Colour films in India

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Kanchanjungha/ Bengali

Liludi Dharti (1968) Gujarati

Amarashilpi Jakanachari/ Kannada

Kandam Becha Coat/ Malayalam

Sairandhri (1933) Marathi

Gapa Helevi Sata (1976) Oriya

Vimi in Nanak Nam Jahaz Hai: good Eastmancolor prints of the 1960s, too, have great colours. Indian colour laboratories started started operating in the 1970s, and Indian Eastmancolor of the 1970s and even 1980s is so, well, different. / Punjabi

Alibabavum Narpadhu Thirudargalum/ Tamil: Compare the fading of GevaColor with the Techni- or even Eastman- color pictures on this page

Nadodi Mannan (Tamil/ 1958) included a colour sequence.

Parthiban (playing W. C. Jackson,left) and Sivaji Ganesan (as Kattabomman,right). Veerapandiya Kattabomman (1959) was the second Tamil film in Technicolor

Kadhalikka Neramillai (1964) was the first Tamil film in Eastmancolor

Lavakusa (1963/Telugu)

Eenadu (1982) Telugu

India was the sixth country to have produced a colour film; at most seventh, if firmer dates about the first Soviet colour film indicate otherwise.

Assamese

Shakuntala (1961/ dir: Dr. Bhupen Hazarika) was the first Assamese feature film with some sequences in colour. Assamese cinema has a B&W still, though.

The first colour film was Kamal Narayan Choudhury's Bhaity (1972).

'Ajali Nabou' (1980), directed by Nip Baruah, was the first Assamese film in Eastmancolour.

(No colour photographs are available in public from any of the three films. Can any reader help?)

Bengali

Kanchanjangha (Bengali: কাঞ্চনজঙ্ঘা Kanchonjônggha) (1962) written and directed by Satyajit Ray is arguably the first colour film in Bengali, Indian or East Pakistani. It was in Eastmancolour, which is more fragile than Technicolor. By the 1970s all complete colour prints of the film were lost and an international effort got together portions of the film available around them world, edited them together into a whole and restored the faded colours.

Gujarati

First Gujarat colour film: Liludi Dharti (1968).

Hindi-Urdu

Kisan Kanya (lit: the peasant girl; 1937/ Dir: Moti B. Gidvani; prod. Ardeshir Irani) was arguably the first colour film in Hindi-Urdu, of India and of South Asia.

Colour films in South Asia: 3-- Hindi-Urdu films in colour

Kannada

‘Stree Ratna' (Kannada-1954) had some sequences in colour.

The first full-length colour film in Kannada, Amarashilpi Jakanachar [Jaggannachari], was released in 1964

Malayalam

Chemmeen

‘Jeevitha Nauka' (1950) had one sequence in colour.

The first full-length Malayalam colour film was Kandam Vecha Coat (1961/ dir: T. R. Sundaram). It was produced by Modern Theatres, which had made the first Malayalam ‘talkie’ Balan (1938).

According to B. Vijayakumar, Kandam Vecha Coat was in Eastman colour and ‘was probably the first Malayalam film to use a movie trailer for the marketing of the film.’ (TheHindu, November 7, 2011)

Pakshiraja Studios’ Sabarimala Sree Ayyappan, (Gevacolor/ 1961), a mythological film, followed a few months later.

Udaya Studios’ Bharya (1962), Kadalamma (1963), Shakuntala (1965) and Pearl View (1970), some films from other studios, had a few sequences in colour.

Chemmeen (1967?), in full-length Eastmancolor, was a critical and commercial success. With music by Salil Chaudhary its songs were popular all over India. It won the President of India's Gold Medal for the best feature film in India.

The full-length colour films that followed were ‘Kallichellamma' (1969), ‘Nadhi,' ‘Kumaraambhavam' (1969), ‘Karakanakkadal' (1971), ‘Panitheeratha Veedu' (1972), ‘Nakhangal' (1973), ‘Chattakkari,' and ‘Nellu' (1974).

Manipuri

Langlen Thadoi (1984) by MA Singh (Maibam Amuthoi Singh) is the first colour feature film in Manipur produced by K.P Films International in 1984

(No photograph available. Can any reader help?)

Marathi

Sairandhri (1933), processed and printed in Germany; would have been the first colour film in Marathi, and also India's first colour film. However, its processing was not successful.

So, the question is, which was the second colour film in Marathi, because Sairandhri’s final, released print was not in colour.

Odiya/ Oriya

The first Oriya Colour Movie was "Gapa Helevi Sata" (1976) though 'Samaya' (1975) was partially coloured).

Punjabi

Indian Punjabi

Nanak Nam Jahaz Hai (Punjabi: ਨਾਨਕ ਨਾਮ ਜਹਾਜ਼ ਹੈ), a 1969 National Award winning Punjabi film directed by Ram Maheshwary, was the first Indian colour film in Punjabi.

Tamil

‘Haridas' (Tamil-1944) and ‘Naam Iruvar' (Tamil-1947) had some sequences in colour.

The first Tamil film ‘entirely in colour’ was Alibabavum Narpadhu Thirudargalum-1956 (Geva Color)

Veerapandiya Kattabomman (1959) is said to be the second Tamil film to be shot in Technicolor; it was, like other Indian Technicolor films before and after, printed in London. Which was the first? Well, Nadodi Mannan (1958) had a colour (reportedly Technicolor) sequence set on a tropical island.

The first Eastmancolor movie in Tamil was the cheerful comedy Kathalikka Neramillai (We don't have any time for love; I1964), a hit.

Telugu

First ‘entirely in colour’ film Lavakusa (1963/ GevaColor).

First Eastmancolor film Eenadu (1982)

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See also

Colour films in South Asia: 1—South Asia as a whole.

Colour films in South Asia: 2 (Indian Cinema)—India as a whole.

Colour films in South Asia: 3-- Hindi-Urdu films.

CinemaScope and 70mm films Part 1: CinemaScope films

70mm films in India/ South Asia I.e. Part 2 of the above article

Cinerama theatres in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka