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{{Short description|Indian writer, director and producer (1886–1969)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2016}}
{{Use Indian English|date=September 2016}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Ardeshir Irani
| image = [[File:Ardeshir Irani.jpg|frameless|275x275px]]
| caption = Ardeshir Irani in 1937 [[Indian Motion Picture Producers Association|IMPPA]] President
| years_active =
| birth_name = Khan Bahadur Ardeshir Irani
| birth_date = 5 December 1886
| birth_place = [[Poona]], [[Bombay Presidency]], [[British India]] (now [[Pune]], [[Maharashtra]])
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1969|10|14|1886|12|5|df=yes}}
| death_place = [[Bombay]], [[Maharashtra]], India
| known_for = [[Cinema of India|Early Indian cinema]]
| alma_mater = [[Sir Jamsetjee Jeejebhoy School of Art|Sir J. J. School of Art]]
| occupation = Film Director, Producer <br>founded [[Sagar Movietone]] (1929)
| spouse =
| children =
}}

'''Khan Bahadur Ardeshir Irani''' (5 December 1886 – 14 October 1969) was a writer, director, producer, actor, film distributor, film showman and cinematographer in the silent and sound eras of early [[Indian cinema]].<ref name=Cinemaazi>{{cite web|url=https://www.cinemaazi.com/people/ardeshir-irani|url-status=dead|archive-date=11 December 2023|title=Ardeshir Irani - Director|website=Indian Cinema Heritage Foundation (Cinemaazi.com) website|access-date=23 March 2025|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231211233153mp_/https://www.cinemaazi.com/people/ardeshir-irani}}</ref><ref name=IndianCinema>{{cite web |title=INDIAN CINEMA - Milestones from 1896-1951 |url=https://wiki.phalkefactory.net/index.php?title=INDIAN_CINEMA |website=wiki.phalkefactory.net website|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120509213245/https://wiki.phalkefactory.net/index.php?title=INDIAN_CINEMA|archive-date=9 May 2012|access-date=23 March 2025|url-status=dead}}</ref>

He is considered one of the greatest personalities in recent Indian Cinema. He was the director of India's first sound film Alam Ara. He was the producer of India's first colour film Kisan Kanya. He was renowned for making films in [[Hindi language|Hindi]], [[Telugu language|Telugu]], [[English language|English]], [[German language|German]], [[Indonesian language|Indonesian]], [[Persian language|Persian]], [[Urdu language|Urdu]] and [[Tamil language|Tamil]]. He was a successful entrepreneur who owned film theatres, a [[Phonograph record|gramophone]] agency, and a car agency.

==Life and career==
Ardeshir Irani was born into a [[Parsis|Parsi]] [[Zoroastrian]] family on 5 December 1886 in [[Pune]], [[Bombay Presidency]].<ref name=Cinemaazi/><ref name=ParsiKhabar>{{Cite web|date=2019-10-14|title=Ardeshir Irani, the father of Indian talkies who had many other milestones to his name|url=https://parsikhabar.net/film/ardeshir-irani-the-father-of-indian-talkies-who-had-many-other-milestones-to-his-name/21171/|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200927123642/https://parsikhabar.net/film/ardeshir-irani-the-father-of-indian-talkies-who-had-many-other-milestones-to-his-name/21171/ |archive-date=27 September 2020|access-date=2025-03-23|website=Parsi Khabar website|language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=FL>{{Cite journal|last=Fish|first=Laura|date=2018-05-04|title=The Bombay interlude: Parsi transnational aspirations in the first Persian sound film|url=https://doi.org/10.1080/20403526.2018.1480702|journal=Transnational Cinemas|volume=9|issue=2|pages=197–211|doi=10.1080/20403526.2018.1480702|s2cid=149889755 |issn=2040-3526|url-access=subscription}}</ref> In 1905, Irani became the Indian representative of [[Universal Pictures|Universal Studios]] and he ran Alexander Cinema in [[Bombay]] with Abdulally Esoofally for over forty years. It was at Alexandera Cinema that Ardeshir Irani learned the rules of the art of filmmaking and became fascinated by the medium. In 1917, Irani entered the field of film production and produced his first silent feature film, ''Nala Damayanti'', which was released in 1920.

In 1922, Irani joined Bhogilal Dave, the former manager of [[Dadasaheb Phalke]]'s [[Dadasaheb Phalke#Hindustan Films|Hindustan Films]], and established [[Star Films]]. Their first silent feature film, ''Veer Abhimanyu'' was released in 1922 and starred [[Fatima Begum]] in the female lead. Dave, a graduate of the New York School of Photography, shot the films while Irani directed and produced them. [[Star Films]] produced seventeen films before Irani and Dave dissolved the partnership.

[[File:Ardeshir Irani recording Alam Ara, 1931.jpg|right|thumb|Ardeshir Irani on the sets of ''[[Alam Ara]]''. February 1931]]
In 1924, Irani founded Majestic Film Company, joined by two talented youngsters, B.P. Mishra and Naval Gandhi. At this establishment, Irani produced the films and either Mishra or Gandhi directed the films. Despite its success, fifteen films later, Majestic Films closed, giving way to the equally short-lived Royal Art Studios which had exactly the same life-span as the earlier two, however, it became famous for a certain type of romantic films. Irani improved on it, using new talent to great effect.

