''Alam Ara'' () is a 1931 Indian Hindustani-language

historical fantasy Historical fantasy is a category of fantasy and genre of historical fiction that incorporates fantastic elements (such as magic) into a more "realistic" narrative. There is much crossover with other subgenres of fantasy; those classed as Arthu ...

film directed and produced by

Ardeshir Irani Khan Bahadur Ardeshir Irani (5 December 1886 – 14 October 1969) was a writer, director, producer, actor, film distributor, film showman and cinematographer in the silent and sound eras of early Indian cinema. He was the one of the greatest l ...

. It revolves on 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 Master or masters may refer to: Ranks or titles * Ascended master, a term used in the Theosophical religious tradition to refer to spiritually enlightened beings who in past incarnations were ordinary humans * Grandmaster (chess), National Maste ...

), 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 Senapati (Sanskrit: सेनापति; ''sena-'' meaning "army", ''-pati'' meaning "lord") is a title in ancient India denoting the rank of military commander or general of the army. It was a hereditary title of nobility used in the Marath ...

'' Adil (

Prithviraj Kapoor Prithviraj Kapoor (born Prithvinath Kapoor; 3 November 1906 – 29 May 1972) was an Indian actor who is also considered to be one of the founding figures of Hindi cinema. He was associated with IPTA as one of its founding members and establish ...

), leading the king to arrest him and evicts his pregnant wife, who later gives birth to Alam Ara (

Zubeida Zubeida Begum Dhanrajgir (1911 – 21 September 1988) was an Indian actress. She starred in the first Indian talkie movie ''Alam Ara'' (1931). Her credits include early hits ''Devdas'' (1937), and Sagar Movietone's first talkie, ''Meri Jaan''. ...

). Irani was inspired to make ''Alam Ara'', after watching the 1929 American

part-talkie A part-talkie is a partly, and most often primarily, silent film which includes one or more synchronous sound sequences with audible dialog or singing. During the silent portions, lines of dialog are presented as "titles"—printed text briefly ...

Show Boat ''Show Boat'' is a musical with music by Jerome Kern and book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. It is based on Edna Ferber's best-selling 1926 novel of the same name. The musical follows the lives of the performers, stagehands and dock worke ...

''. The story was adapted from the Bombay-based dramatist Joseph David's play of the same name. Made on a budget of ,

principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as actor ...

was handled by Adi M. Irani within four months in Bombay (present-day

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

). Because the studio was located near a

railway track A railway track (British English and UIC terminology) or railroad track (American English), also known as permanent way or simply track, is the structure on a railway or railroad consisting of the rails, fasteners, railroad ties (sleepers, ...

, 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 Single system audio is the system of recording ''sound on film'' or ''SOF''. There are two methods of recording, the older method, optical and the later method, magnetic. SOF was primarily used for news film prior to the advent of portable videotap ...

. Firozshah Mistry and B. Irani served as the music director. ''Alam Ara'' was released on 14 March 1931 and performed well at the box office. Critics were appreciative, with the performance and songs got 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, thereby making it a

lost film A lost film is a feature or short film that no longer exists in any studio archive, private collection, public archive or the U.S. Library of Congress. Conditions During most of the 20th century, U.S. copyright law required at least one copy o ...

, surviving artefacts include its stills and posters. In 2017, the

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...

declared it as the most important of any lost films produced in India.

Plot

A king and his two wives, Navbahaar and Dilbahaar, are childless. Soon, a '' fakir'' tells Navbahaar she will give birth to a boy but she must find a necklace tied around a fish's neck—which will appear once at the lake of the palace—if she wants her son not to die on his 18th birthday. The boy is named Qamar. Beside that, Dilbahaar has an affair with the palace's ''

