The Firsts of Indian Cinema

1. Raja Harishchandra - First Indian Movie

• The first full length feature film directed in produced by Dadasaheb Phalke in the year 1913 and because of this feat he is known as The Father of Indian Cinema. 
• This was a silent film and had the following people as cast:
• Dattatraya Damodar Dabke in lead role (Harishchandra)
• Anna Salunke was portraying Taramati (Harishchandra's wife)
• Balchandra Phalke (Dadasaheb Phalke's son) as Rohitashva (son of Harishchandra and Taramati) 
• Gajanan Vasudev Sane as Vishvamitra.
• For this achievement and starting film culture in India, the highest award in Cinema is named after Dadasaheb Phalke i.e. Dadasaheb Phalke Award. (Actress Devika Rani was the first recipient of this award)

2. Alam Ara - First Indian talkative film

• 'When Cinema learned to speak' - this is the name of Chapter 11 of NCERT Hindi Textbook for class 8, Vasant.  The words Alam Ara actually mean - The Ornament of the World. 

• In 1929, director Ardeshir Irani watched a sound film Show Boat which motivated him to make a talkative film on his own. 

• This film also gave us our first song i.e. De De Khuda ke Naam Par Pyare which was sung by W.M.Khan.

• The film featured Master Vithal, Zubeida, Zillu, Prithviraj, Elizer, Sushila Sakhu, Jagdish, L.V.Prasad.

3. Kisan Kanya - First Indian Colored film

• This 1937 movie was directed by Moti.B.Gidwani and produced by Ardeshir Irani (yes, the director of Alam Ara) and was based on a novel by Saadat Hasan Manto which focused on the difficulty faced by the farmers.

• V.Shantaram had earlier produced a Marathi Film Sairandhri (1933) but it was processed in Germany but Kisan Kanya was entirely made in India.

• Kisan Kanya had Padma Devi, Zilloo, Ghulam Mahomed, Nissar, Sayer Ahmed, Gani as cast.

4. Mother India - First Indian film to get nominated for Oscar

• Directed by Mehboob Khan, this epic drama film was the first Indian film to get nominated for Oscars.

• This film had the likes of Nargis, Sunil Dutt, Rajendra Kumar, Raaj Kumar and was a remake of Khan's earlier film Aurat (1940). This film was named Mother India to counter Katherine Mayo's polemical book Mother india which attacks Indian culture, society nd religion.

• This movie portrayed a Hindu woman who reflects what it means to be a mother to society through self sacrifice.

5. Neel Akshar Nichey - First Indian film to get banned

• Directed by Mrinal Sen, the name of this 1958 Bengali film means Under the Blue Sky. The movie was produced by Hemanta Mukherjee and had cast of Kali Banerjee, Manju Dey, Bikash Roy, Smriti Biswas, Suruchi Sengupta, Ajit Chatterjee, Rasaraj Chakraborthy.

• The movie is set in the last days of British Raj and had overt political overtones and hence became the first film to get banned by the Government of India.

Join Telegram Channel here : https://telegram.me/QrioSum