1930s Indian Movies

Two sisters, Iqbal and Sharifa, battle for control of a kingdom. Iqbal wins, persecuting Sharifa, who is supported by Iqbal's husband. When Iqbal captures her brother-in-law, he stands firm in his ideals. The treacherous general's daughter, Bano, champions a pacifist campaign after losing her lover. With the help of the adventurous Nadia and Parsee Charlie, disguised as dancers, they infiltrate the enemy.

A Princess is tricked into marrying a naive and illiterate youth.

About the modern girl of India. Fashion, fast cars, luxury and sexual freedom.

The love story from the 'Mahabharata'. Savitri, a heroine born through divine benediction to Ashwapati, marries Satyavan, the son of an exiled and blinded hermit, although he is scheduled to die soon.

Set in the Ottoman Empire, it deals with the Caesar's (Pande) army and its skirmishes with the local Muslim rulers. The Sultan's (Asooji) son Ziyad (Kumar) is arrested by the Roman army. The Roman princess Rahil falls in love with him. A Muslim maid Leela (Sitara Devi) and the princess help him escape. Long chase scenes and fights follow, which ultimately lead to success for Ziyad and his people.

In this stunt-film, Hero Samar (Jairaj) singlehandedly takes on the might of the oppressive state led by the warlord chief (M. Zahoor). He falls in love with the chief's sister Ila (Mehtab) and fights his revolution from the tavern of Dulari (Shirin) with little more than a band of adventurers, a leatherface mask, his faithful dog Tiger, and his horse Bahadur.

This film is about Chandidas, a legendary 15th-C. Bengali Vaishnavite poet whose biography remains obscure but was an influence on the better documented Chaitanya (1486-1533), a school teacher who promoted the Vaishnavite ideology in Bengal, mostly through hymns about the Radha-Krishna legend.

A love tragedy featuring a policeman, Ganpat (Modak) and a prostitute, Mainal (Hublikar). Ganpat saves Maina from a police raid on a brothel and they fall in love. Her reputation and sense of guilt resist his attempts to rehabilitate her. Ganpat's respectable middle-class mother (Sundarabai) symbolizes all that Maina would like to be, but she is arrested for murdering her evil uncle and refuses Ganpat's offer to release her from prison.

Dr. Madhurika, a career-focused woman, marries Narendra on condition .of no children or interference. Her neglect of home and close ties with colleague Dr. Gaurish spark Narendra's jealousy. However, when Narendra helps Gaurish's wife and a stranger, Madhurika's own jealousy leads her to embrace a domesticated role

Hansa, daughter of Veer Singh, escapes an attack on her family by the villain Zalim Singh in which her mother is killed, her father injured and her sister Padma abducted. Growing up as a Harijan (an untouchable) she transforms the word to 'Hurricane', dons a mask and overthrows Zalim. She falls in love with Zalim's good son Diler. The horse Punjab-Ka-Beta features in its usual key role, rescuing Hansa when she hangs from a cliff, leaping over a wall of fire and aiding the love angle by nudging Diler into the pond where Hansa is having a bath.

Mafatlal, an unemployed wanderer, is kicked out of his home with a mission: get rich. He chases a "resident son-in-law" ad, plots lawsuits, and even fakes being a station-master, enduring robbery along the way. Ultimately, he's chosen by Heeralaxmi, a woman with "advanced views." The film is packed with quirky women campaigning on bizarre platforms, a comedy subtly exploring male anxieties in the face of female liberation.

Atma Tarang follows a man torn between worldly desires and spiritual awakening. As he struggles to overcome material temptations, he embarks on a journey of self-realization and inner transformation.

The naive Saroop (Nandrekar) romantically renounces earthly pleasures under the influence of a sadhu (Ashraf Khan). Arrested at a fairground and jailed, fellow convicts change his view of the world. Working in the prison’s garden, he meets the superintendent Sohanlal’s (Nazir) daughter Durga (Kumari), who was married as a child to a boy now believed dead. Ranjit (Singh) covets her and on her wedding day to the nasty Ranjit, it is discovered that Saroop was her child-husband.

The Wadia's, remake of Homi Master's 1932 silent film is a Ruritanian drama mainly featuring the stunts of the horse Punjab-Ka-Beta. Good King Mansingh (Tarapore) is dethroned by evil minister Zalim Singh (Khambatta). Princess Hansa (Husn Banu) transforms lover Prince Randhir (Sarda Mansoor) from an easy-going youth into the masked Hind Kesari, saviour of the poor.

Radical journalist Diwakar clashes with his traditional father and a scheming politician, Vithalrao, who seizes his newspaper. Disgusted, Diwakar leaves home. His wealthy girlfriend, Nalini, initially supports Vithalrao but later campaigns for Diwakar, who represents slum-dwellers in an election. Despite her father's support, Nalini urges voters for Diwakar. Nalini wins, but Diwakar's loss is depicted as a moral victory, critiquing middle-class materialism.

Ostensibly a Central Asian war fantasy about a conflict between the Cossacks and the Tartars, Mehboob’s film proposes a tale advocating national independence. The Cossacks are oppressed by the despotic Russian king (Siddiqui) and his minister Jabir (Kayamali), who has Tartar blood in him. General Murad (Kumar) covertly sides with the opposition, gets arrested for treason and escapes. He meets the wild Gulnar (Sitara Devi) and gets her to spy as a maid of Princess Nigar (Bibbo). Nigar falls for Murad and Gulnar withdraws from the scene for the sake of her nation. Eventually Nigar, at the head of an army of women, helps defeat the villains.

Madhavi's world is upended when her husband, Kedar, leaves her for the wealthy Chandra. Forced onto the streets, Madhavi finds solace in singing and soon crosses paths with artist Kumar, becoming his muse. Their connection deepens, but fate intervenes, leading Madhavi on a path that transforms her into a renowned singing star.

An early social drama produced and directed by Sohrab Modi

Rural melodrama about Durga, an adolescent child of nature, living with her aged mother Heera. Unable to get the medicine required to prevent her mother's death, one misfortune after another befalls the heroine in spite of the sympathies of the newly arrived village doctor, Jawahar.

A parable about human suffering and capitalist enterprise. The village head man has bandits attack the house of Ramesh to settle a feud. They kidnap the man's wife Roma, and abandon their infant son in the forest. Years later, Roma works as the nurse of a kind millionaire while the boy Raghunath shares a neighbourhood house with other unemployed youths who collectively dream of starting a soap factory. The father is a beggar on the streets. None of them know of each other's existence until circumstances bring the family together...

A love affair and two feuding families who play out a Romeo and Juliet type drama in 17th century India, under the Emperor Jehangir.

Successful stunt movie featuring a vivacious prince (Jayant), his evil uncle, and a masked girl (Akhtar). Its major attractions, apart from Akhtar who also sings all the songs, is a performing gorilla. Together with e.g. Leatherface (1939), this is the best known of mythological specialist Bhatt’s early stunt work.

The legend of Prince Puran, born under King Silwan of Sialkot's curse which binds his parents never to set eyes on him until he is 16. Accused of leading a debauched life by an evil general and by the king's second wife, Puran is sentenced to death. Rescued by the mystic Gorakhnath, he becomes an ascetic. When the king is overthrown, Purna rises from his meditations to depose the general who has seized power, before returning to his life of renunciation.

Vijayakumar and Sukumar (K. P. Kesavan) are brothers. Sukumar, the younger brother is an actor and goes to Madras to earn a living. There he gets a break and becomes famous. The money he sends for his family's upkeep is stolen by Vijayakumar and his wife. Because of their greed, the joint family gets split. After some time, the wayward brother and sister in law have a change of heart and repent for their actions. The family is once again reunited.

Set in two historical epochs, 1735 and 1735. The spirited Miss Queen (Khote), performing in a period play, recalls a previous incarnation when she was the actual person she is now acting on the stage. She inherited the throne because the state of Ranigarh had no constitutional male heirs and her horoscope was deemed auspicious. Instead of being merely a figurehead, she opposes the corrupt minister Jairaj and army commander Mubarak and, following the advice of the court poet (Pahelwan), she makes sure the royal court is accessible to the suffering people.

A period fantasy that told of the ageing king of Kamarpur, and his two rival queens, Navbahar and Dilbahar, and their rivalry when a fakir predicts that Navbahar will bear the king's heir. Dilbahar unsuccessfully tries to seduce the army chief Adil (Vithal) and vengefully destroys his family, leaving his daughter Alam Ara (Zubeida) to be raised by nomads. Eventually, Alam Ara's nomad friends invade the palace, expose Dilbahar's schemes, release Adil from the dungeon and she marries the prince of the realm.

A spirited contribution to the Independence movement, deploying Gandhian themes.

A social woman-centered film interrogating aspects of feudal patriarchy. The painter Ashok (Surendra) who loves the orphaned Vimala (Bibbo) is distressed to learn that she is due to marry Jagdish (Yakub). He paints Vimala's portraits with a frenzied obsession and becomes a famous artist. Paralleling this love story is the decline in Ashok's family fortunes.

