1924
1.Master Vithal made his debut as a dancing girl in Kalyan Khajina also called The Treasures of Khajina, directed by Baburao Painter.
Master Vithal or Vithal (died 1969) was an actor in Indian cinema, best known as the hero of India's first talkie Alam Ara (1931) and of Marathi and Hindi silent stunt films (silent films had cue cards in a particular language), which gave him the epithet as the Douglas Fairbanks of India.
Master Vithal's début was on the stage as a child artist with Raja Pur Ka Natak Mandali. He then started his career as a film editor with the film company in Maharashtra Films, Kolhapur which was owned by Baburao Painter. His first film role was as a female dancer in Kalyan Khajina, the silent era film directed by Painter. He continued to work as film editor and a dancer and played minor roles in films. His first break as a male lead was in the film Ratan Manjari (1926) produced by Sharda Studios whom he had joined earlier in 1925. After that, he was a permanent fixture in the role of a hero and he was the star attraction of the Sharda Studios, owned by Nanubhai Desai, Anand Prasad Kapoor and Harshadrai Mehta. Nanubhai Desai was the studio founder and director of many stunt films produced by the company in which Vithal appeared in swashbuckling roles with Zebunissa as his heroine. A professional wrestler, he became a very popular fearless hero acting in films in historical themes related to Rajasthan and Maharashtra; thus giving him the title "the Indian Douglas Fairbanks", a title Vithal hated.Audience adored him in his stunt hero role, which became his "forte". By 1930, he was the highest paid male star in Indian cinema industry.
In 1930, Vithal's popularity in Marathi films attracted Ardeshir Irani of Imperial Film Company to invite him to join his company to make India’s first talkie, though Mehboob Khan was also vying for the role. Vithal, who was quite excited by Irani's offer, accepted and moved to Irani's newly formed film company Sagar Studios in Bombay, breaking his contract with Sharda Studios. Sharda Studios sued him and he was defended by the lawyer Muhammad Ali Jinnah, who would later become the founder of Pakistan. Vithal won the case. The following year, Vithal played the hero in the first Indian talkie Alam Ara with Zubeida as the female lead. Alam Ara was also the first film in which music was introduced, as many as ten music scores were part of the film. As his Hindi diction was poor, he could not deliver the dialogues properly; his acting quality in histrionic roles was also questioned. He was thus shown mostly in a state of trans or semi consciousness in the film and hardly had any dialogue. It is said that Vithal could not adopt himself to the new genre of talking-singing films in Hindi as he was "reduced to a hero who is (was) magically stuck dumb in Alam Ara." His talkie debut ended without any demand for his acting roles in Hindi films. In 1932, he switched back to silent films, which were no more in flavour.The talkies led to his decline in Hindi films; Vithal would never get a major role in Hindi films again. From 1934 onward, he switched back to Marathi films realizing his limitations. From the 1940s onward, he regularly appeared in films by Bhalji Pendharkar and those featuring Lalita Pawar and Durga Khote. He also played in a side role in the 1944 blockbuster film Ramshastri.Towards the end, he played only minor roles in Marathi films; his last film appearance was in 1966.
In 1933, Master Vithal introduced the concept of double role in Hindi talkie cinema by his directorial début Raja (in Marathi) and Awara Shahzada (Hindi), in which the role of a prince and a pauper was played by Shahu Modak, whereas Vithal played his first double role in the silent film Raj Tarang (1928).
2.Khalil, termed as the "First Star" made his debut as a hero in Gul-E-Bakavali. He played a supporting role in the film Kala Naag.
Khalil was an Indian cinema actor of silent and talkie films. He achieved stardom with silent films like Gul-E-Bakavali (1924), Kulin Kanta (1925), and Lanka Ni Laadi (1925) which was a major success commercially. His other successes included Cinema Queen (1925) with Sulochana, Draupadi (1931), and Daily Mail (1930). Khalil is referred to as the "macho hero" and "first-ever star" of Hindi cinema. Khalil worked from 1920–41, making a transition to Talkies in 1931 with Draupadi directed by B. P. Mishra, and Daulat Ka Nasha directed by Pesi Karani. Both films were produced by Kohinoor and Imperial Films. He shifted to Calcutta from Bombay in 1934, and immediately "made his mark" with the East India Film Company production Quismat Ki Kasauti (1934), directed by Pesi Karani. He also wrote lyrics for films like Dard-e-Dil (1934)
Khalil's first film was Krishna Sudama (1920), a silent film co-produced by Kohinoor Film Company and Imperial Film Company.[3] He joined the Kohinoor Film Company in 1925, along with other known actors of that time like Raja Sandow, Zubeida and Tara. Some of his notable silent films were Sati Parvati (1920), Mahasati Ansuya (1921), Rukmani Haran (1921), Malti Madhav (1922), Surya Kumari (1922) and Manorama (1924). In 1924, he acted as a "lecherous Maharaja" in Kulin Kanta. The film was based on a true incident cited as the Bawla murder case, and depicted the story of the Maharaja Tukoji Rao Holkar III of Indore and a dancing girl who wanted to escape from the harem.
