Achhut is a 1940 social Indian Bollywood film based on untouchability. It was the third highest grossing Indian film of 1940. The film was produced by Chandulal Shah for his Ranjit Studios. He also wrote the story and screenplay, and directed it. Achhut's premiere was attended by Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel on 23 December 1939, who stated: "If the picture helps India to remove this curse, it can be said to have helped India to win Swaraj as untouchability is one of the chief obstacles in the road to freedom".
Pagal is a 1940 Indian Hindi-language film. It was the fourth highest grossing Indian film of 1940. The psycho-social melodrama was directed by A. R. Kardar for Ranjit Movietone. Kardar also wrote the dialogues and story for the film. Khemchand Prakash composed the music with lyrics written by D. N. Madhok. The film's protagonist was Prithviraj Kapoor playing a doctor with psychological problems, working in a "lunatic asylum". The rest of the cast included Madhuri, Sitara Devi, Noor Mohammed Charlie, Khatoon, Trilok Kapoor and Sunalini Devi.
Badi Maa , also called Bari-Ma, is a Bollywood social war drama film. Released in 1945, it was produced and directed by Master Vinayak. Made under the banner of Prafulla Pictures, Kolhapur, it had story written by V. S. Khendekar. Zia Sarhadi wrote the screenplay and lyrics for six songs. The other lyricists were Anjum Pilibhiti and Raja Badhe. The music director was K. Datta.
Musafir is a 1940 social Hindi language film directed by Chaturbhuj Doshi. Produced by Ranjit Studios, the music was by Gyan Dutt and it starred Noor Mohammed Charlie, Khursheed, Ishwarlal and Yakub.
Geeta is a Bollywood film directed by Parshwanath Yeshwant Altekar and starring Chandra Mohan, Durga Khote and Anant Marathe. It was released in 1940. The film produced under the Circo Productions banner was a bilingual made in Hindi and Marathi. The story was written by Minoo Katrak who in later films was to become a renowned sound recordist. The cinematographer was Gordhanbhai Patel and the film's music was composed by Datta Koregaonkar. It's dialogues and song lyrics were by S. K. Kallah with screenplay by Altekar. The rest of the cast included Trilok Kapoor, Ashalata, Vatsala Kumtekar and Baby Suman.
Sasural is a Bollywood film. It was released in 1941. The film was directed by Chaturbhuj Doshi for Ranjit Movietone. The story was by Gunvantrai Acharya with dialogues by R. S. Rammyae. Cinematographer was G. G. Gogate with audiography by C. K. Trivedi. Gyan Dutt was the music director, with lyrics by D. N. Madhok. The cast included Motilal, Madhuri, Nurjehan, Miss Iqbal, Kantilal, Tarabai, Bhagwandas, and Urmila.
Bansari is a Bollywood social film. It was released in 1943. Music composition was by Gyan Dutt with lyrics written by D. N. Madhok. The film was produced by Chandulal Shah for Ranjit Studios. Directed by Jayant Desai, it starred Ishwarlal, Noor Mohammed Charlie, Dixit, Shamim Bano, Kesari and Urmila.
Watan (transl. Country) 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.
The Secretary is a 1938 Hindi-language Indian comedy film directed by Chaturbhuj Doshi. The film was produced by Chandulal Shah under the Ranjit Pictures banner. The music was provided by Gyan Dutt with lyrics by Pyare Lal Santoshi. The main cast was Noor Mohammed Charlie, Trilok Kapoor, Madhuri, Kalyani Das, Waheedan Bai and Rajkumari.
Bharosa (Trust) is a 1940 Hindi/Urdu social melodrama film produced and directed by Sohrab Modi. Made under the Minerva Movietone banner, the story and lyrics were by Lalchand Bismil, with cinematography by Y. D. Sarpotdar. The music was composed by G. P. Kapoor, and the cast included Chandra Mohan, Sardar Akhtar, Mazhar Khan, Sheela, Maya Devi and Eruch Tarapore.
