Not Hum Aapke Hain Koun or Taal, this Bollywood film holds a world record for most number of songs

Music and dance has been an integral part of the Indian cinema. There was a time when films used to have more than four or five songs. There are several films made in the 90s and early 2000s that created a flutter with more than 10 songs such as Hum Aapke Hain Koun..!(1994), Taal (1999), Silsila (1981), Devdas (2002) and more. However, not many know that before them there was a Hindi film which still holds the record for featuring 72 songs.

Which Bollywood film had 72 songs?

To your surprise there is a film that featured not 5 or 10 but 72 songs and the film is almost 91 years old. Yes, Indrasabha, released in 1932, introduced all the characters big or small with the song, making it the only Hindi film with the most songs. Reportedly, there were 9 thumris, 31 ghazals, 13 proper songs, 4 Holi songs, 5 chhand, 5 chobola, and 5 normal songs in the film. The 3-and-a-half-hour film, released just a year after Alam Ara, the first sound film in India. to just in India,  the film holds a record across the globe.

More about Indrasabha

The film was helmed by Jamahedji and Jehangirji Madan.  It was an adaptation of a 19th-century Urdu play called Inder Sabha, penned by Agha Hasan Amanat. The play was first brought on-screen in 1925 but as a silent film. In 1932, the film was remade with sound. The film revolves around a benevolent king whose morals are tested by God as they cause an apsara to appear before him as a poor woman. It starred  Nissar, Jehanara Kajjan and Abdul Rehman Kabuli in the key roles. Later in 1936, the film was remade in Tamil by A Narayanan and RS Prakash. The Tamil version was also titled Indrasabha.