Printed Melodies: Revisiting Hindi Cinema Through Song Booklets

Song and dance have been an integral part of Indian cinema following the release of the first ever Indian talkie, Alam Ara (1931). As the talkies caught on, songs were,  more often than not, the primary reason for a film’s biggest ‘repeat value’ factor. Little wonder, then, that producers wanted to highlight the musical aspect of their movies as a marketing tool. These song booklets, costing a few annas, were sold in cinema halls during the intermission and were extremely popular among cinegoers at the time. 

Song booklets were nothing less than artworks in their own right. Within their layout, they incorporated the film’s poster on their cover, a list of its cast and crew, the synopsis of the story, and the lyrics of all the songs in the film. The talk by Karan Bali will shed light on how song booklets continue to serve as a valuable resource when we revisit Indian cinema history, and aid in filling up many gaps in our archival records and thereby present novel ways of reading the archive.

Image credits: Song Booklet, Kismet (1943). From Richa and Jamshed Chinoy Collection, MAP.