NOTE: The book is available on the following websites
pothi.com and notionpress.com
Please search with the name of the author and/or title.
professor toofaanii publishers, Lansing, MI USA is happy to announce their 54th book
Films and Shows in Bombay - 1931
Ajit Sidhu
and
Professor Surjit Singh
A persistent question about Hindi (or Indian) films is when and where was it released? We have to depend on hearsay, I saw it in Minerva first day, first show, or, reviewers would mention the release info, or the newspapers ads would say, coming soon on such and such a date etc. Until now no reliable source had been available.
This project attempts to answer this question once and for all, at least for films released in Bombay. This first book is for the year 1931, the talkie year.
It is based on the daily, later weekly newspaper Bombay Chronicle, available on the Internet Archive. The lead author has looked at each ad in each issue to extract the relevant information in a tabular form. Date, film name, theater name, show times and any other relevant information is captured. Since it is the first year of the talkies, it was thought prudent to write down information about silents films and even stage shows.
This is, of course, a part of the Master Database Project, and we do hope to gather information from the advent of the Silent cinema to all the available years.
[Note: A similar project on Madras theaters was undertaken by MV Surender and a book has been published.]
Paperback, 6 by 9 in, 107 pages. Rs 450 and $5.90 (International)
As usual, first few pages may be read here
Now You Know!