Draft:Gul-e-Bakavali (1924 film)
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|  |
| Gul-e-Bakavali | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Kanjibhai Rathod |
| Written by | Mohanlal Dave |
| Based on | The legend of Gul-e-Bakavali |
| Produced by | Kohinoor Film Company |
| Starring | |
Release date | 1924 |
Running time | 7997 ft (approx. 140 minutes) |
| Country | British India |
| Language | Silent |
Gul-E-Bakavali (Divine flower of Bakavali) is a 1924 Indian silent fantasy film written in Gujarati by Mohanlal Dave, directed by Kanjibhai Rathod and produced by the Kohinoor Film Company.[1] The film stars Zubeida as Bakavali and Khalil as Taj-ul-Mulk. The film's story adapts a popular legend centered on a mystical flower believed to have healing powers, and a prince who seeks it to cure his father's blindness. Gul-E-Bakavali is described as the first all-India super hit[2][3] and among the most successful silent films.[4][5]
Cast
[edit]The cast has been listed below:[6]
- Zubeida as Bakavali
- Khalil as Taj-ul-Mulk
- Fatma Begum
- Sultana as Memudu
- Noor Mohamed
- Savita
- Jamna as Lakhi
- Usha Rani
Description
[edit]The film was structured into 97 scenes and included elaborate fantasy elements distinct from the mythological themes common in Rathod and Dave's earlier works like Bhakta Vidur and Mahasati Ansuya (both 1921).[7]
Adaptation
[edit]The story of Gul-E-Bakavali is based on a legend with multiple origins. One version attributes its introduction into India to Nihal Chand Lahori's translation of Izzat Ali Bengali's Persian narrative, influenced by John Gilchrist at Fort William College in Calcutta in the early 19th century. Another traces it to the poet Abley Sheikh's 1513-couplet narration, later adapted by Kashmiri writers into Urdu masnavis. The legend was also popular on the Parsi stage, particularly for its dramatic episodes involving betrayal, transformation, and redemption.[8]
Following the 1924 film directed by Kanjibhai Rathod, Gul-e-Bakavali was adapted into several Indian films, including a 1935 Tamil version starring V.A. Chellappa and T.P. Rajalakshmi, a 1938 Telugu version directed by Kallakoori Sathasiva Rao featuring B. Jayamma, a 1955 Tamil version starring M.G. Ramachandran, and a 1960s Telugu film Gulebakavali Katha starring N.T. Rama Rao. Hindi versions were released in 1932, 1947, 1956, and 1963.[9]
Legacy
[edit]A complete shooting script of Gul-e-Bakavali (1924), written in Gujarati by screenwriter Mohanlal Dave, was discovered in the personal archive of film historian Virchand Dharamsey. The script, preserved in a bound notebook, includes detailed production information such as scene descriptions, shot lengths, camera setups, intertitles, and costume lists.[10] In 2012, it was translated and published in the peer-reviewed journal BioScope: South Asian Screen Studies, it is considered the only known surviving script of its kind from India’s silent film era.[11][12][13] Film scholar Kaushik Bhaumik notes that the existence of such a document demonstrates that structured and technically detailed screenwriting practices were present in Indian silent cinema, countering earlier views that such films lacked formal scripting.[12]
References
[edit]- ^ Rajadhyaksha & Willemen 2014, p. 245, GUL-E-BAKAVALI 1924 St 7997 ft b&w d Kanjibhai Rathod po Kohinoor Film.
- ^ Thomas 2015, p. 9, The first all-India super hit, a storm across the country in 1924, was Gul-e-Bakavali (The Bakavali Flower, Kanjibhai Rathod), a fantasy film that was made and released a year before Douglas Fairbanks's Hollywood film Thief of Bagdad (Raoul Walsh, 1924) arrived to captivate India's audiences.
- ^ Rajadhyaksha 2016, p. 19, Gul-e-Bakavali was almost certainly the first truly national commercial hit in India.
- ^ Rajadhyaksha & Willemen 2014, p. 245–6, One of the most successful silent films tells the legend of the fairy Bakavali (Zubeida), her deivi pushp (or divine flower) Gul known for its healing powers, and the Eastern prince Taj-ul-Mulk (Khalil), who wants the flower to cure his blind father.
- ^ Gooptu, Sharmistha (6 June 2012). "Hundred years of Indian cinema". The Times of India. Retrieved 8 July 2025.
There was also the genre of films like Gul-e-Bakavali (1924), inspired by the popular Parsi theatres of Bombay and Calcutta, and which also became the first blockbuster talkies.
- ^ BioScope: South Asian Screen Studies 2012, p. 196–7.
- ^ Rajadhyaksha & Willemen 2014, p. 245–246.
- ^ Parthasarathy, Adhiraj (4 August 2024). "Persian prose meets pulp fiction: How an 18th-century fairy tale became a multilingual phenomenon". Scroll.in. Retrieved 8 July 2025.
- ^ Guy, Randor (30 October 2010). "Blast from the past – Gulebakavali (1955)". The Hindu. Retrieved 8 July 2025.
- ^ Mukherjee 2020, p. 123.
- ^ Nelmes, J.; Selbo, J. (2015). Women Screenwriters: An International Guide. Palgrave Macmillan UK. p. 84. ISBN 978-1-137-31237-2.
In 2012, parts of 'the only film script available from India's entire silent cinema era', Gul-e-Bakavali (Kanjibhai Rathod, 1924), were published in BioScope: South Asian Screen Studies
- ^ a b Mukherjee 2020, p. 124.
- ^ BioScope: South Asian Screen Studies 2012.
Sources
[edit]- Rajadhyaksha, Ashish; Willemen, Paul (2014). Encyclopedia of Indian Cinema. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-135-94318-9. Archived from the original on 4 December 2018.
- "The Script of Gul-e-Bakavali (Kohinoor, 1924)". BioScope: South Asian Screen Studies. 3 (2): 175–207. 2012. doi:10.1177/097492761200300206. ISSN 0974-9276.
- Mukherjee, Debashree (2020). Bombay Hustle: Making Movies in a Colonial City. Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-55167-0.
- Thomas, Rosie (2015). Bombay before Bollywood: Film City Fantasies. State University of New York Press. ISBN 978-1-4384-5677-5.
- Rajadhyaksha, A. (2016). Indian Cinema: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-872309-7.