In the 50’s when Indian cinema was in its cradle and was ridiculed by the International filmmakers’ for its stupid dance and song content Bengali film Maverick Satyajit Ray suddenly bewildered the International filmmakers’ with his debut Bengali film Pather Panchali! The film was India’s First Art film or the parallel cinema that compelled the ‘West Filmmakers’ to sit back…
Popular film actress Nargis, mother of present-day actor Sanjay Dutt and wife of eminent Indian actor and politician Sunil Dutt, is India’s ‘First’ and the ‘Only’ actress to date to win the prestigious Best Actress Karlovy Vary International Film Festival Award. She won the award for her powerhouse and gigantic performance in Mehboob Khan‘s film Mother India (1957). It may…
Film legend V Shantaram is regarded as one of the pillars of Indian cinema. His film Do Aankhen Barah Haath has the distinction of being the first Hindi feature film to win the prestigious Golden Globe award under the Samuel Goldwyn category. It may be noted that the Golden Globe Awards are America’s most prestigious award presented by the Hollywood…
Indian film legend Bimal Roy is India’s most revered filmmaker after Satyajit Ray in International cinema. Interestingly, while Satyajit Ray made sober and realistic cinema that depicted the naked realities of life minus entertainment, Bimal Roy, introduced in a new brand of cinema that was realistic and took serious subjects but presented it on screen with a perfect blend of…
Like the Oscar Awards, the other International Award that is looked upon with esteem in the world is the Cannes Film Festival, an annual congregation of world cinema held at Cannes in France. The highest award is called – The Palme d’Or (French) or Golden Palm in English. Interestingly, though Indian cinema has never won an Oscar award for Best…
With Alam Ara (1931) Indian cinema turned talkie and in a short span of just three years Indian cinema left its mark at International cinema winning the prestigious ‘Gold Medal’ at the 3rd International Exhibition of Cinematic Art at Venice Film Festival in 1934 for the film Seeta. The film was made by Kolkata’s genius writer-director Debaki Bose, who brought…
With Alam Ara (1931) Indian cinema turned talkie and in a short span of just three years Indian cinema left its mark at International cinema winning the prestigious Gold Medal at the 3rd International Exhibition of Cinematic Art at Venice Film Festival in 1934 for the film Seeta. The film was made by Kolkata’s genius writer-director Debaki Bose, who brought…
Aayega, Aayega, Aayega… Aayega Aanewala …. This timeless song from Kamal Amrohi‘s all-time classic film Mahal (1949) took the nation by storm and played a lion’s share in making Lata Mangeshkar popular. Composed by music director Khemchand Prakash the song became a national chartbuster and key reason for the huge success of the film Mahal. People saw the film repeatedly…
15 years into making and produced at a staggering cost of Rs 1.5 crore, film wizard K. Asif‘s Magnum Opus Mughal-e-Azam is Indian Cinema’s First Most Expensive Film! The exorbitant expense of Mughal-e-Azam can be gauged from the fact that Mughal-e-Azam‘s budget was almost 5 times more of filmmaker Mehboob Khan‘s most ambitious film Aan (1952). Readers would be surprised…
Remember the song Ghar aaya mera pardesi….. from Raj Kapoor‘s cult classic film Awaara (1951). The song and the dance sequence shot as a ‘dream sequence’ by film director Raj Kapoor is a milestone in the annals of Indian cinema. The reason why the sequence is regarded as the most iconic scenes in Indian cinema is because it is the…
