Bombay Talkies

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Logo of Bombay Talkies

The Bombay Talkies Limited (commonly known as Bombay Talkies), founded in 1934 in Malad, Bombay (now Mumbai), India by Himanshu Rai and Devika Rani with Franz Osten and Niranjan Pal as its first full-time filmmakers, was a high-tech movie studio of its time, with sound and echo-proof stages, laboratories and editing rooms, and preview theatre. It was the first movie company of India, which was a public limited company and was registered as a company under the Indian Companies Act. Bombay Talkies emerged as a well organized, self-sufficient, and profitable company. It made public issues, declared dividends and bonus, and at its heyday commanded a good standing on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

On account of its association with European technicians, particularly Germans like Osten, the Bombay Talkies set a high technical standard for film making in India. Bombay Talkies also imparted a higher level of dignity to the medium of movie making and acting. This film company gave some very illustrious mega-stars to the Indian film industry, which included Devika Rani, Ashok Kumar and Raj Kapoor. Bombay Talkies also gave a new dimension to themes of films, and produced films on controversial topics like the story of love (Achhut Kanya) between an Untouchable girl and a high caste Hindu Brahmin boy. Other notable movies produced by the Bombay Talkies included famous movies of the period like Jawani ki Hawa (1935), starring Devika Rani, and Jeevan Naiya (1936), a romantic movie starring Devika Rani and Ashok Kumar.

After the outbreak of World War II in 1939, Bombay Talkies faced a number of problems, resulting in a nervous breakdown and subsequent demise of Himanshu Rai, the founder and key figure of the studio. The control of the film company passed on to his wife, Devika Rani, who was also made the controller of production of the Bombay Studios. Devika Rani continued the high tradition of Bombay Talkies. Some of the famous movies of the period included Kangan and Bandhan, and famous artists who in films produced by Bombay Talkies were Madhubala and Dilip Kumar.

Soon a rift arose between Devika Rani and her business partners, Sashadhar Mukherjee and Ashok Kumar were part of the rival camp. They tried alternating production between the two camps but enventually Sashadhar broke away to form Fimistan, resulting in the decline and eventual failure of the studio. Ashok Kumar with his brother in law Sashadhar purchased the studio after Devika Rani left it and tried to revive it, making the hit film Mahal in 1949, but eventually the company closed down.Currently, the premises of the Bombay Talkies are in a dilapidated state, and have lost the pristine glory which they once commanded.

[edit] Timelines

1934: The Bombay Talkies conceived and established
1935: Jawani ki Hawa, a thriller, starring Devika Rani
1936: Jeevan Naiya, Ashok Kumar’s debut movie; another famous movie Achhut Kanya produced
1940: Death of Himanshu Rai, the founder of the Bombay Talkies
1942: Madhubala’s debut as a child artist named Baby Mumtaz in the movie Basant.
1943: Kismet , a successful thriller
1945: Devika Rani marries and moves away from films and production
1949: Mahal, a succesful hit by the "new management" of old timers Ashok Kumar and Sashadhar.
1954: The Bombay Talkies was closed down

[edit] Trivia

The Bombay Talkies arranged a special screening of their controversial film Achhut Kanya (1936) for Jawaharlal Nehru, who became the first Prime Minister of India in 1947.
Kismet , a movie produced by the Bombay Talkies in 1943 created a record for run of a movie – the movie continued to run for more than three and half years in Roxy, a movie theatre of Calcutta.