The first playback song in Indian cinema came from a film you’ve probably never heard of

'Bhagya Chakra', a Bengali film directed by Nitin Bose, is widely referred to as the first Indian film to use playback singing. In earlier films, actors would have to record their own voice to record the songs whilst on set, but 'Bhagya Chakra' allowed for pre-recorded song tracks to be played during shooting, for the actor to lip sync to a process which would soon become the industry norm in Indian cinema.

Play-back singing was subsequently also featured in Hindi in 1935, when 'Bhagya Chakra' was re-made as 'Dhoop Chhaon', using the same original playback technique and cementing play-back as an initial standard operating practice in the Hindi film industry, thereby establishing a precedent for every musical released thereafter.

Nitin Bose, who was also the director of 'Dhoop Chhaon', can be credited with the conception and realization of playback singing. By carving out the specific roles of singers and actors, it allowed filmic production to occur while also providing a further polish and emotionality to the cinematic experience.

R.C. Boral and Pankaj Mullick, both music directors for 'Dhoop Chhaon', produced the first ever playback song within Indian cinema. Their collaboration allowed pre-recorded songs to intuitively match actors' performances, which was significant both for the art and technology of it.

Playback singing developed a genre of Indian film, separating the act of singing from the act of performance. This new usage allowed some relaxation of casting, offered better quality of music, and ultimately became an identifiable marker of Indian cinema and an entire shift in practice for generations of filmmakers and musicians.