By
Sharada Iyer
March 2nd, 2024, was a memorable day for yesteryear followers and lovers of outdated Hindi movies once we witnessed the screening of the 1939 Ashok Kumar-Leela Chitnis starrer Kangan on large display screen on the iconic Regal cinema of Mumbai. Organized by Movie Heritage Basis, NFDC-Nationwide Movie Archive of India, The German Consulate Basic of Mumbai, and The Alkazi Basis for the Arts, it was a historic night as we had been transported again in time to 1939 to observe this super-hit movie being screened after 85 years!
Produced by the legendary studio Bombay Talkies Ltd., the movie was directed by Franz Ozten, and had cinematography by Josef Wirsching. Anybody conscious of our cinematic historical past is aware of in regards to the vital function performed by Bombay Talkies in shaping the future of our movie business. Bombay Talkies was a film studio based by Himanshu Rai and Devika Rani in 1934 and produced about 40 motion pictures ranging from Jawani Ki Hawa in 1935 to Baadbaan, in 1954. On the time of its inception, the studio was thought-about one of the best movie studio within the nation outfitted with essentially the most technically superior amenities associated to movie manufacturing which included units, digicam, lighting, sound high quality, pictures, costumes, and music.
Having familiarized themselves with the most recent film-making method in Germany, when the couple got here again to India to begin their very own studio, there have been a number of German technicians who got here with them as they had been an integral a part of the studio workforce, and therefore performed a significant function in laying down the muse of Hindi cinema. A very powerful amongst them had been director Franz Osten, and cinematographer Joseph Wirsching.
It was an emotional and historic second on March 2nd, to have the presence of Himanshu Rai’s grandson Peter Dietze, attend the screening. Although Himanshu Rai and Devika Rani had no kids of their very own, he had a daughter Nilima, from his first spouse Mary Heinlin, who was a German. Quickly they parted methods and mom and daughter moved to Australia. Peter is Nilima’s son.
It was an opportunity discovery of an outdated {photograph} of Himanshu Rai in the future in his residence that led Peter to develop into conscious of his Indian ancestry. From then on, Peter has been on a mission to get to know in regards to the pioneering function performed by his grandfather Himanshu Rai in laying the muse of our movie business. Right now, because the proprietor of all of the archival materials of Bombay Talkies, he needs to deliver to life the priceless pictures and artefacts of this once-flourishing studio within the type of exhibitions and screening of restored movies.
After her retirement from movies and marriage to Russian painter Svetoslav Roerich, Devika Rani handed on all of the paperwork ,pictures, and so forth., of Bombay Talkies in her possession to the Nicholas Roerich Museum in New York. Within the 1980’s, when Peter Dietze visited this museum and knowledgeable the curator about his connections with Himanshu Rai and Bombay Talkies, he acquired all of the archival materials from the museum, because the rightful authorized inheritor.
The screening was additionally attended by the grandsons of the cinematographer Josef Wirsching- Georg and Joseph. When a younger 16-year-old Josef acquired a digicam as a present on his birthday, little did he notice how this was not solely going to vary his life but in addition how he would in the future form the aesthetics of Indian cinema together with his priceless contribution within the fields of pictures and cinematography. He’s credited for bringing facets of German Expressionism together with dreamy lighting, atmospheric compositions, unconventional digicam angles and improbable pictures to the Indian talkies.
He began as an assistant cameraman in 1925 when he labored within the movie Mild of Asia, co-directed by Himanshu Rai together with Franz Osten. His first movie as a cinematographer in India was Jawani Ki Hawa (1935) which was additionally the primary movie produced by Bombay Talkies. It’s mentioned that ‘His camerawork introduced luminosity to the display screen and turned the heroes and heroines of the time like Devika Rani, Leela Chitnis, Ashok Kumar and Dilip Kumar amongst others into ethereal creations on celluloid’. {Supply: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-42422599}. He was a part of the crew of Bombay Talkies for 20 years and his final movie earlier than he handed away was Kamal Amrohi’s Pakeezah, launched in 1972.
Josef remained in India and when he handed away, his son Wolfgang Wirsching donated all of the pictures tools to the Pune Movie Institute however preserved all of the priceless pictures very fastidiously in waterproof bins. When his sons Joseph and Georg got here of age, they realized the significance of the supplies of their possession and determined to check their grandfather’s contribution to Indian cinema.
As issues stand as we speak, the trio of Peter, Joseph, and Georg, are the keepers of the fantastic legacy of every little thing related with the Bombay Talkies studio. It’s to their credit score that not solely have they taken care to protect a priceless a part of our cinematic historical past, however realizing the historic worth of those uncommon visible and printed supplies in understanding the fantastic previous of this century-old business of ours, they’ve taken the difficulty to deliver it again to India to showcase them by way of exhibitions and flicks.
After the screening, all three of them got here on stage and mentioned a number of phrases in regards to the significance of the pioneering works of their respective grandfathers to our cinematic legacy.
This was adopted by the e-book launch of ‘Bombay Talkies: An unseen historical past of Indian cinema’, edited by Debashree Mukherjee. She is an Affiliate Professor of Movie and Media at Columbia College, New York, USA.
This e-book has pictures taken by Josef Wirsching and a few essays relating to the historic worth of pictures from Wirsching’s archive to grasp our cinema of that point. The photographs present that as an business we had been technically superb and our pioneers belonged to completely different lessons, religions, genders and nationalities and everybody labored in tandem out of their love for the craft. Bombay Talkies was the primary to rent a feminine music director Khorshed Homji who took the title of Saraswati Devi and is thought to be Indian cinema’s first feminine music director.
Priced at rupees 2700/-, the e-book was a steal and many individuals ended up shopping for it. Sure! I did too…
KANGAN (1939)
Coming to the movie, Kangan was one of many first super-hit movies of Bombay Talkies and after a lot laborious work by many individuals a superb restored model of the unique print was now accessible for folks to benefit from the movie. The present began on the dot at 5.00 pm and was free for all viewers. It was fantastic to see a big turnout of individuals to observe this gem from a bygone period together with many children additionally.
The selection of Regal cinema additionally had a narrative. Regal cinema is an Artwork Deco film theatre positioned in Colaba Causeway in Mumbai and holds the excellence of being the primary air-conditioned cinema corridor of the nation. Constructed throughout the cinema increase of the 1930’s, it opened to the general public in 1933, and sarcastically Kangan was launched on this very cinema corridor in 1939. It was certainly a uncommon event to have the film screened in the identical cinema corridor after 85 years!
The movie noticed the pairing of Ashok Kumar and Leela Chitnis for the primary time and after this they went on to develop into a a lot liked and extremely well-liked on-screen pair of that period. Others within the solid included artistes related to Bombay Talkies at that time- V H Desai, P F Pithawala, Pratima, Nana Palsikar, Saroj Borkar, and so forth. Lyrics had been by Kavi Pradeep and music was by Ramchandra Pal and Saraswati Devi.
Kangan is mainly an harmless love story between a wealthy zamindar’s son and a poor orphan lady introduced up by the village priest. Actor Mubarak performs the zamindar and Ashok Kumar the protagonist, is his son. He has little interest in his father’s zamindari enterprise and needs to develop into a poet and author. The zamindar has a ‘munshi’ or accountant performed by V H Desai and he supplies the comedian scenes within the movie. Leela Chitnis performs the orphan lady and P F Pithawala performs the priest who brings her up like a father. V H Desai’s spouse performed by Pratima is Leela Chitnis’s buddy and confidante.
It’s mentioned that cinema displays society and the occasions unfolding on display screen give us a transparent thought of the thought technique of the society in these instances. Within the movie, how the lead pair meet and fall in love captures the innocence and ease of that period. He presents her a pair of bangles or ‘Kangan’ as a token of his love for her and needs it to be saved a secret from his father. However one of many father’s staff Banwari, who additionally fancies Leela Chitnis sees this and instantly stories this.