In 1925, Irani founded [[Imperial Films]], where he made sixty-two films. By the age of forty, Irani was an established filmmaker of Indian cinema. Ardeshir Irani became the father of talkie films with the release of his sound feature film, ''[[Alam Ara]]'' on 14 March 1931.<ref name=Cinemaazi/><ref name=IndianCinema/><ref name=ParsiKhabar/> Many of the films he produced were later made into talkie films with the same cast and crew. He is also credited with making the first Indian English feature film, ''Noor Jahan'' (1934).<ref name=Cinemaazi/> He completed his hat-trick of earning fame when he made the first colour feature film of India, ''[[Kisan Kanya (1937 film)|Kisan Kanya]]'' (1937).<ref name=Cinemaazi/> His contribution does not end only with giving voice to the silent cinema and colour to black-and-white films. He gave a new courageous outlook to filmmaking in India and provided such a wide range of choice for stories in films that till date, there are films being made which have a theme relating to one of the one hundred fifty-eight films made by Irani.<ref name=Cinemaazi/><ref name=ParsiKhabar/>

In 1933, Irani produced and directed the first Persian [[talkie]], ''[[Lor Girl|Dokhtar-e-Lor]]''. The script was written by [[Abdolhossein Sepanta]] who also acted in the film along with members of the local [[Parsi people|Parsi]] community.<ref name=ParsiKhabar/><ref>[http://www.iranchamber.com/cinema/articles/iranian_cinema_before_revolution1.php Iranian Cinema: Before the Revolutions]</ref>

Irani's Imperial Films introduced a number of new actors to Indian Cinema, including [[Prithviraj Kapoor]] and [[Mehboob Khan]]. He also interfered with the medium. He produced ''[[Kalidas (1931 Film)|Kalidas]]'' in [[Telugu language|Telugu]] and Tamil, as a bilingual talkie, on the sets of ''Alam Ara'', with songs and major casting in [[Telugu language|Telugu]].<ref name=Cinemaazi/> Also, Irani visited [[London]], England for fifteen days to study sound recording and recorded the sounds of ''Alam Ara'' on the basis of this knowledge. In the process, he created a whole new trend unknowingly. In those days, outdoor shootings were shot in the sunlight with the help of reflectors. However, the outdoor undesirable sounds were disturbing him so greatly that he shot the entire sequence in the studio under heavy lights. Thus, he began the trend of shooting under artificial light.

==Death==
Irani made one hundred fifty-eight films in a long and illustrious career of twenty-five years, between the [[First World War|First]] and [[Second World War]]s. He made his last film, ''Pujari'', in 1945. Irani was not compelled to live like [[Dadasaheb Phalke]] for he realised that the war was a time not suitable for the film business and therefore he suspended his film business during that time. He died on 14 October 1969 at the age of eighty-two, in Mumbai, Maharashtra.<ref name=Cinemaazi/>

==President==
Ardeshir Irani was the first president of the [[Indian Motion Picture Producers Association|Indian Motion Picture Producers' Association]] (IMPPA), from 1937 to 1939.<ref>{{cite web |title=IMPPA |url=https://www.imppa.info/imppaPastPresident.html |website=www.imppa.info}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Film producers' association, IMPPA gets a complete makeover - See photos |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/hindi/bollywood/news/film-producers-association-imppa-gets-a-complete-makeover-see-photos/articleshow/106031680.cms |website=The Times of India |date=15 December 2023}}</ref>

==Filmography==
===As director===
* 1922 : ''Veer Abhimanyu''- Silent<ref name=Cinemaazi/>
* 1924: ''Vir Durgadhar'' - Silent
* 1924: ''Paap No Fej'' - Silent
* 1924: ''Bombay Ni Sethani'' (Call of Satan - Silent)
* 1924: ''Shahjehan'' - Silent
* 1925: ''Narsingh Dakoo'' - Silent
* 1925: ''Navalsha Hirji'' - Silent
* 1927: Wild Cat of Bombay - Silent
* 1931: ''[[Alam Ara]]'' - First Indian Talkie<ref name=Cinemaazi/>
* 1933: ''[[Lor Girl]]'' - First film in Persian<ref name=FL/>
* 1937: ''Carlos''

===As producer===
* ''Anarkali'' (1928)
* ''[[Draupadi (1931 film)|Draupadi]]'' (1931)
* ''[[Narsinh Mehta (film)|Narsih Mehta]]'' (1932)
* ''[[Shirin and Farhad (1934 film)|Shirin and Farhad]] '' (1934)
* ''[[Kisan Kanya (1937 film)|Kisan Kanya]]'' - First Indian Colour (1937)<ref name=Cinemaazi/><ref name=IndianCinema/><ref name=ParsiKhabar/>
* ''[[Lor Girl]]'' (1933)

===As actor===
* ''[[Ferdowsi (1934 film)|Ferdowsi]]'' (1934)

==See also==
*[[Sagar Movietone]] his studio that succeeded Inperial
*[[H. M. Reddy]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb name|0409781}}
* [https://www.imdb.com/company/co0011791/ Sagar Movietone] at [[IMDb]]

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Irani, Ardeshir}}
[[Category:20th-century Indian people]]
[[Category:People from Pune]]
[[Category:Irani (India) people]] 
[[Category:1886 births]]
[[Category:1969 deaths]]
[[Category:Film directors from Mumbai]]
[[Category:Hindi-language film directors]]
[[Category:Indian silent film directors]]

Ardeshir Irani - Revision history

Villagetalkies at 17:18, 6 February 2026