Cinema
arrived on the shores of Calcutta, the second
city of the British Empire, soon after the Lumieré
Brother’s organised the first public screening
of their cinematograph in a Parisian café
in June 1896. A report in The Statesman,
Calcutta of 20th January, 1897 captioned 'Cinematograph
Delights Audience' states, “It seems
certain that the exhibition of moving pictures
in Calcutta had already began either in November
or December 1896… Mr. Hudson had arranged
for an exhibition of the cinematograph in connection
with his entertainments and he practically sprang
a mine on his audience when he closed his performance
at the Theatre Royal on a Monday night with his
new invention… the audience were greatly
delighted by the realism of the scenes which passed
in rapid view before them…” The
same report also mentions that one Mr. Stephens,
an English impresario to be the first person to
screen moving pictures in Calcutta. Mr. Stephens,
the report stated used to show his moving pictures
at an open place near the Calcutta High Court
and other European inhabited zones of the city.
Film historian GP Ghosh, in his book Shonar Daag
also mentions one Father Laffoun, a Jesuit professor
of the St. Xavier’s College as one of the
pioneers. Father Laffoun however had no commercial
motives and used his machine exclusively to teach
his students.
The cinematograph and its moving images soon
grew in popularity and screenings were organised
all over the city. While Mr. Hudson organised
his screenings at the Star Theatre his rival Mr.
Stephens screened his films at the Classic Theatre
of the noted theatre personality Amarendranath
Dutta. A handbill circulated by the authorities
of the Star Theatre advertised motion pictures
as ‘the eighth wonder of the world’
and cajoled the public to enjoy ‘life-like
images of people and animals moving and running.’
During the last months of 1897 Mr. Stephens too
joined the Star Theatre; its proprietor Amritalal
Bose called his variety entertainment a combination
of ‘fakes’ and ‘actualities’.
Among the audience of these screenings were two
brothers Hiralal and Motilal Sen, sons of Chandramohan
Sen, a rich and successful barrister. Impressed
with the machines of Mr. Stephens, the two brothers,
who were excellent amateur photographers, wanted
to know more about this new medium but their efforts
were rebuffed by Mr. Stephens. Undaunted, the
two brothers especially Hiralal researched heavily
on this novelty of motion pictures by importing
foreign journals and technical manuals. He borrowed
five thousand rupees from his mother and ordered
a range of cinematographic equipment including
the movie camera and projector from John Range
& Sons Pvt. Ltd. of Grey’s Inn, London.
The machines landed in Calcutta early 1898 but
Sen had major problems in screening his films
to a wider audience as the supply of electricity
was restricted to just a few select localities
of Calcutta. Undaunted, he imported the ‘Limelight’
from England and with Motilal as his assistant
began public film shows in and around Calcutta
and private screenings at houses of the rich and
famous persons of the day. The duo who, informally
came to be known as the Sen Brothers formed a
company naming it The Royal Bioscope Company in
1898, although it was formally registered in 1900.
Warwick Trading Company meanwhile had commissioned
a series of films on the life and times of Calcutta/Bengal
titled The Calcutta Panorama in the year 1898.
 In
the year 1900, The Royal Bioscope Company organised
three successive days of Bioscope screenings at
the Minerva Theatre. Hiralal bought another set
of camera, projector and laboratory equipment
from the multi-national Warwick Trading Company
and began to shoot some real life scenes. Soon
he felt the need to go beyond just capturing human
activities or animals in motion and so got in
touch with Amarendranath Dutta who was always
willing to add innovation to the entertainment
programs that were held at his Classic Theatre.
At that time Alibaba was the most popular
play at the Classic Theatre, so Sen and Dutta
decided to shoot some action packed and novel
scenes of this musical extravaganza. Theatre stars
Amar Dutta, Purna Ghosh, Nripen Basu and the danseuse-singer
Kusumkumari thus became the first thespians of
Bengali screen. Tarasundari Devi, one of the most
accomplished and popular stage actors of the day,
made her screen debut when Hiralal filmed portions
of the play Bhramar. Interestingly, these
actors were extremely reluctant to perform in
front of the camera and had to be cajoled and
coaxed by Sen and Dutta to do so. Hiralal also
shot scenes of Sarala, Dol Yatra
and Buddha – popular plays produced
by Classic Theatre. These scene fragments were
shown along with the actual stage production itself
and became immensely popular. A handbill, dated
9th February 1901, advertising the entertainment
at the Classic Theatre proclaimed, ‘Series
of superfine pictures of our world renowned plays
Alibaba, Bhramar, Buddha … will be produced
to the extreme astonishment of our patrons and
friends!’
Inspired by the activities of Hiralal Sen and
his brother many more Bioscope companies cropped
up in Calcutta during the years 1900 to 1902.
Among these were The London Bioscope Company of
Kumar Shankar Gupta, a nephew and trainee of Hiralal,
The Imperial Bioscope of brothers Anil and Nalini
Chattopadhaya, The Globetrotter Bioscope of Jiten
Mitra and The Bengal Bioscope Company founded
by Satyacharan Basak. However none of these companies
could match the innovativeness of The Royal Bioscope
Company. Hirlal shot a film for Edward’s
Anti-Malaria Specific, perhaps the first
advertisement film to be made in India in 1902
and followed up with promotional films for Jabakusum
Hair Oil and the Sarsaparilla Pill
of W.Major & Company. He was one of the cameramen
to record the Coronation Durbar held at Calcutta
and Delhi in the year 1903. Besides these Hiralal
also documented slices of life in his native village
of Bogjury (in Manikgunje district of modern Bangladesh)
and shot the historical meeting held at the Town
Hall in the year 1905 to protest against the partition
of Bengal and the massive processions that followed.
