Nostalgia: The Costliest Silent Film Made In India

January 26, 2021

Before the talkie movies arrived, there were a good number of Mookie or silent movies which were entertaining the audience.

Due to various challenges involved in making a film, the distributors used to import foreign films and screen them. But one man chose to do something different. He was A. Narayanan.

During the early 1900s Narayanan rose to become a famous distributor and he had his headquarters in Madras.

While he made few films under his banner the most lavish was the film ‘Leila-The Star Of Mingrelia’. This was made at a whopping cost of Rs 75000 and became the costliest silent film ever made in India.

As the title indicates, the film was made with Arabian backdrop which took 20 reels. It had a big release at the Wellington Cinema in Madras, Super Cinema in Bombay and even Burma and Singapore. The film became a big hit and Narayanan made good money.

This was also his last production. It can be said that the film was hailed in such a way that Bahubali is being hailed now for the huge budget involved in making and the rate of return on investment.