'', Adil. The king finds out about this, and Dilbahaar tells him it was Adil who seduced her first. Therefore, the king arrests him and evicts his pregnant wife, Mehar Nigar, from the palace; Nigar gives birth to Alam Ara and dies when a '' shikari'' tells her about her husband. The ''shikari'' later adopts Ara. Dilbahaar is jealous of Navbahaar and knows about her agreement with the ''fakir''. When the necklace appears on Qamar's 18th birthday, she secretly replaces it with a fake one, which makes Qamar die. His family, however, does not bury his body and starts looking for the ''fakir'' to find what was wrong. As a result, Qamar lives again every night when Dilbahaar removes the necklace from her neck and later dies when she wears it in the morning. Apart from that, Ara knows about her innocent father's suffering, vowing to release him from jail. On her visits to the place one night, Ara sees the alive Qamar and falls for him. Everyone in the palace subsequently knows about Dilbahaar's foul play and finally gets the real necklace, with Adil being released. The film ends with Qamar and Alam Ara living happily together.

Cast

as Qamar *

as Alam Ara *

as Adil * Muhammad Wazir Khan as a ''fakir'' (cameo appearance) Other supporting roles were played by

Jilloo Jilloo was an Indian Hindi language film actress born in 1905 in Bombay, India as Zuleka Ebrahain. She acted in ''Mother India'' and ''Mughal-e-Azam'', the two biggest commercial and critical successes of the 1950s. She also acted in many movies ...

, Sushila,

Elizer Elizer was an Indian actor of Jewish descent. Filmography Elizer acted in many silent films until he switched to talkies and did this till 1949. * ''Ratnavali'' (1922) * ''Paap No Fej'' (1924) * ''Ra Navaghan'' (1925) * ''Sati Saroj'' (1926) * ' ...

Jagdish Sethi Jagdish Sethi was an Indian actor and director. Filmography Actor Director External links * 20th-century Indian film directors Indian male film actors Year of birth missing Year of death missing {{India-film-actor-stub ...

L. V. Prasad Akkineni Laxmi Vara Prasada Rao (17 January 1907 – 22 June 1994), known professionally as L. V. Prasad, was an Indian film director, producer, actor, and businessman. He was one of the pioneers of Indian cinema and is the recipient of the Dad ...

, and Yaqub.

Production

After watching

Harry A. Pollard Harry A. Pollard (23 January 1879 – 6 July 1934) was an American silent film actor and director. His wife was silent screen star Margarita Fischer. Biography Harry A. Pollard was born in Republic, Kansas, and began his career on the stage. In ...

's 1929 American romantic drama

'' at Excelsior Theatre in Bombay (present-day

was inspired to make his next project a sound film which he would direct and produce. Although having no experience creating this type of film, he determined to make it and decided to not follow any precedential sound films. The project was subsequently titled ''Alam Ara'' and produced by Irani for Imperial Film Company (IFC), an entertainment studio he co-founded with the tent showman Abdulally Esoofally in 1926. The story was adapted from the Bombay-based dramatist Joseph David's Parsi play of the same name, while the screenplay was done by Irani. The dialogue was written in Hindustani, a mix of

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

and

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

Ruby Myers Ruby Myers (1907 – 10 October 1983), better known by her stage name Sulochana, was an Indian silent film actress of Jewish ancestry, from the community of Baghdadi Jews in India. In her heyday she was one of the highest paid actresses of h ...

, was unable to join the cast for her inability to speak the film's language. This left Myers disappointed and she took a one-year hiatus from acting, perfecting her ability to speak Hindustani. Irani initially wanted the debutant

Mehboob Khan Mehboob Khan (born Mehboob Khan Ramzan Khan; 9 September 1907
at filmreference.com. – 28 ...

to be the male lead, but later changed his mind and wanted a "more commercially-viable" actor, an opportunity taken by Master Vithal—one of the most successful filmmakers of Indian silent cinema. In later years, Khan would admit that it left him unhappy. When Vithal decided to star in the film, he ended his ongoing contract with

Saradhi Studios Sri Sarathi Studios is a film studio facility located in Hyderabad, India. It was established in 1956 and was the first film studio facility built in Hyderabad. It was built by the Raja of Challapalli, Yarlagadda Sivarama Prasad. The first film ...

