(alright, this thread ain't writing itself, Jess, get to it)
So let's talk about the film industry of India, & one woman's success in it.
The first screening of a film in India was in 1896. Within two years, Indians were making movies--newsreels in the early years, though. 1/
So let's talk about the film industry of India, & one woman's success in it.
The first screening of a film in India was in 1896. Within two years, Indians were making movies--newsreels in the early years, though. 1/
1912 saw the first Indian movie, about a Hindu saint. By 1922 you had an actual film industry, complete with its own stars, auteur directors, & controversies. (A 1921 film about part of the Mahabharata, starring a blatant Gandhi analog, was so anti-British it ended up banned). 2/
But in those days acting was thought to be a shameful profession for women, so men usually played the female roles on stage and screen, and the Indian film industry was largely same-sex.
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(Note: I'm sparing you details on the variations in film industries between the various Indian states. Suffice it to say that (head nod to Gibson) the future of entertainment had arrived, but it wasn't evenly distributed)
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In 1922 an actress named Fatma successfully made the transition from stage to screen, and in doing so because Indian film's first female superstar.
She was thirty years old in 1922. Married (to the Nawab [prince] of Sachin State), with three daughters, and a little thicc.
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She was thirty years old in 1922. Married (to the Nawab [prince] of Sachin State), with three daughters, and a little thicc.
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Fatma was also a Muslim, from a conservative family. A most unlikely set of ingredients to make a star from in 1922 India, yet she did it with her first movie, since (according to her contemporaries) she had It--animal magnetism, charisma, etc.
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Fatma had won success on the Urdu theater circuit, so she was a talented actress, but nothing like the star she became.
By 1926 she'd acted in ten films and paved the way for another actresses to become stars--including all three of her daughters, now adults.
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By 1926 she'd acted in ten films and paved the way for another actresses to become stars--including all three of her daughters, now adults.
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Fatma wasn't satisfied with just being an actress. She wanted what so many actors & actresses across time have wanted: to direct. That there weren't any women directors in India at the time didn't matter to her. She was gonna do it. Only problem was, no studio would back her.
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So in 1926 she founded her own film company, Fatma Films, and directed (& possibly wrote? Sources unclear) BULBUL-E-PARISTAN, a.k.a. THE NIGHTINGALE FROM FAERIE.
We're talking big budget spectacle. Special effects, including trick shots she invented! Costumes galore!
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We're talking big budget spectacle. Special effects, including trick shots she invented! Costumes galore!
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Elephants! Puppets! Live orchestral accompaniment! (The film was silent, of course). Dance numbers! And playing the three stars--her own daughters! Press pieces comparing Fatma to Georges Méliès! Thrilled audiences! A film two years in the making (an eternity back then)!
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It was a big success.
So, she's India's first star actress and first women director. What's next? More film production, more directing (seven films in three years, all funded by the profits of BULBUL, which must have been the equivalent of a $300 mil. film), more acting.
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So, she's India's first star actress and first women director. What's next? More film production, more directing (seven films in three years, all funded by the profits of BULBUL, which must have been the equivalent of a $300 mil. film), more acting.
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In 1930 she turns 38, and seemingly decides she's Getting Too Old For This, so she folds up her production company, stops directing, and settles down for eight years of prestige roles--eleven films in all, from some of the biggest names in the industry.
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She called it quits as an actress in 1938, at the age of 46, ending a twenty-one-year career in film--which was about three generations' worth of time in the Indian film industry of the 1920s & 1930s.
This is not the end of the story for Fatma, of course.
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This is not the end of the story for Fatma, of course.
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Fatma had three children, all stars in the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s. She had some involvement (unclear how much) in managing their careers, & (reportedly) steered the family fortune through Partition enough to remain very wealthy afterwards. (She moved to Pakistan, of course) 14/
Her grandchildren become famous actresses and/or marry prominent Karachi businessmen.
Her great-grandaughter is Rhea Pillai (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhea_Pill…).
Fatma died in *1983*, age 91, having (reportedly) been the boss of her extended family throughout her life.
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Her great-grandaughter is Rhea Pillai (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhea_Pill…).
Fatma died in *1983*, age 91, having (reportedly) been the boss of her extended family throughout her life.
15/
Earlier I used the Barrymore as a comparison. But, really, there's no comparison. Fatma was in a class of her own.
16/fin
16/fin