Manoos, also called Life's for Living, is a 1939 Indian Marathi social melodrama film directed by V. Shantaram. The movie was simultaneously made in Hindi as Aadmi. The film was based on a short story called "The Police Constable". The story was by A. Bhaskarrao, with screenplay and dialogue by Anant Kanekar. The cinematographer was V. Avadhoot and the music was composed by Master Krishna Rao, with lyrics by Kanekar. The cast included Shahu Modak, Shanta Hublikar, Sundara Bai, Ram Marathe, Narmada, Ganpatrao and Raja Paranjpe.
Raja is a 1943 Hindi film directed by Kishore Sahu. It was the first film from the newly established "Purnima Productions". A social satire, it starred Kishore Sahu and Protima Das Gupta in the lead. The music was composed by Khan Mastana, and Kishore Sahu sang the songs picturised on him. The rest of the cast included Ramesh Gupta, Gulab, Moni Chatterjee, Badri Prasad and Rani Bala.
Holi is a 1940 Hindi/Urdu social drama film directed by A. R. Kardar. Holi was produced by Ranjit Movietone and had music composed by Khemchand Prakash with lyrics by D. N. Madhok. It had Khursheed and Motilal starring in the lead with Sitara Devi, Ishwarlal, Keshavrao Date, Dixit, Ghory and Manohar Kapoor.
Baghban (Gardener) is a 1938 Hindi/Urdu family drama film directed by A. R. Kardar. The story was by Begum Ansari with script and screenplay by Kardar. Film's music was composed by Mushtaq Hussain with lyrics by Mirza Shauq. The cast included Nandrekar, Bimla Kumari, Nazir, Sitara Devi, K. N. Singh, Wasti and Ashraf Khan.
Milap (transl. the union is a 1937 Indian Hindi/Urdu-language social drama film directed by A. R. Kardar. Produced under the Moti Mahal Pictures banner, it had music composed by K. C. Dey. Milap was a big success for the actress Rampyari.
Bibbo was a music composer, singer and actress who worked in both Indian and Pakistani films. She acted in Indian cinema from 1931 to 1947 before moving to Pakistan, following Partition of India in 1947. She started her acting career with Ajanta Cinetone Ltd. in 1933, working with directors like M. D. Bhavnani and A. P. Kapoor. She was one of the top leading ladies of the 1930s along with actresses like Devika Rani, Durga Khote, Sulochana, Mehtab, Shanta Apte, Sabita Devi, Leela Desai and Naseem Banu. She was referred to as "one of the most important female stars of the 1930s and 1940s". Her fame had her featured in the lyrics of a popular song from the film Gharib Ke Lal (1939) sung by Mirza Musharraf and Kamla Karnataki, with music by Sagheer Asif and lyrics by Rafi Kashmiri. "Tujhe Bibbo Kahoon Ke Sulochana", where Sulochana referred to another popular actress of the time. This was the first time a song featuring famous actors was used in the lyrics of a film song.
Chaturbhuj Doshi (1894–1969) was a Hindi and Gujarati writer-director of Indian cinema. He was one of the top Gujarati screenplay writers, who helped script stories for the Punatar productions. He is stated to be one of the leading figures who launched the Gujarati film industry with work on notable films like Gunsundari (1948) and Nanand Bhojai (1948). Doshi, was “well known” for his family socials and had become “a celebrity in his own right”. He made a name for himself as a journalist initially and was referred to as the "famous journalist" and publicist by Baburao Patel, editor of Filmindia.
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 Jewess 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".
Gorakh Aya is a 1938 Hindi mythology film from Ranjit Movietone. It was the debut directorial venture for Chaturbhuj Doshi, who had made a name for himself as a journalist and publicist. The screenplay was by Gunvantrai Acharya, with dialogues by Pyare Lal Santoshi. The cinematographer was Krishna gopal and music was composed by Gyan Dutt.
Mazhar Khan was an actor, producer, and director in Indian Cinema. He started his career as a police officer, which he left to study law for a short period. After abandoning his studies, he came to Bombay and started his career in cinema with the silent film Fatal Garland (1928) opposite the top actress of the time, Ermeline. He became a popular actor, gaining success in several silent films. During his stint in silent films he worked with well-established directors such as Bhagwati Prasad Mishra, Ezra Mir, Moti P. Bhagnani, R. S. Chowdhary, and M. D. Bhavnani. Magazines in the 1940s compared Khan to Hollywood actors such as Paul Muni, Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff.