, at which he started his career, and it made him face legal issues as the studio believed he had a

breach of contract Breach of contract is a legal cause of action and a type of civil wrong, in which a binding agreement or bargained-for exchange is not honored by one or more of the parties to the contract by non-performance or interference with the other party ...

. With help from his lawyer

Muhammad Ali Jinnah Muhammad Ali Jinnah (, ; born Mahomedali Jinnahbhai; 25 December 1876 – 11 September 1948) was a barrister, politician, and the founder of Pakistan. Jinnah served as the leader of the All-India Muslim League from 1913 until the ...

, he won the case and moved to IFC to play the male lead of ''Alam Ara''. ''Alam Ara'', which was funded by the business tycoon Seth Badriprasad Dube, cost .

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as actor ...

was completed by Adi M. Irani at Jyoti Studios in Bombay within four months, using equipment that was bought from

Bell & Howell Bell and Howell LLC is a U.S.-based services organization and former manufacturer of cameras, lenses, and motion picture machinery, founded in 1907 by two projectionists, and originally headquartered in Wheeling, Illinois. The company is now ...

. When being interviewed by Bhagwan Das Garga, Ardeshir Irani confessed that he kept the project a secret during its production. H. M. Reddy, Bharucha, Gidwani, and Pessi Kerani were the assistant directors. As the studio was located near a

, the film was shot mostly during the nighttime—between 1:00am and 4:00am—to avoid noise from the active trains, which according to Ardeshir Irani would pass every several minutes. Microphones were placed at concealed locations around the actors. Irani and Rustom Bharucha, a lawyer and the manager of his other production company, Imperial Studios, worked as sound technicians for the film. Before the shooting started, they learned the basics of sound recording from American expert Wilford Deming. When Deming came to Mumbai to give them the sound machines, he charged , which Irani considered a large number at the time. Irani could not fulfill his demand and later finished it by himself and Bharucha. They used Tanar, a

by which sound is recorded at the same time of shooting. After filming ended, ''Alam Ara'' was edited by

Ezra Mir Ezra Mir (26 October 1903 – 7 March 1993) ( fl. 1924–1993) was an Indian film-maker, known for his documentary films. Mir changed his Jewish birth name, Edwyn Meyers, to Ezra Mir because he felt his original name "lacked Indianness". After ...

and its final

reel A reel is an object around which a length of another material (usually long and flexible) is wound for storage (usually hose are wound around a reel). Generally a reel has a cylindrical core (known as a '' spool'') with flanges around the ends ...

length was . In 2012, the magazine ''

Outlook Outlook or The Outlook may refer to: Computing * Microsoft Outlook, an e-mail and personal information management software product from Microsoft * Outlook.com, a web mail service from Microsoft * Outlook on the web, a suite of web applications ...

'' reported that the cast and crew were pleased to be parts of the film and ready to receive lesser pays for their work.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack to ''Alam Ara'' was released by

Saregama Saregama India Ltd. (Saregama refers to the first four notes of the Indian musical scale); formerly known as The Gramophone Company Of India Ltd. is India's oldest music label owned by the RP- Sanjiv Goenka Group of companies. The company i ...

, and has a total of seven songs: "De De Khuda Ke Naam Pe Pyaare", "Badla Dilwayega Yaar Ab Tu Sitamgaroon Se", "Rootha Hai Aasmaan", "Teri Kateelee Nigaahon Ne Mara", "De Dil Ko Aaram Aey Saaki Gulfaam", "Bhar Bhar Ke Jaam Pila Ja", and "Daras Bin Morey Hain Tarse Nayna Pyare". "De De Khuda Ke Naam Pe Pyaare", sung by Muhammad Wazir Khan, became popular at the time of its release and was acknowledged as the first song of

Hindi cinema Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...

