Nanubhai Vakil


Nanubhai Vakil was a Hindi and Gujarati film director. He was the first to make a Gujarati talkie film with a biopic on the saint Narsinh Mehta in 1932. Narsinh Mehta's star cast included the actress Mehtab.

Career

Vakil frequently collaborated with Zubeida and Patience Cooper. The twelve-year-old Suraiya, who had done minor roles as a child artist in films like Usne Kya Socha was cast as the young Mumtaz in Taj Mahal by Vakil. Vakil later remade several of the silent films "based on Parsi theatre plays". W. M. Khan, who became famous as the first person to sing in an Indian film, "De De Allah Ke Naam Pe Pyare" in Alam Ara was made to reprise that song and role when he was seventy-one years old by Nanubhai Vakil. The film was Vakil's version of Alam Ara, produced by Maffatlal Shah, with music by Iqbal Qureshi.

Filmography

As a director