Bombay talkies
The Bombay Talkies Limited was an Indian film company . It was founded in 1934 by Himansu Rai in Bombay (now Mumbai ).
The company was the first film company in India to be founded as a public limited company and had soundproof studios, its own film development and editing rooms and a preview cinema. Bombay Talkies introduced a technically higher level of film production in India than was previously common. This is not least due to the fact that in addition to European equipment, technicians (camera, lighting) were Europeans - mainly Germans around the Munich director Franz Osten . Rai had already worked with them in the 1920s and was also able to win them over to his new film company. The first film was Jawani Ki Hawa in 1935 .
The company promoted the careers of numerous Indian actors. In addition to Rai's wife Devika Rani , her frequent film partner Ashok Kumar in particular was built to star, but Dev Anand , Dilip Kumar and Madhubala also started here. With the film Achhut Kanya (1936), the controversial topic of love between a Dalit woman and a Brahmin was discussed for the first time in Indian films .
After the outbreak of World War II, the German employees were banned from employment by the British colonial government and they were temporarily arrested and later deported. Their work was so essential to Bombay Talkies that Himansu Rai had a nervous breakdown over these events from which he never recovered. After his death in 1940 Devika Rani took over the management of the company together with Sashadhar Mukerji . Well-known films such as Kangan (1939), Bandhan (1940), Kismet (1943) and Mahal (1949) were made under her leadership .
Discrepancies arose between Devika Rani and her business partners, which also had a negative impact on the success of Bombay Talkies and led to the founding of the film company Filmistan . 1954 Bombay Talkies was disbanded after 102 film productions. The former studio site in Mumbai is now in a dilapidated state.