First Prez Rajendra Prasad instrumental in first Bhojpuri film

Noted actor Nazir Hussain's chance meeting with India's first President Rajendra Prasad resulted in the country's first Bhojpuri film, the timeless classic "Ganga Maiyya Tohe Piyari Chadhaibo".
"Despite being the President, Rajen Babu always spoke to people from Bhojpuri-speaking regions in his mother-tongue and when Nasir sahab met him, he expressed his desire to see a film in Bhojpuri language being made," says film scholar and critic Alok Ranjan.
For Hussain, who hailed from Ghazipur in eastern Uttar Pradesh, the chance encounter proved to be a catalyst that helped turn a dream into an obsession.
The film starring Kum Kum of "C.I.D" fame and featuring the voices of Lata Mangeshkar and Mohammed Rafi, in soulful renditions was released in 1963 to critical and commercial applause.

To commemorate the golden jubilee year of the vernacular cinema, Cine Society, Patna, organised a week-long Bhojpuri film festival to acknowledge the struggles and the triumphs of a film industry that went from "much-loved to much-maligned" in the past 50 years.
The festival opened with "Ganga Maiyya..." on November 13 followed by "Dangal", the first colour cinema in Bhojpuri followed by "Dagabaz Balma" starring Padma Khanna, the next day. Recent films like "Hamar Dewdas" among others also feature in the line-up.
"The fruition of this festival is like the making of the first Bhojpuri cinema, beset with challenges and great difficulties, but despite thin audience and absence of stars invited for the festival, I find solace in the fact that we finally made it happen," says National Award-winning critic and festival co-ordinator Vinod Anupam.

Festival co-organiser Raviraj Patel said, "The film was eventually dedicated to President Rajen Babu at his post-retirement retreat at the Sadaquat Asharam in Patna on February 21, 1963 and released the next day for public at the Veena Cinema in Patna.