by B. R. GOWANI
Actor Shahrukh Khan and other artists in performance during the Filmfare Awards held last month. PHOTO/One India
A scene from the first South Asian silent film Raja Harishchandra. PHOTO/Wikipedia
A scene from the first South Asian talkie Alam Ara, in Hindi/Urdu, starring Zubeida and Master Vithal. PHOTO/Wikipedia
This year, the Indian cinema is celebrating 100 years of film making. So the Filmfare Awards, one of the oldest awards for Hindi/Urdu films, decided to dedicate its 58th awards ceremony to 100 years of Indian cinema. And what do you get? A reenactment of few songs from some of the old movies performed by today’s actors and actresses. The mention was made of Raj Kapoor (actor/producer/director), his brother Shammi Kapoor (actor), Rajesh Khanna (actor), and Dev Anand (actor/producer/director). And their songs were reenacted. That’s it. No women artists were mentioned. Actresses like Madhubala, Nutan, singer/actress Noor Jehan. There was no mention of poets like Kaifi Azmi, Sahir Ludhianwi, and others or music directors like C. Ramchandra, S. D. Burman. Giants like director Bimal Roy, actor/director Guru Dutt, actor Dilip Kumar were not mentioned either.
The beginning of the program was done with Shahrukh Khan paying tribute to 100 years of Indian cinema. (See the top photo.) Everyone knows the world has gone global-the Western style. The Awards organizers could have thrown this item for the end, and instead should have started with some South Asian dance.
Shahrukh and Saif Ali Khan were the hosts. And as usual, they were good. Compare to the Oscar hosts, the Khans are more entertaining. (Somehow, since last few years, the Academy Awards’ comic element is not that good. it has an edge, though, over the technical side.)
There should have been few film clips from different eras. Some information about films. But nothing of that sort.
For the readers, here is a bit of information about the first silent and first talkie films.
Raja Harishschandra is considered the first South Asian feature film. Others consider Shree Pundalik as the first South Asian film because it was released on May 12, 1912. Many others reject that claim because it was a photographic recording of a Marathi play. Not to forget that the cameraman was a British, it was only 22 minutes long, and was sent to London for processing.
Raja Harishchandra was written, produced, and directed by Dadasaheb Phalke who is considered the Father of Indian Cinema. It was in Marathi language, was 40 minutes long, and was released on May 3, 1913. It was a silent film based on Hindu mythology. No women were willing to work in the film and so the female characters were portrayed by men too. Working in films was considered a taboo then, so Phalke advised his artists to tell others that they were working in a factory owned by someone named “Harishchandra”.
In 1931, the first South Asian movie with sound was released on 14th March. There were less dialogues and more songs in the movie.
B. R. Gowani can be reached at brgowani@hotmail.com