Alam Ara (transl.Ornament of the World) is a 1931 Indian Hindustani-language historical fantasy film directed and produced by Ardeshir Irani. It revolves around a king and his two wives, Navbahaar and Dilbahaar, who are childless; soon, a fakir (Muhammad Wazir Khan) tells the king that the former wife will give birth to a boy, later named Qamar (Master Vithal), but the child will die following his 18th birthday if Navbahaar cannot find the necklace he asks for. Meanwhile, the king finds out that Dilbahaar falls for the senapati Adil (Prithviraj Kapoor), leading the king to arrest him and evicts his pregnant wife, who later gives birth to Alam Ara (Zubeida).
Irani was inspired to make Alam Ara after watching the 1929 American part-talkie Show Boat. The story was adapted from the Bombay-based dramatist Joseph David's play of the same name. Made on a budget of ₹40,000 (equivalent to ₹12 million or US$150,000 in 2023), principal photography was handled by Adi M. Irani within four months in Bombay. Because the studio was located near a railway track, it was filmed mostly during the nighttime to avoid noise from the active trains. Following filming, Ardeshir Irani finished the sound recording using the single-system recording. Firozshah Mistry and B. Irani served as the music directors.
Alam Ara was released on 14 March 1931 and performed well at the box office. Critics were appreciative, with the performance and songs getting the most attention, though some of whom criticised the sound recording. In addition to the successes, the film was also widely considered a major breakthrough for the Indian film industry and Ardeshir Irani's career with its status as the country's first sound film. Although no print or gramophone record of the film is known to survive, making it a lost film, surviving artefacts include its stills and posters. In 2017, the British Film Institute declared it as the most important of any lost films produced in India.
AlamAra (transl. Ornament of the World) is a 1931 Indian Hindustani-language historical fantasy film directed and produced by Ardeshir Irani. It revolves...
acting in silent films, she also starred in the first Indian talkie movie AlamAra (1931). Which was their first talking movie. Her credits include early...
recent Indian Cinema. He was the director of India's first sound film AlamAra. He was the producer of India's first colour film Kisan Kanya. He was renowned...
actor in Indian cinema, best known as the hero of India's first talkie AlamAra (1931) and of Marathi and Hindi silent stunt films (silent films had cue...
Vijaykumar, Kapoor did a supporting role in India's first film talkie, AlamAra (1931). His performance in Vidyapati (1937) was much appreciated. His best-known...
feature length film made in India. The first Indian musical talkie was AlamAra (1931), four years after the first Hollywood sound film The Jazz Singer...
Ardeshir Irani directed the first Indian talking feature, the Hindi-Urdu AlamAra, and produced Kalidas, primarily in Tamil with some Telugu. Nineteen-thirty-one...
Mughal-e-Azam. She also acted in several other films, including Madhosh and AlamAra, India's first talkie film. As a young actress, she was credited as Jilloobai...
chronicler, who is principally known for his historical book of Tarikh-e Alam-ara-ye Abbasi ("The world-adorning history of Abbas"), which focuses on early...
and their suggestions were set aside. The first Indian sound film was AlamAra (1931) made by Ardeshir Irani. Ayodhyecha Raja (1932) was the first sound...
AlamAra (1931) was made to reprise that song and role when he was seventy-one years old by Nanubhai Vakil. The film was Vakil's version of AlamAra (1973)...
years, Ara went on to star in a few films, but none of them were a major success at the box office including Waah Re Zamanay, Raaz and AlamAra. However...
later work included composing the music in AlamAra (1973), the remake of the first Indian talkie film AlamAra (1931). Iqbal Qureshi was born on 12 May...
13 February 1847 to 11 February 1856. Wajid Ali Shah's first wife was AlamAra who was better known as Khas Mahal (transl. special wife) because of her...
a family of Muslim royals and had acted in the first Indian sound film AlamAra (1931). She is also the great granddaughter of India's first female film...
his acting career in theatres and starred in India's first sound film, AlamAra (1931). He founded Prithvi Theatre, a travelling theatre company in 1944...
Rajbaug Farms, Loni Kalbhor, Maharashtra, India (formerly) Active since 1929; Prithviraj Kapoor acted in AlamAra (1931), the first talkie film of India...
1931 was a ground-breaking year for Indian cinema. The first Hindi Talkie AlamAra was released on 14 March 1931 in Mumbai's Majestic Cinema. The film was...
1931, less than seven months after India's first talking motion picture AlamAra. By the end of the 1930s, the legislature of the State of Madras passed...
recorded in India by Gauhar Jaan in 1902 and the first Bollywood film AlamAra (1931) were under Saregama, India's oldest music label owned by RPSanjiv...
Theatres, it is credited as the one of first Bengali talkies, and along with AlamAra, was one of the first sound films produced in India. The film explored...
and the Arabian Nights. The first Indian sound film, Ardeshir Irani's AlamAra (1931), was a major commercial success. There was clearly a huge market...
banner of Imperial Films, Irani produced the first talkie film of India AlamAra (1931) and the first colour film Kisan Kanya (1937). According to an interview...
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