In the 70’s filmmaker, Manmohan Desai wrote history by directing not one or two or three but delivering a chain of four-hit films in a single year! The year was 1977 and the films were Parvarish, Dharam Veer, Chacha Bhatija and Amar Akbar Anthony! While all the four movies celebrated Silver Jubilee, Amar Akbar Anthony broke all records as it…
The First Musical Blockbuster film of Indian Cinema was Rattan (1944). The younger generation may not know the film nor its masterpiece music but readers who are 40 plus and lover of Golden era music will surely remember the hit songs of the film like Ankhiya milake jiya bharma ke chale nahi jana …; Milke Bichhad Gayii Akkhiyan hai rama…
Prabhat Film Company, India’s top film company that made both Marathi and Hindi film has the unique distinction of producing India’s First Golden Jubilee film! The film was called Sant Tukaram. It was a Marathi film. It was directed by Vishnupant Govind Damle and Sheikh Fattelal and featured Vishnupant Pagnis in the lead role of the Sant Tukaram. The film…
These days the success of a movie is measured by the box-office collection i.e. if a film earns Rs 100 crore then it is declared a hit. However, in the olden days, a movie was judged by the number of days a film run in a single theater, preferably in regular shows, not just matinees show ( 9 am to…
Prithviraj Kapoor is unarguably Indian Cinema’s Bhishma Pitamah. He was one of the most dazzling jewels studded in the crown of Indian cinema. He gave credibility to drama with his Prithvi Theatre. Most importantly, he raised the standards of Indian cinema to dizzy heights and gave the film profession a place of dignity and nobility, which otherwise was belittled by…
A few decades back a kiss scene in Indian cinema created a hullabaloo! The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) would either cut the kissing scenes during film censorship or would shorten the length of the scene and award an Adult Certificate to the film. However, with changing times things have changed and now depicting Intimate or erotic kissing scenes…
The huge success Hrithik Roshan‘s Jodhaa Akbar, Ranveer Singh‘s Bajirao Mastani and Padmaavat and the recent hit Kangana Ranaut‘s Manikarnika have revived the era of historical films. Soon Ajay Devgn‘s Tanhaji is to be released. But readers’ do you know which is the first Historical film of India? And which filmmaker started the trend of historical films in India? Well,…
In Hollywood, most of the films are adapted from the salable literary works of legendary authors. However, in India, the films made on the literary works of legendary authors have not been successful except few notable authors like R.K. Narayan’s The Guide made by Dev Anand but the author whose literary works has been adapted maximum times on-screen in different…
In the 1930′ films based on mythological subjects and adventures were popular. However, few visionary filmmakers made movies that were socially relevant and took cinema as a mode to change society like V. Shantaram‘s Dunia Na Mane, Mehboob Khan‘s Aurat, or Chetan Anand‘s Neecha Nagar. However, amidst such a scenario Himanshu Rai of Bombay Talkies‘ brought a new kind of…
Nowadays films with ‘A’ Certificate hold no sense. Forget cinema halls, these days vulgarity and obscenity has reached the drawing rooms thanks to web TV series. However, a few decades back a film with ‘A’ Certificate raised eyebrows and created much anxiety. For the present generation let me explain what does a film with ‘A’ Certificate meant. According to the…