. Zubeida performed mostly the rest of the songs. The credit of the film, however, did not mention both the music director and lyricist. According to Ferozshah Mistri's son Kersi Mistri, all of the songs were composed by his father; in contrast, the film's booklets mentioned B. Irani as the composer. Ardeshir Irani said that he did not know who the music directors are, adding that he had only a

pump organ The pump organ is a type of free-reed organ that generates sound as air flows past a vibrating piece of thin metal in a frame. The piece of metal is called a reed. Specific types of pump organ include the reed organ, harmonium, and melodeon. T ...

and

tabla A tabla, bn, তবলা, prs, طبلا, gu, તબલા, hi, तबला, kn, ತಬಲಾ, ml, തബല, mr, तबला, ne, तबला, or, ତବଲା, ps, طبله, pa, ਤਬਲਾ, ta, தபலா, te, తబల� ...

player. Furthermore, he confessed that the lyrical composition was done by himself.

Release and reception

Distributed by

Sagar Movietone Sagar Movietone also Sagar Films, Sagar Film Company and Sagar Productions was an Indian film production company involved in the making of films for Indian cinema. It was launched by Ardeshir Irani with Chimanlal Desai and Dr. Ambalal Patel in 19 ...

, ''Alam Ara'' premiered at Majestic Cinema, Bombay on 14 March 1931, and the screenings ran for eight weeks. Ramesh Roy, an office boy of IFC, brought the film's reel to the theatre. When

Mayank Shekhar Mayank Shekhar is an Indian film critic, journalist and author. He has been a film critic and a national cultural editor with ''Hindustan Times''. He previously worked under ''Mumbai Mirror'' and '' MiD DAY''. He also used to write a blog, ''Fad F ...

of the ''

Hindustan Times ''Hindustan Times'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper based in Delhi. It is the flagship publication of HT Media, an entity controlled by the KK Birla family, and is owned by Shobhana Bhartia. It was founded by Sunder Singh Lyall ...

'' interviewed him in 2006, he recalled it as "a moment in history, when the public coming out of the show wouldn't stop talking about the film they'd seen, that also talked!" According to ''

Daily Bhaskar ''Dainik Bhaskar ''is India's largest Hindi-language daily newspaper owned by the Dainik Bhaskar Group. According to Audit Bureau of Circulations, it is ranked 3rd in the world by circulation and is the largest newspaper in India by circula ...

'', crowds of people would stand in line from 9:00am although the first show occurred at 3:00pm. As a solution, police were assigned to the theatre and allowed to use sticks to control the crowds and traffic. Sharmistha Gooptu, in her article published in ''

The Times of India ''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the third-largest newspaper in India by circulation and largest ...

'', reported: " 'Alam Ara''is proving to a great attraction at the Majestic Cinema, and crowded houses have been the order of the day." It was also the first film to be screened at Imperial Cinema in

Paharganj Paharganj (literally 'hilly neighbourhood') is a neighbourhood of Central Delhi, located just west of the New Delhi Railway Station. Known as ''Shahganj'' or King's ganj or market place during Mughal era, it is one of the three administrative ...

. The film clashed with ''

Shirin Farhad Shirin Farhad or Shirin Farhaad may refer to: * A version of the classic Persian story of Khosrow and Shirin * ''Shirin Farhad'' (1931 film), an Indian musical film directed by J.J. Madan, the second Indian film with sound * ''Shirin Farhad'' (19 ...

'', a

J.J. Madan J.J. Madan was a theater business owner and film director in India. He was the third son of Indian film magnate Jamshedji Framji Madan who started Madan Theatres Ltd. in 1919. After his father died in 1923, J. J. Madan took over the management of ...

-directed musical film that was released around two months later. Exact figures for the box-office earnings of ''Alam Ara'' are not available, but many historians believed that the film performed well. According to the ''

Encyclopaedia of Hindi Cinema The ''Encyclopaedia of Hindi Cinema'' is a 2003 film encyclopedia and criticism book that was edited by Gulzar, Saibal Chatterjee, and Govind Nihalani, detailing the history of Bollywood from silent era to sound era. The book was contributed by ...

'' in 2003, the film was more successful than ''Shirin Farhad''; a 2006 report from ''

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the secon ...

