the box-office; he went on to direct two more comedies after this, Aap Ki Marzi (1939) and Ladies Only (1939), also successes. The film was produced by Sagar Movietone, with story written by Babubhai A. Mehta and dialogue by Wajahat Mirza and Waqif. The music was composed by Anil Biswas with lyrics by Zia Sarhadi. The director of photography was Faredoon Irani and the film starred Bibbo, Motilal, Sabita Devi, Yakub, Pesi Patel and Gulzar.
Grama Kanya is a 1936 Hindi melodrama film directed by Sarvottam Badami. The film produced by Sagar Movietone had cinematography by Faredoon Irani, story by Jayant Shyam and dialogue by Waqif. The music was composed by the renowned bhajan singer Shankarrao Khatu. The cast included Surendra, Sabita Devi, Yakub, Aruna, Kayam Ali, and Gulzar.
Jeevan Lata is a 1936 Hindi social drama film directed by Sarvottam Badami. The film was produced by Sagar Movietone and had music by Pransukh M. Nayak. Sabita Devi and Motilal paired in several films right from Motilal's first Shaher Ka Jadoo (1934), with Badami using the pair for many of the films he directed for Sagar Movietone. This was Motilal's fourth film. The film starred Sabita Devi, Motilal, Gulzar, Sankatha Prasad, Bhudo Advani and Mehdi Raza.
Kulvadhu (transl. Daughter-in-Law) is a 1937 Indian Hindi-language social family drama film directed by Sarvottam Badami. Made under the Sagar Movietone banner it had music by Pransukh M Nayak, and the film starred Motilal, Sabita Devi, Gulzar and Pesi Patel.
Kokila (transl. Nightingale) is a 1937 Hindi social family drama film directed by Sarvottam Badami. The music was composed by Anil Biswas with lyrics written by Siddiqui and Zia Sarhadi. The story was adapted from the well-known novel Kokila, written by Gujarati writer Ramanlal Vasantlal Desai. The film starred Motilal, Sabita Devi, Shobhna Samarth, Maya Bannerjee, Sitara Devi, Pesi Patel, Siddiqui and Kayam Ali.
Prarthana (transl. Prayer) is a 1943 Indian Hindi-language social film directed by Sarvottam Badami for Sohrab Modi's Minerva Movietone. The music director was Saraswati Devi and the lyricist was Safdar Aah Sitapuri. Having worked for Madan Theatres Ltd and Sagar Movietone in the 1930s, the famous singer and actress Jehanara Kajjan returned to work after a hiatus of four years working for studios like Minerva Movietone. Prarthana is cited as "probably" her last film before her death in 1944. The film starred Motilal, Jahanara Kajjan, Sabita Devi, Sajjan, Nimabalkar, K. N. Singh, Sadat Ali, Mehboob and Abu Bakar.
Sabita Devi (1914–1965) was a Hindi film actress in Indian cinema. She is stated to be one of the "prominent" leading ladies of the "pioneering era" of Indian cinema along with Mehtab, Bibbo, Durga Khote, Gohar, Devika Rani and Seeta Devi. A Jewish by birth, she changed her name to find acceptability in Hindi cinema like the other Anglo-Indian and Jewish actresses of her time, Sulochana, Seeta Devi, Madhuri, and Manorama. After initially working with British Dominion Films Ltd., Calcutta, she shifted to Bombay and performed mainly in films produced by Sagar Movietone with her co-star in most films being Motilal. Some of the popular films with Motilal were Dr. Madhurika (1935) and Kulvadhu (1937) directed by Sarvottam Badami. Their first film together was Shaher Ka Jadoo (1934), which was also Motilal's debut film, and then Lagna Bandhan (1936) both directed by Kaliprasad Ghosh. She acted in Silver King (1935) with Motilal. It was an action film directed by C. M. Luhar, which became a "huge success".
Sagar Movietone also Sagar Films, Sagar Film Company and Sagar Productions was an Indian film production company involved in the making of films for Indian cinema. It was launched by Ardeshir Irani with Chimanlal Desai and Dr. Ambalal Patel in 1929 in Bombay, Maharashtra, India. Sagar was initially started as a branch company of Ardeshir's Imperial Film Company. Several key figures from Imperial, such as Mehboob Khan were shifted to Sagar. The studio was in operation from 1930 to 1939. In 1940, it combined with General Pictures to form National Studios. It made "Parsi theatre based films, mythologicals and stunt movies". Sagar fostered the career of many artists who rose to prominence. Early directors such as Prafulla Ghosh, Sarvottam Badami, Ezra Mir and Nanubhai Vakil were promoted by the company. Mehboob Khan got his first break as a director in Al Hilal in 1935. He was referred to as "the most important alumnus" from Sagar, who went on to become one of Indian cinema's "most influential film-makers".
