Kunala was the Crown Prince and second son of 3rd Mauryan Emperor Ashoka and Empress Padmavati and the presumptive heir to Ashoka, thus the heir to the Mauryan Empire which once ruled almost all of the Indian subcontinent. After the departure of Mahendra, Ashoka's eldest son, he was supposed to be the heir to the empire, but was blinded by his step-mother, Tishyaraksha, at a young age in jealousy. While he was not able to take the throne, his son, Samprati, became his heir.
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.
Love In Simla is a 1960 Indian romance film, produced by Sashadhar Mukherjee and his Filmalaya production house. Directed by R. K. Nayyar, who co-wrote the script with Agha Jani, the film had the producer's son, Joy Mukherjee, in the lead role. The actress Sadhana made her Hindi movie lead debut in the film and became a star. The film also starred Azra, Shobhana Samarth and Durga Khote. The film was a light musical with humour as well as slapstick comedy. It became a hit at the box office. The film is a part of the Love in trilogy. The film was inspired by the 1938 English film Jane Steps Out.
Ashok Kumar is a 1941 Indian Tamil-language historical drama film directed by Raja Chandrasekhar. Based on a legend involving the Mauryan emperor Ashoka The Great, his son Kunala and Ashoka's second wife Thishyarakshai, it stars M. K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar, Chittoor V. Nagayya and P. Kannamba. The film was released on 17 September 1941.
Kishore Sahu was an Indian actor, film director, screenwriter, and producer. He appeared in 22 films between 1937 and 1980, and he directed 20 films between 1942 and 1974.
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.
Anjaan is a 1941 Indian Hindi-language film directed by Amiya Chakrabarty and produced by Bombay Talkies. It was Chakrabarty's first film direction. The film's story and screenplay were by Amiya Chakrabarty, with dialogues by J. S. Casshyap. The cinematography was by the debutant R. D. Mathur. Its music direction was by Pannalal Ghosh, with lyrics by Kavi Pradeep and P. L. Santoshi. The film starred Devika Rani, who had recently returned to films after a two-year absence, following the death of her husband Himanshu Rai in 1940. The cast included Ashok Kumar, David, V. H. Desai, Gulab, Suresh and Om Prakash.
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.
Sawan Aya Re is a 1949 Hindi romantic drama film, directed by Kishore Sahu. Produced by Sahu under his "Hindustan Chitra" banner, it had Khemchand Prakash as the music director. The cast included Kishore Sahu, Ramola Devi, David, Pratima Devi, Ramesh Gupta, Sofia and Mohana.
Shararat (Mischief) is a 1944 Hindi comedy film directed by Kishore Sahu. Produced by Hindustan Chitra Productions, it had music by S. N. Tripathi and Khan Mastana. Following the commercial success of his earlier comedy film Kunwara Baap (1942), Sahu made another comedy with Shararat, which he not only directed and wrote the story for, but also cast himself in the main role. The actors co-starring with him were Maya Banerji, Protima Dasgupta, Ramesh Gupta, Sushil Sahu and Moni Chatterjee.
Sajan (Boyfriend) is a 1947 Hindi romantic film directed by Kishore Sahu. The film was produced by Filmistan and had music by C. Ramchandra. The story and screenplay were by Kishore Sahu. The film had Rehana in the female lead, and following the success of this film, as well as Shehnai (1947), she became an "overnight star". The cast included Ashok Kumar, Rehana, Ramesh Gupta, Anant Prabhu and Leela Mishra.
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.
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.
Thokar also called The Kick is 1939 Hindi/Urdu film directed by A. R. Kardar. Produced by Chandulal Shah for his production banner Ranjit Movietone, it had music by Gyan Dutt. The story writer was M. Sadiq, with cinematography by Gordhanbhi Patel. The cast included Kumar, Ishwarlal, Madhuri, Yakub, Noor Mohammed Charlie, Ram Marathe, Waheedan Bai and Dixit.
Jeevan Prabhat is a 1937 Hindi film social drama, produced by Bombay Talkies and directed by Franz Osten. The music director was Saraswati Devi with lyrics and dialogues by J. S. Casshyap. The screenplay was by Niranjan Pal. The film's "star value" was Devika Rani, with Kishore Sahu making his debut as an actor in the film. The cast included another debutant, Renuka Devi, with Mumtaz Ali, Maya Devi and M. Nazir.
Bhabhi (Sister-in-Law) is a 1938 social family drama Hindi film directed by Franz Osten. The film was based on a Bengali novel written by Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay called "Bisher Dhoan". Bandyopadhyay was a famous Bengali novelist and short story writer also known as the creator of the fictional detective Byomkesh Bakshi. The cinematographers were Wirsching and Pareenja. Dialogues and lyrics by J. S. Casshyap. V. H. Desai, the comedian, got his "big break" in Bhabhi when he joined Bombay Talkies. He became popular as the nervous father of the heroine Renuka Devi. S. N. Tripathi started his acting with a small role in the film. The film had the new found Renuka Devi in the lead.
Vachan is a 1938 costume drama Hindi film directed by Franz Osten. The regular Bombay Talkies writer, Niranjan Pal, walked out of the Bombay Talkies production team after an altercation with Himanshu Rai in 1936. Saradindu Bandyopadhyay, a famous writer known also for creating Byomkesh Bakshi, replaced Pal in the story department, writing for films like Nirmala and Vachan in 1938 and Durga in 1939. The screenplay was by Agha Jani Kashmiri, with dialogues and lyrics by J. S. Kashyap. The music was composed by Saraswati Devi aided by J. S. Kashyap. The film starred Devika Rani and Ashok Kumar, a popular pair from Bombay Talkies who worked in seven films together. Devika Rani remained the bigger star with Kumar's name being "over-shadowed" in the credit rolls, as well as the publicity of the film.
Nartaki (Dancer) is a 1940 film directed by Debaki Bose for New Theatres Ltd, Calcutta. A bilingual made in Hindi and in Bengali, it had story and screenplay written by Bose, with cinematography by Yusuf Mulji. Music was composed by Pankaj Mullick. The cast had actress Leela Desai playing the title role of Nartaki. Najam also called Najam-Ul-Hasain or Najmul Hussain had left Bombay Talkies following his affair and elopement with Devika Rani, had now joined New Theatres Ltd, where he was cast in films like Anath Ashram (1937), Dushman (1939), Kapal Kundala (1939), and Nartaki. The rest of the main cast included Jagdish Sethi, Wasti and Pankaj Mullick in the Hindi version.
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 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".
