Ardeshir Irani, who had made silent films like Navalsha Hirji (1925), Mumbai Ni Sethani (1924), Paap No Fej (1924) and Shahjehan (1924), was inspired to make Alam Ara after watching Universal's Showboat. Alam Ara was mostly shot indoors at night. In an interview Irani had said, "Since our studio was located near a railway track most of the shooting was done in the late hours when the trains ceased operation. We worked with single-system Tanar recording equipment. There were no booms, so we had to hide the mikes in odd places." Not surprisingly, the film lacked in technical finesse. Nevertheless, it ran to full houses for weeks on end, and its artistes Master Vithal, Zubeida (who played the title role) and Prithviraj Kapoor became instant stars. It also created a rush to launch "all talking, singing and dancing films".

Interestingly, J.J. Madan was among the earliest to think of producing a talkie film in India. Madan Theatres had, in fact, released the first talkie in India in 1929 - Universal Studio’s Melody of Love – at Calcutta’s Elphinstone Picture Palace. At that stage, Elphinstone was the only cinema hall in India equipped with a sound system. Soon after, the same film was shown at Excelsior Theatre in Bombay. By the end of 1930, 30 theatres in India were equipped to screen talkie films.

During one of his New York, J.J. Madan happened to see the talkie Jazz Singer. He was so impressed by the audience’s response to it that he decided to produce a talkie on his return to India. He specially visited Hollywood to study the new development. But, before he could realize his dream, an enterprising Ardeshir Irani hit the screen with his talkie, Alam Ara, starring Prithviraj Kapoor, Master Vithal and Zubeida (who played the title role) on March 14, 1931. Madan Theatres’ first Hindi talkie, Shirin Farhad, was released on May 30, 1931, with Urdu theatre’s popular singing pair, Jahan Ara Kajjan and Master Nissar, playing the lead. With the success of Shirin Farhad, the two went on to become a very popular romantic pair in the early talkies. Their ability to speak Urdu and Hindi fluently was their biggest asset. Many popular actors of the ‘silent’ era were out of work because of their inability to speak Hindi/Urdu. A big star of the ‘silent’ era, Master Vithal, barely had any lines to speak in Alam Ara. His lack of fluency in the Hindi language led him to shift to Marathi films in later years. Madan Theatres' Jamai Shashti was the first Bengali talkie. Kalidas was the first Tamil talkie. There were also Bhakta Prahlad (Telugu), Ayodhyecha Raja (Marathi), Narsimha Mehta (Gujarathi) and Dhruva Kumar (Kannada).