Wadia Movietone

J.B.H. Wadia headed Wadia Movietone from its inception in 1933, through the heyday of talkies well into the 1970s, producing almost a hundred films before the shutters finally came down on the production of feature films by the company.

The company – both individually and in collaboration with the Wadia Brothers and Basant banners - produced a wide range of films in various genres; stunt films, historical and mythological epics, fantasies, melodramas, and musicals including films propagating radical social reforms in Indian society. This output included the first Indian film without songs (Nav Javan), the first Indian film produced in English, Hindi, and Bengali (The Court Dancer), the first Sindhi language film (Ekta), and numerous films with landmark special effects (including films as vastly different as Toofani Tarzan, Aladdin, and the Wonderful Lamp, and Sampoorna Ramayana).

Over the decades, J.B.H. Wadia also spotted many a talented actor or actress at the very outset of their careers, nurturing them by offering them their first big breaks or other significant opportunities, including stars as varied as Feroz Khan (Reporter Raju), Mumtaz (Main Shaadi Karne Chala), Helen (Veer Rajputani) and Rekha (Saaz aur Sanam). He also signed on well-established stars, attracted by his films’ socially conscious themes, including Dilip Kumar and Nargis (Mela) and Prithviraj Kapoor (The Court Dancer and Ankh ki Sharm).

The Renaissance Man who spoke and wrote in multiple languages from Hindi and Gujarati to Persian and Urdu was also deeply involved in the music and lyrics composed for his films – working closely with luminaries such as Naushad Ali and Shakeel Badayuni (Mela), Chitragupta and Kaifi Azmi (Saaz aur Sanam), and Bulo C. Rani (Veer Rajputani). For both its varied output and the persona and motivation of its founder J.B.H. Wadia, Wadia Movietone has a unique and prominent place in the history of Indian cinema. Even if it were known only for creating the Fearless Nadia/Hunterwali stunt genre, the studio would have a prominent place in the Bollywood pantheon.

But Wadia Movietone goes well beyond its films – incorporating the personality of its visionary founder and the legacy he quietly created on multiple fronts, from promoting feminism and social justice to helping establish the National Film Archives of India by encouraging the late P.K. Nair’s vision, realising the importance of preserving film history for generations to come, with Wadia Movietone’s films among the very first deposits at the NFAI to help get it started. For all this, and more, Indian cinema – and indeed India itself – owes J.B.H. Wadia, and Wadia Movietone, a huge debt.