| Produced by: | Orient Pictures Corporation |
| Language: | Hindi and English intertitles |
| Color: | Black and white |
| Type: | Silent |
| Technical details: | 8282 ft.(English titled version for European release 5500ft.) Nitrate |
| Story: | Rabindranath Tagore |
| Screenplay: | Jamshed Ratnagar |
| Cast: | Sulochana, Zubeidaa, Master Vitthal, Janibabu, J. Makhijani, Jal Khambatta |
| Camera: | Naval Bhatt |
| Director: | Naval Gandhi |
‘An excellent and truly Indian film’- The Indian Cinematograph Committee, 1927.
‘Balidan’ was a persuasive effort at bringing about social reform with its story of a conflict between a progressive, rational king and an orthodox, ritual-bound priest. The bone of contention between them is the issue of animal sacrifice for religious purposes. Featuring the top actors of the day and based on a play by the venerable Rabindranath Tagore himself, the film was widely praised as a breakthrough both technically as well as in terms of adapting a literary piece of work. After a few initial hiccups, the film enjoyed a prolific run in theatres.
