Alam Ara -India's first talkie.

MORE ARA FOR ALAM

Last week Google’s doodle commemorated India’s first talkie, Alam Ara, turning it into one of online’s hottest hits of the day.

Made 80 years ago, our country’s first ‘all singing, talking and dancing’ movie seems to have been silenced forever, since, it’s last existing print perished in a fire at the National Film Archives of India, 2003.

 A milestone for Bollywood, this movie that also set the hallmark for popular Indian cinema with the song and dance routine has another strong Surti connect besides its heroine Zubeida.

“Alam Ara was an instant runaway hit that ran for seven weeks at Mumbai’s Majestic cinema, four annas tickets were black marketed for Rs.5 and Rs.6 an astonishing price in those days.” informs music writer Adil Bhoja,further pointing out that Imperial Movie –tone was co owned by a Surti.”In the silent era, and even much later movies were screened in pitched tents with a screen and a few accompanied musicians. A Surti by the name of Abdullally Esoofally was a leading exhibitor of silent movies. In a bid to settle down, he bought the Alexandra Theatre in Bombay in 1914 and went on to build the Majestic Theatre in 1918 along with his partner- Ardeshir Irani.Together they formed Imperial Film Company and released Alam Ara in 1931.”

Abdullally Esoofally was an enterprising Surti, born here in 1884; this pioneer tent showman traded in global cinema. He would take his projector, folding screen and a fifty by hundred foot tent that could host a thousand spectators and venture to spread the magic of cinema through India and Asia, exhibiting operas, comedies and actualities like travelogues and sports events, with live music from tabla-sarangi and harmonium players.With Alam Ara also began the profession of penning dialogues for cinema; India’s first writer of which was Joseph David, a Bene Israeli Jew .

The script was written in lighter vein to appeal lay audiences similar to the way they are now. David’s great grand daughter, Joanna Ezekiel a writer herself, now settled in the UK says that ,”Although he had minimal schooling and had joined Parsi Imperial theatre as a stagehand who got small improvisational roles as an actor, Joseph David Penkar was soon noticed for his talent with words and music. Fluent in Indian and Hebrew as well as the English language, he had a passion for plays and the influence of mythological tales from all these languages was detectable in Alam Ara.I am proud that my Jewish ancestor wrote a script that was enjoyed alike by Hindus,Muslims,Jews ,Christians and other religions alike. Sentimental? Yes, but then, that’s Bollywood.”

Paging through The Encyclopedia of Hindi Cinema proved one thing for certain, that the main lead Master Vithal –superstar of the silent era had little to do in the film; being poor at Hindi diction which was the need of the hour then, he was shown magically dumbstruck and was either in a trance or unconscious through most of the film.  It was here that Prithiviraj Kapoor’s thunderous booming voice scored and secured a successful future for this character actor who went on to establish the iconic Kapoor clan.Prithviraj Kapoor played the role of Adil,as Zubeida’s father in the film.

Surat’s Zubeida who played the lead role held centre stage with her enigma. Writer Urvish Kothari, a connoisseur of vintage music who owns a booklet on Alam Ara, printed in Gujarati, points out that, “Alam Ara was the name of the heroine, which is interesting considering the fact that it was not a known name that belonged to any historical /mythological character that people could identify with.”

It was Ardeshir Irani’s belief in this spitfire Surti superstar who went to provide ‘paisa vasool’entertainment for the enthusiastic public.It was she who made it eternal, like it’s name-Alam Ara-Light of the World, glowing in our memory forever.