'' stated that it became an "instant hit". Similar thoughts were given by Roy Armes, in his book titled ''Third World Film Making and the West'' (1987), calling the film "an enormous popular success". In 2012, the writer of ''Outlook'' observed that the film's commercial performance "dealt a body blow to the careers of the reining stars of ilentcinema", including Vithal especially since he was not fluent in Hindustani language. Critics were generally positive of ''Alam Ara'', praising the performance of the cast but some of whom criticising the sound recording; they have noted that it has "shared many of the common defects of Indian productions" and ended a trend where the previous Indian films always promoting social values in their plot. On 2 April 1931, ''

The Bombay Chronicle ''The Bombay Chronicle'' was an English-language newspaper, published from Mumbai (then Bombay), started in 1910 by Sir Pherozeshah Mehta (1845-1915), a prominent lawyer, who later became the president of the Indian National Congress in 1890, a ...

'' took note of Irani's "thoughtful" direction and applauded the performances from Vithal, Zubeida and Kapoor, which the reviewer thought had evolved dramatic values that silent films could not do. In the magazine's June 1932 issue, ''

American Cinematographer ''American Cinematographer'' is a magazine published monthly by the American Society of Cinematographers. It focuses on the art and craft of cinematography, covering domestic and foreign feature productions, television productions, short films, mu ...

'' gave a scathing review, saying that " roughout, the blindest groping for fundamental facts was evident"; the reviewer wrote that the laboratory processing and sound recording were the biggest issues of the film. A writer of ''The Times of India'' observed how the actors lacked experience in talking near microphones, which made them sound like they were screaming. ''Indian Talkie'' (a magazine published by the

Film Federation of India The Film Federation of India (FFI) is an apex body of the Indian film producers (around 18,000), distributors (around 20,000), exhibitors (around 12,000) and studio owners, headquartered in Mumbai.Shahid Alikhan, R. A. Mashelkar, "Intellectual pro ...

from 1931 to 1956) called the film "the birth cry of the talkie".

Legacy

Master Vithal and Zubeida in Alam Ara, 1931

''Alam Ara'' is widely regarded as the first sound film of India. It has been described as the rise of the

Indian cinema The Cinema of India consists of motion pictures produced in India, which had a large effect on world cinema since the late 20th century. Major centers of film production across the country include Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, Ko ...

of the early 1930s, and in its 2013 report, ''The Times of India'' added, "... edging out the advantage enjoyed by imported films in the silent era, when the largest share of the Indian market was taken by American films ... this transition also made for the rise of a host of new operators, who would become the industry’s vanguard in the first talkie era." The author of ''Indian Film Music'' (1991),

Nasreen Munni Kabir Nasreen Munni Kabir (born 1950) is an India-born television producer, director and author based in the U.K. She is best known for producing an annual season of Indian films for the British terrestrial television channel Channel 4. Her work inclu ...

, said she believed that it has made later films produced in the country more dependent on songs "in a way that has differentiated Indian cinema from most world cinema". Writing for ''The Rough Guide to World Music'' (1999), Mark Ellingham reported that the film's success has influenced India, Sri Lanka, and Myanmar. In 2003, the scholar Shoma Chatterji hailed, "With the release of ''Alam Ara'', Indian cinema prove two things—that films could now be made in a regional language that the local viewers could understand; and that songs and music ereintegral part of the entire form and structure of the Indian film." The film is also considered as a turning point of Ardeshir Irani's career and gave him a reputation as the "father of Indian talkies". Impressed by it, producer

Birendranath Sircar Birendranath Sircar (also Sarkar; 5 July 1901 – 28 November 1980) was an Indian film producer and the founder of New Theatres Calcutta. He made Bengali-language films that were noted for introducing many film directors who later became famo ...

acquired the recording equipment of the film and contacted Deming to work with him in

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

(present-day Kolkata). Irani used the sets of the film to shoot his next production venture, titled ''

Kalidas Kālidāsa (''fl.'' 4th–5th century CE) was a Classical Sanskrit author who is often considered ancient India's greatest poet and playwright. His plays and poetry are primarily based on the Vedas, the Rāmāyaṇa, the Mahābhārata and ...

