Came across this wonderful site, that lists various events in the Indian cinema/music world over the years.
This page is for the 1930s: http://www.chandrakantha.com/articles/i ... 1930s.html
A few snippets:
1936 - All India Radio (1936) is established.
1931 - India's first "Talkie" is release, this is "Alam Ara".
1931 - The first sound films in Tamil, Telugu, and Bengali are produced.
1932 - The actress Zubeida creates a sensation in her film "Zarina", with her scanty attire and her kissing scenes. Kissing on-screen would not become acceptable for many decades.
1932 - The Motion Picture Society of India is established
1935 - The film "Dhoop Chhaon" introduces the concept of the "playback singer". Before this, the actors sang for themselves.
1936 - Ashok Kumar makes his film debut in the film "Jeevan Naiya".
1937 - India's first indigenously processed colour film is released, this is "Kisan Kanya".
1938 - The first Malayalam talkie is made. This is "Balan" and it was produced by Modern Theatres Ltd.
There are also similar lists for 40s, 50s, etc, plus great video links. Fascinating stuff!