1949 Bhiwandi, India

Abdul Rehman Fakih

Born 1939

Bhiwandi, India

Interviewed on Feb 3, 2026

By Imran Aziz

Imran: What is the first movie you remember seeing?

Abdul: In 1949, I saw a film called Mahal. 

Imran: How old were you?

Abdul: I was born in 1939 so I was about 9 years old.

Imran: So, tell me about what you remember about the movie.

Abdul: There was a song from that movie that was hauntingly melodious. It made the career of the actress – the most famous film singer in India Lata Mangeshkar. That song even today is remembered. It took a long time to make the movie and it was also the director’s first film. He was a temperamental character who wanted it to be an exact way with an overshot budget and all. The film was not a hit when it first came out but ordinary people just loved it. It became the most successful horror film of that time. It was classified as the first horror film and one of the best horror films in the world.  

Imran: What did you think of the characters and story? What about the actors?

Abdul: Oh, very much so. The actress was very beautiful and she remained a symbol of Indian beauty for a long time. Almost every film she came in afterwards: actors used to forget their dialogues and they all wanted to marry her.

Imran: Did you like the story?

Abdul: I was too young at that time to understand. I went because there was nothing else to do. We had only one theater in the town where I was. You either watch a movie or play with your buddies. Going for a movie is a big occasion. 

Imran: Who was with you?

Abdul: Usually myself, my brother, and some cousins and classmates. We used to go together. I don’t remember now but as far as I know, I saw the movie with some classmate of mine from school. We would all meet at the theater.

Imran: Did you not have an adult with you? No parent or anything?

Abdul: No, no parents. My father was not interested in seeing that movie one bit. He would say “What are you doing going to a movie?” We would go and he would be in Mumbai. Every so often he would come to town. We would do these things when he was not there. His job was in Mumbai so we went when he wasn’t there. He was 30 miles away which was a big distance at that time. When I grew up more I would take a bus and we would see movies.

Imran: How did you get to the theater/venue? Did you drive?

Abdul: We walked there. There was no question of cars for transportation. Sometimes we would cycle 10 miles to another nearby town to see movies. But that was some time later.

Imran: Did your parents not care about you being so far away?

Abdul [a bit pridefully]: There was no question of safety: I would be out of the house the whole day and my parents didn’t worry. There was no question of security because everyone knew me. In school I always stood first. In a small town this is all known.

Imran: Ha! I like that. And what about concessions? Did you have a favorite candy?

Abdul: Snacks are good. It was very hot outside. We used to get these ice cream cone types. Ice pops.

Imran: Was that your favorite candy?

Abdul: Yes it was. It was like milky ice cream but on a stick. We also had this fried pakora. So you’d eat ice pops and pakoras.

Imran: Was it expensive?

Abdul: These pakoras were just pennies in our hand. The equivalent of pennies is what we paid but we were always short of money. One rupee was a very big thing. It was not a metric system of coins. It was equivalent to the British system so it was not metric. It was not a standard currency system

Imran: Do you remember the name of the theater? Were there ushers? 

Abdul: Oh yes, the theater in our town is called… what the hell was it called?… Bhiwandi Talkies! That was the name of the theater

Imran: Oh Talkies because they showed talking movies.

Abdul: Yes talkies but they used to show silent movies there. It was much before my time but they did show them there. I’ve never seen a silent movie.

Imran: I’ve actually seen a few for my class. This class that I’m in. We watched the Big Parade and City Lights by Chaplin

Abdul: Ah yes we had heard of Chaplin. He had made that movie Great Dictator.

Imran: Did you ever see any Chaplin movies?

Abdul: They weren’t big hits in our town. The whole topic wasn’t very relevant. In our town we just wanted entertainment.

Imran: Was the movie a big event or was it just something to do?

Abdul: Yes, very big. For us it was very big. There were people who were seeing every movie that came. Who had the money or were older and making money. We were in school, see. So we were hand to mouth as far as spending money is concerned. And my style is always like this. Even when I grew up and came to Mumbai. Say I had 10 rupees. So I would spend that in three days and get the best things. But then there would be no money and I would read.

Imran: Was the theater crowded?

Abdul: Yeah always. The theater was always crowded. Very small theater. When we came to Mumbai there were bigger theaters owned by the Hollywood companies. The various filmmaking studios themselves had theaters in Mumbai. They owned them and would release their own English movies in those theaters. So all the Hollywood movies I started seeing when I moved to Mumbai. Every Sunday there would be morning shows at 10am and the price of the ticket would be half. One of my brothers would tell me what to watch. I wanted to learn the language well so I always watched British and Hollywood movies.

Imran: Yeah that’s really cool.

Abdul: That’s the only way to learn. This movie is 12 angry men which you’ve probably seen – I saw it in Mumbai at the age of 18-19. I’ve seen it then.

Imran: What was the first english speaking movie that you saw in Mumbai?

Abdul: The first one that I remember would be… there was a movie called Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. That movie ran for years in that theater. Howard Keel was the actor.

Imran: Did people talk about movies in school? Was it a normal subject of conversation?

Abdul: We actually used to be shown movies in school also. We stay from 5th to 11th grade in the same school. There we had a projection set and we watched documentaries. We would talk about movies too. In Mumbai when the film industry took off after 1947, a lot of well recognized poets in many languages moved there. Many actors and actresses came there. Movies have always been big in India and Mumbai was the big center.

Imran: What was going on in your life around that time?

Abdul: We were just kids. We thought: this is a movie, it will be fun.

Imran: Was the movie scary?

Abdul: Not really. I knew it was all make believe. I didn’t believe in any of this past life stuff.

Imran: What did you like most about it? Any specific scenes?

Abdul: What we liked most was music above all. Music, beautiful women, and some of the outdoor scenes. We once ran to see a movie being shot near our town. We all ran and we managed to see it. That was very exciting. Mostly we wanted to see who are the heroes and who are the heroines.

Imran: How common were movies back then?

Abdul: No, it was common. If a movie comes into the theater, the people who had the money would go see it. The tickets were not very expensive.

Imran: Were there ushers?

Abdul: Yes ushers were there. They will guide you to your seats. He has a flashlight. Once everything is closed then they would not allow you in. They would let people in in intervals. So in an interval we’d get something to eat.

Imran: So they paused the movie? There was an intermission?

Abdul: Yes there was. It was called an interval at that time. But it was basically an intermission. You come out and pakoras and ice cream are being served. They were the only things to eat.

Imran: But you liked them right?

Abdul: Yes I liked them. I don’t know about their hygiene but we liked them.

Note: Dr. Rehman is my grandfather on my mother’s side