Tumultuous times at Bombay Talkies

Long before Aishwarya Rai and Priyanka Chopra earned accolades from international audiences, there was an Indian filmstar making waves in London and Berlin. Devika Rani Chaudhuri (1908-1994), who had her heyday in the 1930s and ’40s, was an actor who assisted with costume design, art direction and scriptwriting. To learn about her, read Kishwar Desai’s book The Longest Kiss: The Life and Times of Devika Rani.

Though much has been written about her beauty, her fame as the First Lady of Indian cinema has more to do with the fact that she was the co-founder of a major film studio called Bombay Talkies. It was known for making women-centric films. Much of the crew was from Germany. She set it up with her first husband Himanshu Rai. It was located in the Mumbai suburb of Malad, and ceased operations in 1953.

I was born in Malad, and have lived here for over three decades, but the history of this place as a hub of filmmaking has been elusive. Kishwar Desai’s book changed that. Before reading it, I had heard of Devika Rani only from my paternal grandmother. Dadi used to talk fondly of Ashok Kumar, her favourite actor, who worked with Devika Rani on several film projects and also took over the functioning of

Bombay Talkies after her retirement. He used to walk from Malad railway station to the studio, and my grandmother would eagerly wait to see him from her balcony. The studio is gone but Desai’s book makes that period come alive.

How did filmmakers during that time raise funds? What techniques did they borrow from European cinema? What kinds of subjects were popular with audiences? How were women treated on the sets? Desai’s book will indulge your curiosity, and give you an exhaustive filmography to look into. Karma (1933), Jawani Ki Hawa (1935), Achhut Kanya (1936), Izzat (1937), Durga (1939), Anjan (1941), Hamari Baat (1943) were some of the films that Devika Rani acted in. If you are keen on watching them, visiting the National Film Archives of India in Pune might be your best bet.

That is where Desai stumbled upon the film reels 15 years ago. She writes, “I was stunned at the high visual quality and the confidence with which the films

The Longest Kiss: The Life and Times of Devika Rani Kishwar Desai

460pp, ~599, Westland were made… It has always surprised me that we do not talk more about the globalization of early Indian cinema.”

The book has been pieced together with skill and imagination, from sources like romantic missives, film reviews, minutes of board meetings, resignation letters, records of court cases, and interviews with family members and friends of Devika Rani and her husbands, Himanshu Rai and Svetoslav Roerich.

The Longest Kiss will appeal to lovers of both cinematic history and filmi gossip. It is about a visionary who helped launch the careers of Ashok Kumar, Dilip Kumar, Madhubala, Raj Kapoor and Leela Chitnis. It is also about a wife whose only way out of a violent marriage was the death of her oncebeloved husband.

The book touches on Devika Rani’s affair with co-star Najam-ul-Hussain, with whom she eloped. However, she returned to Rai and stayed with him until the end. It was only after his death that she met the artist Roerich, through a common friend. Each wounded in their own way, they were able to heal the other.

Devika Rani’s legacy is one to be remembered, and Desai’s book presents her as a multifaceted person.

What the author misses, though, is the effect that she had on women who were her contemporaries. Radhika Raghav’s essay on her persona in the journal Film, Fashion and Consumption reveals that she “embraced global fashion trends” and also “drew upon her cultural heritage” to fashion an image of Indian womanhood that made many young women write letters seeking her guidance on how to become “a star” and “a lady”. Our obsession with filmstars continues to date. No wonder then that there is a market for a book with pregnancy advice from actor Kareena Kapoor Khan.

Chintan Girish Modi is a writer, educator and researcher. He is @chintan_connect on Twitter