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 first, not 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.

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. The article Assamese cinema has a B&W still from Shakuntala, though. 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).

Director: Vallabh Chokshi

Bhojpuri

Bhojpuri:first colour movie, Dangal (1977), starring Sujit Kumar and Prema Narayan.

Hindi-Urdu

See the main entry Colour films in Hindi-Urdu

Prabhat Film Company's‘Sairandhri' (1933/ Hindi and Marathi versions/ dir: V. Shantaram) was the Indian first film to be shot in colour. However, the prints that were screened were in monochrome, apparently because of shoddy processing in Germany.

Ardersher Irani established India's first colour film processing studio in Bombay in 1937.

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.

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' (1951) 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 (1965), 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), 'Triveni' (1970), ‘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.Its first half was in B/W but the second half in colour - in GevaColor. Therefore,Veerapandiya Kattabomman (1959) was the first Tamil film in Technicolor.

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

CinemaScope films in Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka I.e. the first part of this article

70mm films in India/ South Asia

Cinerama theatres in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka

3D films in South Asia

Colour films in South Asia

Colour films in India

Colour films in Hindi-Urdu