Right here is the YouTube hyperlink of a duet from the film- ‘Radha Radha Pyari Radha…’. This print will not be superb however one can get an thought…
When the zamindar involves know of his son’s actions, he will get offended and goes and threatens the priest that if he doesn’t get Leela Chitnis married off to somebody and cease her from seeing Ashok Kumar ever once more, he would burn the temple advanced and all of the hutments of the employees together with the priest. And realizing his son’s non-interest within the household zamindari, he packs him off to town the place he pursues his luck to develop into a author.
In the meantime, Banwari is distributed to investigate whether or not Leela Chitnis’s wedding ceremony ceremony is being deliberate or not. However the priest has no intentions of forcing her and within the ensuing scuffle between the zamindar’s staff and the priest’s helpers, the temple advanced will get burnt and Banwari manages to whisk away Leela Chitnis to an empty place with evil intentions. However she jumps out of the window and falls into the deep river from a peak and the villagers assume her to be lifeless as her physique is rarely discovered.
When this information reaches Ashok Kumar within the metropolis, he’s very offended together with his father and feels unhappy that she had died with out seeing the primary revealed copy of the novel he had written and now he was changing into well-known as a author. A feminine operating a theatrical firm falls for Ashok Kumar’s attraction and needs to purchase the rights of the e-book to direct a play based mostly on it.
We’re then proven that Leela Chitnis had not died, however had solely been washed ashore. She proceeds to town seeking Ashok Kumar. After days of looking, sarcastically when she finds the home and is ready to satisfy him, she hears romantic dialogues from inside in Ashok Kumar and a woman’s voice. The 2 had been rehearsing the dialogues from the play based mostly on Ashok Kumar’s novel, however Leela Chitnis misunderstands that he has discovered one other girl. After she watches them get right into a automobile and drive away, she removes the bangles, leaves them at his doorstep and proceeds in direction of the riverfront to finish her life.
Within the village by now the zamindar has realized his folly and the worry of shedding his son ceaselessly makes him remorse his personal behaviour. He additionally proceeds to town with the munshi seeking Leela Chitnis.
Ashok Kumar upon his return finds the bangles and realizes that the love of his life is alive and shortly the motion shifts to the trail of the riverfront the place all of the characters are proven chasing each other. Ashok Kumar reaches on time and manages to save lots of her. The ending is proud of the ‘Kangan’ being duly positioned on her wrists once more and the zamindar blessing them each.
If one seems on the narrative, Bombay Talkies had clearly set in movement the sort of template which appeared to have been copied for many years to come back. The lovers dealing with the wealthy boy-poor lady dilemma, the villainous henchman, the comic sidekick, the daddy vs son drama, the social commentary, the mentality of the lady to finish her life if her lover doesn’t settle for her, and so forth. The movie launched in pre-independent India at a time when class and caste variations mattered so much in society and the zamindar’s son rebelling towards his father to face by his love resonated with the viewers.
The USP of the movie is the pure appearing by all particularly the lead pair. Their on-screen chemistry reeks of simplicity and that’s what is touching. Ashok Kumar seems so good-looking and younger Leela Chitnis seems stunning.
The digicam work is excellent and the close-up photographs and out of doors photographs particularly that of the shifting practice are all laudable. Watching the restored model of this basic was certainly a dream-come-true, as we travelled again in time to get a glimpse of an period passed by, when our founding fathers had been attempting their finest to make use of all methods at their disposal to inform a narrative in an entertaining method.
Future performed a giant function in becoming a member of the seemingly unconnected incidents going down in several elements of the world from the 1930’s to the 1990’s involving three generations of people that had taken the difficulty to protect the unique materials with out realizing how treasured and priceless it could show in the future to familiarize us with the roots of our personal movie business.
As I had talked about to start with, the night felt like strolling into part of our movie historical past…
