The History Of India's Silent Film Era

Hey Guys! 🤍

Happy New Year to you all! 🫶  To start the year, I wanted to delve into a really fascinating yet forgotten part of Indian film history – the silent era of Indian films.


This video was inspired by a 2022 Hollywood film that I watched called Babylon, starring Margo Robbie and Brad Pitt. Babylon is a period film that follows the rise and fall of multiple characters during Hollywood's transition from silent films to sound films in the late 1920s. A lot of the characters in the film, have real – life inspirations. Margo Robbie’s character is inspired by a combination of silent film stars. Margo Robbie’s actually stated that she based her character predominantly on the “It Girl” of the silent era in Hollywood named, Clara Bow. Brad Pitt is also in the film.

This had me thinking about the Indian era of silent films, and what was that time period like: who were the leading actors of that period? Who were the best directors of that period? Who were the most popular actresses? What kind of evolution did early Indian cinema have? What was the transition like, when “talkie” films started to take over in India? In this video – we delve into all those topics in this video.

Over the 2023  December vacation, I visited the National Museum of Indian cinema in Mumbai. It was a excellent museum, presenting a full history on Indian cinema. In this video, I give you guys a peak into my “Mumbai diaries” and tell you more about my trip to the National Museum of Indian Cinema in Mumbai. Not only does the museum have an exhibit on the silent era of Indian cinema but also, information and exhibits on the origin of cinema, cinema’s arrival in India, the advent of sound in Indian films and different regional film histories. If you are a cinema lover – I, think this museum is such a great place to visit. I mean I could have spent the entire day at this museum because I found it so thought provoking🤌🎥

I also discuss some of the most famous actors of the Indian silent film era, and of course – more about the leading actresses of this era. I also discuss which film is technically considered to be the first full length Indian feature film – Raja Harish Chandra – and more on the father of Indian cinema, Dadasaheb Phalke.

This video is a part of a series on India’s silent film era – so look out for the upcoming parts in this series. Also, please let me know in the comments: What would you like to see more of on my channel in 2024? More on books? More film content? More history content? Let me know in the comments ⤵️

Hope you enjoy the video & thank you for being here,

Tas

#silentfilms #indiancinema #bollywood

SOURCES AND REFERENCES

 

1.     The True Story Behind Babylon | TIME

2.     The National Museum of Indian Cinema – Mumbai

3.     https://indianexpress.com/article/ent....

4.     https://www.britannica.com/biography/...

5.     https://www.indiatoday.in/education-t...

6.     https://www.thehindu.com/news/nationa...

7.     https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/c...

8.     https://www.outlookindia.com/website/...

9.     https://www.travelandleisureasia.com/...

10. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/i...

11. https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles...

12. https://indianexpress.com/article/cit...

13. https://ilead.net.in/students/5-india...

14. https://www.britannica.com/biography/...

15. https://www.news18.com/movies/was-the...