Let's talk about Bombay Talkies

Director Franz Ozten being German clearly had a tough time getting a hang of Hindi Except Osten is responsible for the most internationally acclaimedloved Indian films through his career mdash what with the silent classics The Light Of Asia 1925 Shiraz 1928 A Throw Of Dice 1929 let alone talkies like Acchut Kanya 1936 that are still talked about in glowing termsOsten was a director along with several British and German technicians on the rolls of the visionary film producer Himanshu Rais Bombay Talkies While shooting for a Bombay Talkies film called Jeevan Naiya 1934 with the studio star Devika Rani Osten could simply not pronounce the new lead actors last name GangulyOn the set he called out to him by his middle name Mr Kumar Hearing this Rai got a brainwave and he decided to change the heros last name for good to the casteless Kumar He thought this would go down better with his ethnically diverse audienceThat hero was Ashok Kumar And this nom de plume inspired a series of Bollywood heroes with the screen surname Kumar through generations mdash right down to Akshay Kumar who was born Rajiv Bhatia Sadly this isnt quite how this moment pans out in Lillette Dubeys biographical play Devika Rani that I watched this weekBut what the text on stage does though while on occasion being fuzzy on history is reveal sides of Devika Ranis story that cant help but fascinate you into reading and learning more Which is what Ive been doing of late mdash chiefly from Mihir Boses deeply anecdotal book Bollywood A HistorySo far as the play is concerned why was Ashok Kumar making his acting debut opposite Rani anyway Because sometime before that Rani married to Rai the studioboss had run away with his lead actor NajamulHussein to CalcuttaTrue storyRai had managed to get Rani back though their marriage remained on the rocks He insisted on pairing Rani with Ashok Kumar mdash knowing that this nondescript goodlooking boy trained in law with no actorial aspirations working as a production assistant wanting to be a director would pose no sexual threatThat Kumar subsequently became Bollywoods first freelance star with the eventual decline of the studio system mdash where everyone from the spot boy to the hero would be on monthly salaries mdash deserves a studyhistorical of its own with so much contemporary relevance Who brought Ashok Kumar born in Bhagalpur Bihar into Bombay Talkies His brotherinlaw Sashadhar Mukherjee a physicist by training Look around Bollywood youre surrounded by Mukherjees current progeny mdash Kajol Rani Mukherjee director Ayan Mukherjee etcAt the centre of Dubeys play is of course Devika Rani mdash educated in England interned with the likes of Fritz Lang and Merlene Dietrich in Germany a fine actor and stunner by all accounts onscreen with brains and tenacity to match mdash steering Bombay Talkies a joint stock companystudio with a R25 lakh corpus fund that she cofounded with her husband RaiWhere was Bombay Talkies In Malad There was nothing there And which effectively explains why the Hindi film industry eventually moved in that northwest direction having flourished in South Bombay preindependenceWhat is Bombay Talkies significance besides a 40film roster including the KumarRani starrer Kismet 1943 which held the longest run in a theatre up until Sholay 1975 The fact that Rai as a producer envisioned international coproductions back in the 1930s with distribution plans in the WestDubeys play starring Ira Dubey as Devika Rani and Joy Sengupta as Himanshu Rai starts with the postpremiere shebang of the IndoBritish bilingual Karma 1933 in London where the local press simply cant get enough of Rani Again true storyThat the film back then had the longest kiss on screen lasting four to five minutes tells you of an unusually permissive space that Rani inhabited mdash determined to be her own person and indeed a star on her own terms mdash while the society in general looked down upon acting as a profession for men and equated the field to prostitution for womenDubeys Devika Rani which I totally recommend for Hindi film and history buffs does ignite interest in her life and times Of a world of Bombay Talkies that employed writers technicians and assistants from leading Indian universities based on personal interviews attracting the likes of Khwaja Ahmed Abbas and Saadat Hasan MantoWho was Ranis greatest find though She met this guy in Nainital while hed gone there to shop for fruits for his fathers business She had him over at Bombay Talkies and asked him four questions mdashif he could act if he wanted to act if he smoked and if he spoke UrduThat gentleman was Mohammad Yusuf KhanShe named him Dilip Kumar and offered him his first film as lead actor in Jwar Bhata 1944 Who worked as assistant on Jwar Bhata Raj Kapoor None of this is in the play of course but the story of Himanshu Rai Devika Rani Bombay Talkies and all that stayed and followed seriously deserves a filmseriesMayank Shekhar attempts to make sense of mass culture He tweets mayankw14 Send your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individuals and dont represent those of the paperCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates