The Making of Alam Ara

Talkies

B.D Garga writes about the making of Imperial Film Co.’s ‘Alam Ara’, the first talkie produced in India and his conversations with Ardeshir Irani, the director. Irani mentions his inspiration as Universal’s ‘Show Boat’ a 40% talkie. Irani and Rustom Bharucha picked up rudiments of sound recording from Wilford Deming Jr. who assembled the Tanar single system recording equipment at the Imperial studio. Irani mentions the lack of soundproof stages and the restrictions posed by the proximity of the studio to the railway tracks, to circumvent which they shot around the night time. The article as it appears in Cinema Vision India has an advertisement of Tanar single system recording device.

B.D Garga

Cinema Vision India

Cinema Vision India, Vol.1, No.2, April 1980, pp.11-12

1980-04

The Media Lab

jpeg

Eng

Document