Bonding with the brothers

In 1942 my father Dossabhai Naterwalla came across an advertisement in a newspaper that the reputed film company Wadia Movietone required an efficient and experienced accountant. He was in dire need of a good job, being forced to flee China in the throes of World War II a year earlier. My father was initially apprehensive since he had just one certificate in accountancy from the London Chamber of Commerce. After a year at St Xavier’s College he had joined the Bank of India and was later with M/s Vasania and Company in Shameen (China) for seven years.

When my father went to the Wadia Movietone office at the palatial Lowji Castle at Lower Parel he approached Jamshed B. H. (JBH) Wadia who directed him to Burjorji Tata, a strict administrator and technician at that time. The partners at Wadia Movietone then were Jamshed Wadia, his brother Homi, Tata, Mancher­shaw Billimoria and his brother Homi. My father so impressed Tata that he was asked to join the next day, much to the consternation of our family who was not keen that he join a film company.

During his first year my father was able to win over the confidence of JBH and Tata. He was given a room next to JBH on the first floor of Lowji Castle with an intercom system, a novelty in those days, permitting them easy access. Soon he learnt how to prepare artists’ contracts, film distributors’ agreements, costing of raw stock of films... Words like dubbing, matching, sound positive and sound negative became meaningful. He got to meet Madhuri and Meena Kumari who were then child artistes and would often climb onto my father’s table to scribble on a piece of paper.

Over the years my father would invariably bring home amazing and funny stories from the studio. On my first visit to the Wadia Movietone office I remember seeing a dance shoot of Sharbati Ankhein with dance master P. D. Kothare showing some new steps to the dancers.

Top: At the mu­hu­rat of Shar­bati Ankhein with Low­ji Castle in the back­ground; Center: JBH Wa­dia with Haidee and Hillamai; Below (from left) Roy and H. B. Wadia, Perin­banoo Naterwalla and M. Wadia

The partners then separated and set up their own companies. Manchershaw Billimoria set up M. B. Billimoria and Sons as a film distributor; Burjorji Tata and Son were into repairing cine movie cameras, H. B. Wadia under the Basant Pictures banner started producing mythological movies; and JBH, continuing with Wadia Movietone, focussed on social themes. Both the brothers’ pictures did good business all over India and overseas because they had a close network of distributors with two distributing offices of their own in Bombay and in Delhi.

Before I joined Wadia Movietone in 1960 Lowji Castle had already gone into the hands of legendary filmmaker V. Shantaram at a throwaway price. I harbored dreams of becoming a director and storywriter in the future and of joining the Film Institute in Poona with the help of JBH who was a lecturer there. My father was keen that I graduate but when he realized that I could not achieve what I wanted to do, he encouraged me to assist him at his office, doing filing work, writing out cheques, slip books and running small errands. One day I started writing a few entries and soon I was able to write the whole cash book with ease, work on journals and ledgers independently, ready trial balances.

Working in the small one-room Wadia Movietone office at Chamarbaug Road where there was just space for three tables — for JBH, my father and an assistant from Chembur Studio, I had the privilege of sharing the table with JBH who rarely came to that office. Within six years I was able to write the account books of Wadia Films Private Limited, would attend to income tax matters, and was offered a half day’s job at the Basant Film Distributors’ office at Naaz Cinema building to learn film distribution and exhibition work.

One day I chanced to see the famous Sohrab Modi (fondly called ‘the roaring lion of Minerva Movietone’ because of his resonant voice) who came barging in to meet the Wadia brothers to remind them of their promise to purchase his two movie cameras. Facing a financial crisis Modi was desperate to raise money and the brothers agreed to pay him.

JBH’s wife Hillamai was a gem of a person, soft-spoken, always elegantly dressed in a sari. She was once made production manager of a movie. The brothers had an elder brother and two sisters Gaimai and Soonamai. Their mother Dhunmai was an orthodox person who had been widowed at a young age. Although initially she was not happy with her sons on their joining the films, subsequently, even as an invalid she would arrive at the studio in a wheelchair to watch the shooting. JBH and Hillamai had a son Vinci and daughter Haidee. Vinci and his wife Nergish have two sons Roy and Riyad.

A shrewd businessman, Homi Wadia recognized my father’s potential as an administrator and started giving him more responsibilities. It was through his persistent efforts that the Basant Cine Labs got started. When the Basant Theatre was built my father played a very important role in its initial stages. Ten years back, after working with Wadia Movietone for 32 years, my father died. I worked with them for 13 years until I joined Mulla and Mulla as an accounts officer. In the two-volume memoirs of JBH that the family is considering publishing, I hope the doyen has referred to my father’s contribution!

It would have been only fitting if the British government had shown an interest in saving the majestic Lowji Castle from demolition when Wadia Movietone was facing financial difficulties. On the occasion of JBH’s centenary year, if any institution or individual can help restore his association with the erstwhile premises, it would be a fitting tribute to his memory.