Bombay Talkies — Cinema and Social Change
By the 20th century, cinema halls had mushroomed all over the city of Bombay and the industry attracted actors, dancers, singers, and songwriters. Songs were an inseparable part of these films, piggybacking on the tradition of Gujarati and Marathi theatre. The stage was set for a new breed of poets to write their way into history.
In this bonus episode, we travel in time to Bombay of the 1800’s. The opium trade had brought copious wealth to the city. Among those who had cashed in were prominent Parsi and Gujarati merchants who set up textile mills with the profits. When the cotton trade soared, the textile tycoons looked for other avenues to invest their money. They financed the film industry.
By the turn of the century, cinema halls had mushroomed all over the city and the industry attracted actors, dancers, singers and writers. Songs were an inseparable part of these films, piggybacking on the tradition of Gujarati and Marathi theatre. Radio provided an avenue for broadcasting film songs, which became hugely popular across the country. The stage was set for a new movement to write its way into history — the Progressive Writers Association.
Credits:
Akshay Ramuhalli, Bijoy Venugopal, Bruce Lee Mani, Narayan Krishnaswamy, Prashant Vasudevan, Riju R Krishna, Sananda Dasgupta, Seema Seth, Shraddha Gautam, Supriya Joshi and Velu Shankar.