A wealthy man escapes after shooting his friend in drunken state which results in a drastic change in his life then.

This silent historical drama chronicles the life of Mehr-un-Nissa, who rises from humble beginnings to become the powerful and influential Empress Noor Jahan, wife of Mughal Emperor Jehangir. The film explores her intelligence, beauty, and significant role in shaping the Mughal Empire.

Thiruneelakantar is a 1939 Tamil-language film directed by Raja Sandow and starring M. K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar. The film was a big hit and was known for M.K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar's acting apart from his songs. Famous nadaswaram artist T. N. Rajarathinam Pillai makes a guest appearanace in the movie.The film was based on the life history of Thiruneelakanta Nayanar, one of the 63 Nayanmars.

Motilal in the role of a doctor, wants to join the revolutionaries along with his girlfriend played by Shobhana Samarth. Both are opposed by their parents. The parents find it difficult to come to terms with what they consider as 'western influences' on their children in clothes and thinking. Several humorous situations arise in the process with everything finally ending to the satisfaction of both generations.

Betaab's best-known script tells of Radha (Gohar), a carefree rural belle who is supposed to marry childhood friend Gopal, but instead falls in love with a stranger who turns out to be the missing Prince Vijaysingh. When Ihe king despatches soldiers to recover the prince, Vijaysingh discards the pregnant Radha. She is attacked by the villagers for her immorality and eventually appears before the prince, her former lover, in court where she refuses to denounce him. Her child dies, she becomes a prostitute and eventually dies in the arms of the prince.

Gunsundari, the dutiful wife, acts as savior for her troubled joint family. Her father-in-law Shyamaldas battles alcoholism and accusations, while her husband Chandrakant falls prey to villains and a prostitute, losing his property. Gunsundari also aids her sister-in-law Sushila through marital woes, facing personal trouble due to a secret. Destitute, she eventually reunites with a similarly down-on-his-luck Chandrakant on the streets. A coincidence ultimately reveals Shyamaldas left his property to his estranged son, leading to a happy ending.

Preceded by a legend describing its heroine as a 'Brave Indian girl who sacrificed royal luxuries to the cause of her people and her country', the story opens with a prologue showing Krishnavati and her infant son being thrown out of the house in a thunderstorm by the wicked Prime Minister Ranamal who also killed her brother. 20 years later the now adult son, Jaswant, is hit by a royal motor car and given a bag of gold in compensation. His refusal of the gift attracts the admiration of Princess Madhuri. When the nasty Ranamal, who wants to marry her, imprisons her father the king, she becomes the masked Hunterwali, 'protector of the poor and punisher of evildoers', and performer of stunts like jumping over a moving cartand fighting 20 soldiers at once. She steals Jaswant's prize horse, Punjab, but returns it later. Jaswant chances upon a nude Hunterwali bathing in the river and after a long duel captures her and takes her to Ranamal to claim his reward.

Film starring Sitara Devi and Kumar.

A story of a loving couple who get separated because of the evil designs of some envious persons.

Two street urchins dream of singing and making it big in the glamorous world of theatre in Calcutta.

In this tale of rural caste divisions, polygamy is added to the theme in this story of Uma, born in an orthodox Brahmin family. To the despair of her parents she values her friendship with low-caste potters. Especially with Ranu. When she marries Nandlal, a man from her own caste, her potter friends are happy for her - until they learn that Nandlal is taking a second wife, Padma, with Uma's consent. The problem is that Uma is thought to be infertile. Uma returns to her parents' home mainly because Nandlal is paying no attention to his new wife, and when she returns she meets Ramu again. Nandlal overhears a conversation between Ramu and Uma and, when Uma suddenly discovers that she is pregnant after all, he doubts her fidelity.

Mehboob presents the autonomous passion of Leela (Rose) for Moti (Motilal) who is promised to another woman, Bina (Maya). Leela is portrayed as irresponsible and impulsive as she acknowledges her desire for Moti and has a child by him. Bina then releases Moti from his promise. Moti suffers when he is told by Bina’s father (Sankantha) that she is dead, while Leela’s father (Pande) enjoins his daughter to commit suicide if Moti does not marry her. In spite of the film’s endorsement of ‘traditional’, lethally oppressive patriarchal mores, incarnated by the women’s fathers, Mehboob’s narrative at least dares to depict a woman who refuses to feel guilty about her desire.