March 14, 2011, is a very special day for Indian film industry. It marks the 80th anniversary of Alam Ara - the first Indian film with voice.
On this day in 1931, Alam Ara debuted at the Majestic Cinema in Mumbai causing such frenzy among the audience that the police had to be called in.
Alam Ara also featured the first song of Indian film, De De Khuda Ke Naam Par, sung by an actor Wazir Mohammed Khan. The film was directed by Ardeshir Irani, is a love story between a prince and a gypsy girl and was based on a Parsi play.
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| Alam Ara |
A period fantasy, the film was about an ageing king of Kamarpur, and his two queens, Navbahar and Dilbahar, and their rivalry when a fakir predicts that Navbahar will bear the king's heir.
The sad part, however, is that as a result of a fire at the National Film Archive of India at Pune in 2003, the last surviving print of Alam Ara was collapsed, and the film is no longer available in its original format.
The film was shot mostly in the night to avoid capturing the noises of the day. Alam Ara was made using microphones that had to be hidden from the camera's range.
The film was shot mostly in the night to avoid capturing the noises of the day. Alam Ara was made using microphones that had to be hidden from the camera's range.
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