Firsts In Films II

First 70-mm Films

Pachhi's Around The World (1967) was the first 70-mm film using the blow-up method with stereophonic sounds.
G P Sippy's Sholay (1975) was shot in 70-mm format along with 4-track stereophone.

First Golden Jubilee

Prabhat Film Co.'s Sant Tukaram (Marathi-1936), directed by Damle and Fatehlal, ran for over a year.
Sant Tukaram won at 5th Venice International Film Festival in 1937.

Debut Jubilee Hat Trick

Amol Palekar's first three film releases - Rajnigandha (1974), Chhoti Si Baat (1975), Chitchor (1976) - directed by Basu Chatterji, became silver jubilee hits at Mumbai.

First Box Office Hit

D G Phalke's Lanka Dehan (1917) ran for 23 weeks in Bombay. It is on record that the money collected at the counters had to be transported in bullock carts with armed guards!

First Playback

Maestro R C Boral introduced playback singing for the first time in the film Dhoop Chhaaon (1935). The song 'Main Khush Hona Chahun..' had an all women chorus led by Parul Ghosh with Suprova Sarkar and Harimati.

First Women Composer

Jaddan Bai, mother of Nargis, produced, directed and composed the music for Talash-e-Haq (1935). In the same year, Saraswati Devi scored the music for Bombay Talkies' film Jawani Ki Hawa.

First 'A' Certificate

Social Evil, a docu drama, was made in 1929 to give guidance to ignorant youth about sexual problems. It was the first film given the "For Adults Only" A certificate.

First English Song

"Now The Moon Her Light Has Shed" sung by Devika Rani for the film Karma (1933) under the baton of music director Earnest Broadhurst was the first English song in Indian films.

FIRSTS in FILMS