1937: Key Events

• Elections under the 1935 Act, when several political veterans contest for governmental office for the first time in their lives, leads to a Congress triumph in 8 of the 11 British-ruled provinces.

• C. P. Ramaswamy Aiyer, the dewan of Travancore, announces the Temple Entry proclamation and later concedes communal representation to keep the Christian, Ezhava and Muslim communities from becoming a joint opposition to Nair and caste-Hindu domination.

• Amrita Sher-Gil, who returned to India in 1934, visits the Ajanta and Mattancheri murals (1936-7), and paints her major works, Brahmacharis and Bride’s Toilet.

• First ‘songless’ film, J. B. H. Wadia’s Naujawan.

• The first indigenously made colour film is Gidwani’s Kisan Kanya, using the Cinecolor process acquired by Imperial.

• T. R. Sundaram starts Modern Theatres in Salem; Newtone Studio starts in Madras.

• The Indian Motion Picture Producers’ Association (IMPPA) is formed in Bombay, the first and for several years the most influential trade union in the film industry.

• Sant Tukaram receives a special jury mention in Venice.

• The Amateur Cine Society of India is formed in Bombay by, a. o. , P. V. Pathy, Stanley Jepson and Rudi Van Leyden.

• Jogjiban Bandyopadhyay sets up the Bengali film weekly Kheyali.