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Talk Of Indian Cinema - Part - 24 – 22nd January 2022
Hello Guys, How are you all. We
are back with again our favorite column Talk of Indian Cinema on 4th
Sunday of New Year 2022. On this new year many of friends know about my latest
project and yes its good beginning to me in Gujarati Cinema some unique concept
film I signed and will be released in Feb 2022. Today we talk about Gujarati
Cinema beginning. But its too long because gujarati cinema passed upto 9
decades so can’t cover everything in single but we part it to different. Today
we see first part of Gujarati Cinema.
Gujarati cinema, also
known as Dhollywood, is the Gujarati language film
industry. It is one of the major regional and vernacular film industries of
the cinema of India, having produced more than one thousand films since
its inception.
Even before the advent of talkies there
were several silent films closely related to the Gujarati people and
their culture, and many directors, producers and actors who were Gujarati
and Parsi. Between 1913 and 1931 there were twenty leading film company
and studios owned by Gujaratis—mostly in Bombay (now Mumbai)—and
at least forty-four leading Gujarati directors.
The silent film Bilwamangal (also called Bhagat
Soordas, 1919) was directed by Rustomji Dhotiwala, a Parsi Gujarati, based
on a story by Gujarati writer Champshi Udeshi. This full-length (132 minutes,
12,000 feet (3,700 m)) film was produced by Elphinstone Bioscope
Company of Calcutta (now Kolkata in West Bengal), and is
considered Bengali. Suchet Singh established the Oriental Film
Manufacturing Company of Bombay with the help of Hajimahamad Allarakha, an
editor of the popular Gujarati magazine Visami Sadi, in 1919. The
silent film Narsinh Mehta (1920), produced by Oriental,
featured the Gujarati song "Vaishnav Jan To", which was
sung by the audience and musicians in cinema halls with relevant scenes on
screen.
Dwarkadas Sampat, an early Gujarati film
producer, began his involvement with the film industry in Rajkot. He
bought a projector and held film shows. He later established Patankar Friends
& Company with S. N. Patankar for film productions. Raja
Sriyal was the company's first film, but it was not released due to a
defective print. Kach-Devyani (1920), directed by Patankar,
featured garba dancing, marking the first appearance of Gujarati
culture in films. Sampat later founded the Kohinoor Film Company.
Kohinoor's first film, Sati Parvati (1920), which also
depicted Gujarati culture, was directed by Vishnupant Divekar and featured
Prabha, an actress from Rajkot, in the lead role of Parvati. Bhakta
Vidur (1921), directed by Kanjibhai Rathod, was implicitly
political: The film featured Sampat in the lead role of Vidur, who donned
a Gandhi cap, an allusion to the Indian independence movement led
by Mahatma Gandhi. The film had a Gujarati song sung by Vidur's wife, "Rudo Maro Rentiyo, Rentiyama Nikle Taar,
Taare Taare Thay Bharatno Uddhar", referred to the
spinning wheel (rentio) on the flag of the Indian National Congress at
that time. It was the first film banned in India by British authorities.
It was re-released in 1922 under the title Dharm Vijay. Pavagadhnu
Patan (The Fall of Pavagadh, 1928) was directed by Nagendra Majumdar
and produced by Indulal Yagnik. Yagnik was an independence activist who
later headed the Mahagujarat movement demanding a separate Gujarat state.
Yagnik produced ten films under various banners.
Kohinoor produced many films in the silent film era,
including social problem films in a period dominated by mythological
films. Katorabhar Khoon (1920) was its first social
film. Manorama (1924) was directed by Homi Master and
was based on Hridaya Triputi, an autobiographical poem by the
Gujarati poet Kalapi. Gul-E-Bakavali (1924), written
by Mohanlal G. Dave and directed by Rathod, ran successfully for
fourteen weeks. Manilal Joshi, an experimental Gujarati director,
directed Abhimanyu (1922), which was produced by the Star Film
Company, and later Prithivi Vallabh based on the novel of
the same name by Gujarati author K. M. Munshi.
The Krishna Film Company, established in 1924 and owned by
Maneklal Patel, produced forty-four films between 1925 and 1931. The Sharda
Film Company was established in 1925, financed by Mayashankar Bhatt and run by
Bhogilal Dave and Nanubhai Desai. Bhatt also financed Dadasaheb Phalke's
Hindustan Cinema Film Company.
The all above
which we discuss its silent era of Gujarati Cinema. After that actually Gujarati
films begin and shape new way to industry. Here I research a lot about the
above information but main source I included from WikiPedia.
So guys this
was some interesting information about gujarati cinema .See you on next month
with another stories meanwhile good bye and take care. You can contact me
anytime for any topic or discussion. Contact me via my social media and blogs.
Me or my team will revert you soon. For Further discussion I m sharing my
Social Media Links to you.
Thank You Again. Good Bye.
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