Homi Master was an actor-director of early Indian cinema. His work extended from the silent era to the talkie era and up to his death. He produced his best films for Kohinoor Film Company and he has been referred to as "silent cinema's most successful film-maker". Master acted in the then-controversial film Bhakta Vidur, Kala Naag and Kulin Kanta. Some of his important films were Bismi Sadi, Manorama, Do Ghadi Ki Mauj, Samaj Ki Bhool and Gul Sanobar. He was active from 1921 to 1949 and made over seventy-eight films. His later films in Gujarati and Hindi were termed as B movies. He died in 1949.
Early life
At the age of thirteen, Master joined a famous Parsi theatre group called Bilwala. He soon became a popular stage actor, with his performance in Pakzaad Parveen being appreciated. Following a brief stint at the Phalke Film company, he joined Kohinoor Film Company working initially as an actor. He went on to direct films for them starting with Bismi Sadi.
Career
1920s
Homi Master acted in three films before getting a chance to direct. The three films, Bhakta Vidur , Ajamil and Vratasur Vadha, were directed by Kanjibhai Rathod. He played the lead role in Kala Naag, a film he helped co-direct with Rathod in 1924. A crime drama, it was the first "recorded example" using real-life characters and was based on the Champsi-Haridas Murder case in Bombay. In 1924, Master started his career as a director with Dwarka Sampat's Kohinoor Film Company. His first film for Kohinoor was Bismi Sadi, starring Raja Sandow, Miss Moti and Noor Mohammed Charlie. A social, the film was about a hawker who becomes a mill-owner and goes on to exploit the people working under him. Manorama was based on the famous Gujarati romantic poet Kalapi's autobiographical poem "Hridaya Triputi". The film was made in the fantasy genre and broke "all records" when it ran for fourteen weeks. Other significant films at this time were The Telephone Girl, also called Telephone Ni Taruni, produced by Kohinoor, and starring Ruby Myers, Gohar and Raja Sandow. Educated Wife or Bhaneli Bhamini, was another Kohinoor film with Gohar, Vaidya and Raja Sandow. They were social films that were successful at the box office. Gul Sanobar was a fantasy production from Kohinoor Film Company, based on Persian fairy tale romances, and directed by Master. It starred the then-popular star Khalil with Miss Yakbal. The film was later remade in 1934, with the same name, directed by Master and produced by Imperial Film Company. The cast included stars of the time like Sulochana, D. Billimoria and Zubeida.
1930–1940
His 1934 filmSamaj Ki Bhool, was a social film promoting a widow's right to remarry. It starred Jamshedji, Lalita Pawar, Jilloobai, Dulari and Rafiq Ghaznavi, with music composed by Pransukh Nayak. In 1935, he directed three films Do Ghadi Ki Mauj a social film produced by Imperial, starring Ruby Myers and D. Billimoria; Ghar Jamai a social comedy, a Hindi/Gujarati bilingual, produced by Premier Films with story by Mohanlal G. Dave. The third film, Naya Zamana was again produced by Premier Films and starred Heera and Ghulam Mohammed with music by Khansaheb. He continued to direct films making 'B' class films and some in the Gujarati language. According to Rajadhyaksha and Willemen, he worked as a production manager at Kardar Studios towards the end of his career.