In 1925, Khalil acted as a shepherd in love with a princess he saves, in Kohinoor Film Company's fantasy production called Lanka Ni Laadi also known as Fairy Of Ceylon. The film was directed by Homi Master with story by Mohanlal G. Dave. It co-starred Gohar and Jamna. The film became Gohar's first "major" hit and "grossed more than any other film in 1925".
Khalil joined Indian Talkies 1931, and worked in the two films produced by them, Draupadi and Daulat Ka Nasha. Draupadi also called The Daughter Of King Drupad was the story of Draupadi from the epic Mahabharata. It was produced by the Imperial Film Company and directed by Bhagwati Prasad Mishra. Khalil played the role of Lord Krishna with actress Ermiline playing the role of Draupadi. Daulat Ka Nasha was directed by Pesi Karani. He continued to make his mark with films like Bharat Mata (1932) directed by Pesi Karani, Niti Vijay (1932) directed by Moti Gidwani, Do Rangi Duniya directed by Pesi Karani and Saubhagya Sundari directed by Homi Master. All films were produced by Imperial Film Company. In 1934, Khalil acted in Mazdoor, also known as The Mill, which was directed by Mohan Dayaram Bhavnani for Ajanta Cinetone. Written by Munshi Premchand, it was one of the first talkies to be banned by British censors in India. Khalil shifted from Bombay to Calcutta, where he achieved success working again with Karani in East India Films' Kismet Ki Kasauti (1934). With Madan Theatres Ltd. he worked in Miss Manorama (1935) and Bulbul-e-Iran (1936) directed by Faredoon Irani, and in Miss Parivartan directed by Ezra Mir. In 1937, Khalil acted in Whose Darling? also called Kiski Pyari?. He played the second lead to Jal Merchant and Zubeida. The film was written and directed by Akhtar Nawaz. The advertisement in filmindia called it a "Heart-throbbing Rajput story of love, romance and chivalry". The film was produced by Sunrise Film Co. from The Tollywood Studios.
A Muslim by birth, he performed varied roles in films. His initial acting phase had him playing Hindu Gods in mythology films. He portrayed Krishna and Rama several times. Disenchanted by the communalism arising in the film industry, he made a speech against it at the Indian Motion Pictures Congress on 4 May 1939. A section was quoted in his obituary in the cine-mag Filmindia in 1941:
"I have played all the Gods from Hindu mythology from Lord Krishna to Prabhu Ramchandra. I have worked all my life under Hindu employers. And now when I hear of communalism in our film industry my heart bleeds. I have been liked and loved by Hindus and Muslims alike. We are all devotees of art and art is above any community".
Khalil died on 28 October 1941, in Calcutta, after a short illness. He was thirty-seven years old and left behind "a widow" and "five children".
3.Bismi Sadi also called 20th Century is cited as the start of melodrama films. It was directed by Homi Master and was the story of a hawker turned into a ruthless mill-owner.
Homi Master (?–1949) was an actor-director of early Indian cinema. His work extended from the silent era to the talkie era up to his death.He produced his best films for Kohinoor Film Company and has been referred as "silent cinema's most successful film-maker". Master acted in the then controversial film Bhakta Vidur (1921), Kala Naag, and Kulin Kanta. Some of his important films were Bismi Sadi, Manorama, Do Ghadi Ki Mauj (1935), Samaj Ki Bhool(1934), Gul Sanobar (1934). He was active from 1921–49 and made over seventy-eight films. His later films in Gujarati and Hindi were termed as 'B' class films. He died in 1949.
At the age of thirteen, Master joined a famous Parsi theatre group called Bilwala. He soon became a popular stage actor, with his performance in Pakzaad Parveen being appreciated. Following a brief stint at the Phalke Film company, he joined Kohinoor Film Company working initially as an actor. He went on to direct films for them starting with Bismi Sadi. Homi Master acted in three films before getting a chance to direct. The three films, Bhakta Vidur (1921), in which he played the role of Duryodhan, Ajamil (1922) and Vratasur Vadha (1923) were directed by Kanjibhai Rathod. He played the lead role in Kala Naag, a film he helped co-direct with Rathod in 1924. A crime drama, it was the first "recorded example" using real-life characters and was based on the Champsi-Haridas Murder case in Bombay. In 1924, Master started his career as a director with Dwarka Sampat's Kohinoor Film Company. His first film for Kohinoor was Bismi Sadi starring Raja Sandow, Miss Moti and Noor Mohammed Charlie. A social, the film was about a hawker who turns a mill-owner and goes on to exploit the people working under him. Manorama (1924) was based on the famous Gujarati romantic poet Kalapi's autobiographical poem "Hridaya Triputi’". The film was made in the fantasy genre and broke "all records" when it ran for fourteen weeks. Other significant films at this time were The Telephone Girl (1926) also called Telephone Ni Taruni produced by Kohinoor, and starring Ruby Myers, Gohar and Raja Sandow. Educated Wife or Bhaneli Bhamini (1927) another Kohinoor film with Gohar, Vaidya and Raja Sandow. They were social films that were successful at the box-office.
Gul Sanobar (1928) was a fantasy production from Kohinoor Film Company, based on Persian fairy tale romances,[9] and directed by Master. It starred the then popular star Khalil with Miss Yakbal. The film was later remade in 1934, with the same name, directed by Master and produced by Imperial Film Company. The cast included stars of the time like Sulochana (Ruby Myers), D. Billimoria and Zubeida. His 1934 film Samaj Ki Bhool, was a social film promoting a widow's right to remarry. It starred Jamshedji, Lalita Pawar, Jilloobai, Dulari and Rafiq Ghaznavi, with music composed by Pransukh Nayak. In 1935, he directed three films Do Ghadi Ki Mauj a social film produced by Imperial, starring Ruby Myers, D. Billimoria, Ghar Jamai was a social comedy, a Hindi/Gujarati it was a bilingual produced by Premier Films with story by Mohanlal G. Dave. The story about a "resident son-in-law" that became a "major success" at the box-office. The third film Naya Zamana was again produced by Premier Films and starred Heera, Ghulam Mohammed with music by Khansaheb. He continued to direct films making 'B' class films and some in the Gujarati language. According to Rajadhyaksha and Willemen, he worked as a production manager at Kardar Studios towards the end of his career.
4.Gul-E-Bakavali was directed by Kanjibhai Rathod for Dwarkadas Sampat's Kohinoor Film Company banner. Made as a fantasy, the film was a big success breaking records and running in theatres for fourteen weeks.
5.Kala Naag is a 1924 silent action thriller film directed by Kanjibhai Rathod and assisted by Homi Master. Produced under the Kohinoor Co, Bombay, it was the first "recorded example" with real-life characters based on the Champsi-Haridas Murder case in Bombay. The film aimed at a "pan-Indian" audience was a commercial success. Homi Master played the lead role.
6.Poona Raided was directed by B. V. Warerkar. The film is acclaimed as one of Mama Warerkar's finest directorial ventures. The historical was based on the 17th century Maratha Emperor Shivaji's resistance and counter-attack following the raid on Poona by Aurangzeb. The film was also the debut of Sundarrao Nadkarni, in a small role.
7.Prithvi Vallabh directed by Homi Master was based on K. M. Munshi's Gujarati novel bearing the same title. The film was a success at the box-office and was "widely acclaimed".
8.Kalyan Khajina directed by Baburao Painter was a historical adventure movie based on the heroic actions of the 17th Century Maratha emperor Shivaji.
9.Sati Padmini directed by Baburao Painter was about the Rajput queen Padmini of Chittor. The film received favourable reviews in the British Press when it was released at the British Empire exhibition at Wembley.
10.Sati Sardarba was directed by Nanubhai Desai for his newly launched Saraswati Film Company banner. It starred Fatma Begum with Sultana and Zubeida and is stated to have become a big success commercially
Zubeida
Sultana
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