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I have known Jayaraman S for about 20 years. Yesterday, on seeing the post on the filmography update he wrote,
"What is the guarantee that yr inputs are cent percent correct?"
Answer: Sadly, nobody can guarantee that. I know that there are errors and omissions. I am hoping that knowledgeable people like Jay will help us improve the database.
We know that updating it is a never-ending process. To wit, just this morning I saw a post by Richard Singer, who identified the dancer in a song in Waris (1954) as Roshan Kumari! [I could not recognize her leading to a blank entry.] Thanks to him, I have updated the database. we need more people like him!
Now You Know!
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If you look up extras or junior artists, they will be described as atmosphere, background talent, background artists or performers, supernumeraries, supers, walking background, human props, and so on. Almost never credited, they appear to be easily replaceable and interchangeable. In fact, many of these are used more than once in the same film, the directors hoping that nobody would notice!
Perhaps the most famous example, which even the students of Whatsapp university know, is Mushtaq Merchant. He appeared twice in Sholay (1975), as an Engine Driver and the owner of the motorbike with a sidecar that our heroes ran away with.
If you read the two books on Junior Artists by Upendra Samaranayake, you will find many examples are people appearing 2, 3, 4 or more times in the same film. If you study them closely you will find a guy who appeared SIX times in the same film and he could not hide from Upendra.
Ladies and Gentlemen
I present to you Avtar Singh Gullu, active since 1977,
And the roles are
Tadipaar (1993)
Club guest / direction giver / audience viewer / check awarding viewer / drunk ("Zindagi") / guest ("Aapki").
Now You Know!
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When that Julie song (My Heart is Beating) came, many ignorant people said that that was the first English song in a Hindi film. Many websites still say that.
People with a little more knowledge pointed to the poem read by Shanta Apte in Duniya Na Mane (1937) and many people still believe that.
However, people who have the first volume of Hindi Film Geet Kosh know that the first English song in a Hindi film is from Karma (1933) sung by Devika Rani. All songs of this film, including the English song, can be heard here (in the Girdharilal Vishwakarma Collection)
Disclaimer: We know that full information of Indian films is not available, many early films are lost, records were not made, magazines and books do not mention every single film ever certified, therefore, the first of anything must remain tentative, as of now, based on the present information.
Now You Know!
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