'', which would become the first Indian multilingual film following its release in 1931. ''Alam Ara'' is listed in "40 Firsts in Indian Cinema" by

NDTV New Delhi Television Ltd is an Indian news media company focusing on broadcast and digital news publication. The company is considered to be a legacy brand that pioneered independent news broadcasting in India, and is credited for launching t ...

in 2013, "100 Filmfare Days" by ''

Filmfare ''Filmfare'' is an Indian English language, English-language fortnightly magazine published by Worldwide Media. Acknowledged as one of Indian most popular entertainment magazines, it publishes pieces involving news, interviews, photos, videos, r ...

'' in 2014, and "70 Iconic Films of Indian Cinema" by ''

Mint MiNT is Now TOS (MiNT) is a free software alternative operating system kernel for the Atari ST system and its successors. It is a multi-tasking alternative to TOS and MagiC. Together with the free system components fVDI device drivers, XaA ...

'' in 2017. In 2011,

Google Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...

made a

doodle A doodle is a drawing made while a person's attention is otherwise occupied. Doodles are simple drawings that can have concrete representational meaning or may just be composed of random and abstract lines or shapes, generally without ever lift ...

to celebrate its 80th release anniversary, featuring Vithal and Zubeida. Writer Renu Saran features the film in the book ''101 Hit Films of Indian Cinema'' (2014). In the same year, a 2015 calendar titled "The Beginnings of Indian Cinema" was released, featuring the poster of its. The film has been remade at least four times: by

Chitrapu Narayana Rao Chitrapu Narayana Rao (born Chithrapu Narayana Murthy; 1913) was an Indian film director and producer known for his works in Telugu and Tamil cinema. He received a Certificate of Merit for the Third Best Tamil Film for ''Edhir Paradhathu'' (195 ...

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode S ...

in 1942 and 1967, and by

Nanubhai Vakil Nanubhai Vakil (23 May 1902 – 29 December 1980) was a Hindi and Gujarati film director. He was the first to make a Gujarati talkie film with a biopic on the saint Narsinh Mehta in 1932. ''Narsinh Mehta's'' (1932) star cast included the actress ...

in Hindi in 1956 and 1973. No print of ''Alam Ara'' is known to have survived, but several stills and posters are available. According to an article published by ''

The Indian Express ''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932. It is published in Mumbai by the Indian Express Group. In 1999, eight years after the group's founder Ramnath Goenka's death in 1991, the group was split betw ...

'', several publications and the film's entry on

Wikipedia Wikipedia is a multilingual free online encyclopedia written and maintained by a community of volunteers, known as Wikipedians, through open collaboration and using a wiki-based editing system. Wikipedia is the largest and most-read refer ...

had mistakenly stated that the film's last print was destroyed by a fire at the National Film Archive of India in 2003. Its founder,

P. K. Nair Paramesh Krishnan Nair (6 April 1933 – 4 March 2016) was an Indian film archivist and film scholar, who was the founder and director of the National Film Archive of India (NFAI) in 1964. He is regarded as the Henri Langlois of India because o ...

, declined the reports, clarifying in 2011 that it has been lost before the archive itself was established in 1964. He added the fire only destroyed mostly the nitrate negatives of

Prabhat Film Company Prabhat Film Company (popularly known as Prabhat Films) was an Indian film production company and film studios founded in 1929 by the noted film director V.Shantaram and his friends. It was formed in Kolhapur, Maharashtra, India in 1929, towar ...

, and confirmed that he had received several photographs of the film from Irani and his son Shapoorji. Nair estimated that 70 percent of pre-1950 Indian films are lost. In 2017, the

's Shruti Narayanswamy declared ''Alam Ara'' as the most important lost film of India.

References

Sources

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External links

* {{IMDb title 1930s Hindi-language films 1930s romantic fantasy films 1931 films 1931 lost films Films directed by Ardeshir Irani Indian black-and-white films Indian epic films Indian romantic fantasy films Lost Indian films Urdu-language Indian films 1930s Urdu-language films