K.L. Saigal
Also Known As: Kundan Lal Saigal
Biography: Kundanlal Saigal, often abbreviated as K. L. Saigal, was an Indian singer and actor who is considered the first superstar of the Hindi film industry, which was centred in Kolkata during Saigal's time, but is currently centred in Mumbai. Saigal's unique voice quality which was a mixture of baritone and soft tenor was the benchmark for most of the singers who followed him. In fact it remains the gold standard even today shining through a very early and practically primitive recording technology.
Department: Acting
Place of Birth: Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, British India
Adult: No
Birthday: April 11, 1904
Age: 121 years old
Gender: Male
Deathday: January 18, 1947
Popularity:
Known For:
Roop Lekha
Overview: For the first time in Indian cinema, flashback was used for storytelling.
Genres: Drama History
Original Language: bn
Release Date: 1934-04-14
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Zindagi
Overview: The story of an unemployed graduate who falls in love with a woman who ran away from her cruel husband.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: hi
Release Date: 1940-07-11
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Tadbir
Overview: Jayant Desai directs this melodrama centering on Kanhaiyalal (K. L. Saigal) who, according to a fortuneteller at his birth, will consort with a prostitute, grow skillful with a knife, and be sentenced to the gallows. As the film progresses, this unpromising prediction comes true, but in an unexpected manner. After a family tragedy, Kanhaiyalal and his mother find shelter in the home of a kindly whore named Saguna (Suraiya) who eventually sacrifices her life for that of the protagonist. Later, he becomes handy with a knife when he goes to med school and becomes a surgeon. As Kanhaiyalal matures, he and his mother battle against crime and poverty.
Genres: Drama Family
Original Language: hi
Release Date: 1945-01-01
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The Devoted
Overview: 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.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: hi
Release Date: 1933-01-05
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Bhakta Surdas
Overview: Bhakt Surdas was a great saint and devotee of Lord Krishna. He was a 16th-century poet who was blind.
Genres: History Music
Original Language: hi
Release Date: 1942-01-03
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Shahjehan
Overview: Shahjehan (a raw Rehman in one of his first releases) is approached by a Rajput chieftain, Jwala Singh, narrating the plight of his foster daughter, Ruhi (Ragini), who is blessed with unheard of beauty. This gives rise to an army of suitors, who indulge in violence to prevent her from getting married by scaring her to-be grooms. Her beauty, confined to four walls of Jwala's haveli becomes part of folklore, and street gossip, through the poetry of Sohail (Saigal) who accidentally catches her glimpse, and falls in love with her.
Genres: History
Original Language: hi
Release Date: 1946-01-01
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Devdas
Overview: Devdas, the son of a zamindar, and Parvati, his neighbour's daughter, are childhood sweethearts. However, class and caste differences prevent their marriage. Devdas is sent off to Calcutta, while Paro is married off to an aged rich widower. In Calcutta, as remorse drives him to alcohol, Devdas meets Chandramukhi, a tawaif.
Genres: Drama Romance
Original Language: hi
Release Date: 1936-01-22
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Bhanwara
Overview: Set in the early 1940s, the film, a musical comedy is about two friends who arrive in the city to find jobs.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: hi
Release Date:
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President
Overview: Badi Bahen aka President is a 1937 Hindi social romantic drama film (the Bengali version was called Didi and starred several different actors). The story according to the credit roll of the film is "A tale of love and greater love" developed on an idea by M. M. Begg. It was a love triangle with a social content that highlighted the conditions of the mill workers. It was also the first film to show a liberated educated woman managing her own factory
Genres: Drama
Original Language: hi
Release Date: 1937-01-08
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Street Singer
Overview: Two street urchins dream of singing and making it big in the glamorous world of theatre in Calcutta.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: hi
Release Date: 1938-02-04
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Jiban Maran
Overview: A famous radio singer Mohan (Saigal) is in love with Geeta (Leela Desai). When he goes to his friend a doctor, TB Specialist, Bijoy (Bhanu) for a check-up, he is found to be in an advance stage of TB. Meanwhile Leela's dominant mother and aunt (Nibhanani and Manorama) had been against the poor Mohan and had set their eyes on same Dr. Bijoy, the son of a family friend. When Mohan comes to know of it, and also his sickness, he decides to walk away from them. He is intercepted by a doctor who ran a sanatorium for TB patients, with some new method of treatment. Geeta couldn't forget Mohan and waited, but in the end she had to relent. Then it was known that Mohan was alive and cured. What would now Bijoy and Geeta do? There wedding was the next day, and they have to go ahead with it, the honour of both the families were at stake. Mohan too aware of his being exposed, disappears from the sanatorium and is untraceable.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: bn
Release Date: 1938-10-14
Popularity:
Didi
Overview: A famous Saigal musical narrating a strange love story set against 1930s industrialization and worker-management relations. The 16-year-old Prabhavati inherits a mill and turns it into an extremely profitable enterprise. Prakash is a worker who designs a more efficient machine for the factory for which he first gets sacked and then is re-employed. He falls in love with Prabhavati's sister Sheila, who later makes way for Prabhavati who is also in love with Prakash. Her withdrawal distresses Prakash, causing him to bully the workers who then go on strike.
Genres: Romance Drama Music
Original Language: bn
Release Date: 1937-03-20
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Chandidas
Overview: The story revolves around the 15th century poet-saint Chandidas who acts out against the deep-rooted bigotry against caste, untouchability and the hypocrisy of society, as he falls in love with a washer woman.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: hi
Release Date: 1934-06-06
Popularity:
My Sister
Overview: Set against the backdrop of WW II in Calcutta, "Meri Bahen" is the story of a schoolteacher and his young sister. The film followed his rise to fame as a singer and the changes in his relationships following a bomb-raid.
Genres: Drama Romance
Original Language: hi
Release Date: 1944-01-01
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Tansen
Overview: Renowned, talent singer Tansen is settled in a small village. He has a lover whom he loves madly namely Tani. His singing talent pampers everyone in his village namely the animals, the Maharaja's and other living organisms.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: hi
Release Date: 1943-01-01
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Parwana
Overview: Inder is from a well-educated family but spends his life to help people in need which causes many misunderstandings
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: hi
Release Date: 1947-01-01
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Karwane Hayat
Overview: Prince Parvez is against the marriage his mother has arranged for him with a neighbouring princess.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: hi
Release Date: 1935-01-01
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Devdas
Overview: Devdas, the son of a zamindar, and Parvati, his neighbour's daughter, are childhood sweethearts. However, class and caste differences prevent their marriage. Devdas is sent off to Calcutta, while Paro is married off to an aged rich widower. In Calcutta, as remorse drives him to alcohol, Devdas meets Chandramukhi, a prostitute. All Indian prints of this Bengali version were destroyed in a fire that ravaged New Theatre’s studios. Today, only one copy of the film survives which belongs to the Bangladesh Film Archives. Of that copy almost forty percent is destroyed.
Genres: Drama Romance
Original Language: bn
Release Date: 1935-03-30
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A Living Corpse
Overview: The film is about a princess who is possessed by a demon. As soon as the princess comes under the control of the demon, she becomes like a living corpse. All the people around her start getting scared of the princess.
Genres: Horror
Original Language: ur
Release Date: 1932-01-01
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