The film is a love story between a prince and a gypsy girl, based on a Parsi play written by Joseph David. David later served as a writer at Irani's film company. The story centres on an imaginary, historical royal family in the kingdom of Kumarpur. The main characters are the king, Sultan Saleem Khan, and his two warring wives, Dilbahar Begum and Naubahar Begum. Their rivalry escalates when a fakir predicts that Navbahar will bear the king's heir.

Dilbahar, in a fit, attempts to have an affair with the kingdom's chief minister, General Adil Khan (Prithviraj Kapoor). The affair goes sour and a vengeful Dilbahar imprisons him and exiles his daughter, Alam Ara or Alamara (Zubeida). In exile, Alamara is brought up by Gypsies. Upon returning to the palace at Kumarpur, Alamara meets and falls in love with the charming young prince, Jahangir Khan (Master Vithal). In the end, Adil is released, Dilbahar is punished and the lovers marry.

• Master Vithal as Jahangir Khan
• Zubeida as Alamara
• Prithviraj Kapoor as General Adil Khan
• Jillo

Both the movie and its music were widely successful, including the hit song "De de khuda ke naam per", which was also the first song of the Indian cinema. It was sung by actor Wazir Mohammed Khan who played a fakir in the film. As playback singing had yet to start in Indian cinema, it was recorded live with musical accompaniment of a harmonium and a tabla.

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In 1930 Irani was prompted to make India’s first talking and singing film after he saw the part-talkie American film Show Boat (1929). At that time, there were no soundproof stages and technicians were unaware of how to make a film that had sound.^[14] He then decided to make a screen version of a popular stage play written by Joseph David, who agreed to adapt the play for the silver screen. Irani handled the sound recording department, using the Tanar Sound System. It was shot with the Tanar single-system camera, which recorded sound directly onto the film.^[10]

The film was mostly shot at night, between 1am and 4am with microphones hidden near the actors. The studio was near the railway tracks, and the noise of the trains disturbed the shooting during the day.^[14] Since Alam Ara was the first Indian sound film, the makers needed actors who knew the language. Ruby Myers was considered for the title character but Zubeida was cast instead. It was because Ruby Myers was an Iraqi Jew and was not fluent in Urdu or Hindustani language.^[14] The then newcomer Mehboob Khan, who later went on to make Mother India (1957), was considered for the male lead. But, they decided to cast a more commercially viable actor and chose actor-stuntman Master Vithal.^[14]

The film had music by Ferozshah M. Mistri and B. Irani, and had seven songs:

• "De de khuda ke naam pe", Wazir Mohammed Khan
• "Badla Dilwayega Ya Rabb", Zubeida^[15]
• "Rutha Hai Asman gum ho gaya mahatab", Jillu
• "Teri Kaatil nigahon ne mara"
• "De dil ko aaram aye saki gulfam"
• "Bhar bhar ke jam pila ja sagar ke chalane bala"
• "Daras bina mare hai tarse naina pyare"

There is no known copy of the film today. The National Archives of India says that they do not possess a print and couldn't locate one as far back as 1967.^[9] It was incorrectly reported that the last known prints, in Pune's film archives, were damaged by a fire in 2003 when in fact no copy was ever possessed by the film archive. According to P.K. Nair, founder director of the National Film Archives of India (NFAI), Pune, "The report that Alam Ara print was destroyed at the NFAI is incorrect."^[4]

Alam Ara recorded as the first Hindi film of Bollywood. A total of 78 actors for the first time recorded their voices for the film. Google celebrated 80th anniversary of the film's release by means of Google Doodle on 14 March 2011.^[16] A 2015 calendar was released exhibiting posters of some of the first Indian films, including Alam Ara.^[17]

• Dena Paona
• Kalidas
• List of lost films
• List of Bollywood films of 1931