It is interesting to note the concept of shooting
marriage ceremonies came up during these years
of infancy of cinema in Bengal and India. Hiralal
shot marriage ceremonies held in the families
of business tycoons such as Shibcharan Laha, Dulichand
Mullick and Raja Rajendra Mullick – the
origins of the now ubiquitous shaadi video
can perhaps be traced from these efforts of Hiralal
Sen’s Royal Bioscope Company!
Among the many movie business houses that were
founded following the footsteps of the Imperial
Bioscope Company was the one founded by Jamshedji
Framji Madan, a canny Parsi businessman, in the
year 1901. Madan had initially had named his company
Madan Bioscope but in 1902 renamed it as Elphinstone
Bioscope. The company acquired films and equipment
from the Pathé Company and started screening
films at a tent pitched in the Calcutta Maidan.
The first film to be screened by this company
was Vengeance, a Pathé production.
The company also screened newsreels produced by
Pathé. Other significant films screened
at this Maidan tent were ones based on Emile Zola’s
Germinal and Victor Hugo’s Les
Miserables. In 1905, JF Madan turned producer
and financed the filming of the protest marches
and meetings against the partition of Bengal shot
by Jyotish Sircar, a noted cameraman of the period.
Elphinstone Bioscope also organised screenings
at the Theatre Royal which used to be located
at the ground floor of the present day Oberoi
Grand Hotel. When a massive fire burnt down the
Theatre Royal, the company shifted its operation
to the Grand Opera House which later became the
well known Globe Cinema Hall. The Globe Cinema
is still in operation. The burning of the Theatre
Royal made a deep impression on JF Madan and so
in the year 1907 he founded the Elphinstone Picture
Palace, the first of his numerous cinema halls
that not only went on to cover the whole of India
but also expanded to Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and Burma
(Myanmar). In the year 1912, the hall became a
concrete construction. This cinema hall near Calcutta’s
New Market later became known as the Minerva Hall
and is still in operation as the Chaplin Cinema
Hall, an undertaking of the Govt. of West Bengal.
The Delhi Durbar of 1911 provided great impetus
to the documentary movement in India and many
film companies of the day were involved in shooting
scenes of the Durbar. JF Madan employed a cameraman
from London, Hiralal Sen, Priyanath Mullick and
Nani Sanyal were the cameramen from Bengal who
shot the scenes for other film companies based
in Calcutta. In fact movie exhibition business
was getting pretty big in Bengal and the competition
against Elphinstone Bioscope was getting stronger.
Among the newer halls that came into being were
The Electric Theatre and The Bioscope Theatre
which are now active as Regal and Naaz cinema
halls. The spread of cinema exhibition activities
was helped by easier availability of electricity
in the city of Calcutta and its suburbs. The demand
for electricity for film shows increased at such
a rapid pace that in 1910 The Indian Electricity
Act was passed in order to regulate movie screenings.
This Act made it mandatory for film exhibitors
to take prior permission of District Magistrates
before the actual screenings. In the year 1913,
it was made compulsory to take police permission
a week before screenings and the police were given
the power to ban films that could provoke public
disturbances.
The year 1911 also saw the establishment of another
film exhibition company which would later play
a significant part in the annals of cinema in
Bengal. This was the Aurora Cinema Company founded
by Anadi Bose and Debi Ghosh. The company began
by showing films as a part of a variety entertainment
show. In 1913, when the First World War broke
it out outbid Madan Theatres (former Elphinstone
Bioscope) to get the job of screening films to
the injured soldiers who were billeted in Calcutta.
Under the able management of this dynamic duo,
Aurora Cinema Company was soon to acquire movie-making
machines, a fully-equipped film studio and a distribution
chain thus becoming a name to reckon with. In
1913, Dada Saheb
Phalke made his epoch making Raja Harishchandra
and the film was exhibited in Calcutta by Madan
Theatres. The film was to have a deep impact on
the audience and the movie-business people such
as JF Madan, Anadi Bose and soon plans were on
to produce similar films in Calcutta also. Dhirendranath
Ganguly, who was the Principal of the Nizam School
of Art, Hyderabad too got inspired. He quit his
job and launched The Indo-British Film Company
which later became The British Dominion Films
Limited.
By 1913-14, cinema as a mass entertainment medium
was firmly established in Calcutta and Bengal.
Cinema exhibition halls and exhibition companies
were becoming more numerous and the release of
Phalke’s Raja Harishchandra fired
up the ambitions of people associated with the
film industry. The businessmen who made enormous
profits during the First World War were also willing
to invest more in film related enterprises. The
audience, who had seen Raja Harishchandra and
some foreign feature length films such as The
Life of Christ too demanded something more
substantial than one-reel slapsticks or scenes
of famous plays or actuality footages of events
or places. The time was now ripe for change…
New ideas, newer talents were now required to
take cinema in Bengal forward…And this was
to happen in the year 1917…
Reference:
1. Shonar Daag: Shatoborsher Aloy Bangla Chalcchitra
by GP Ghosh, Jogmaya Prakashoni, Calcutta.
2. Bangla Chalacchitrer Itihaas by Kalish
Mukhopadhaya
3. The Early Years of Calcutta Cinema
by Samik Bandopadhyay, in Sukanta Choudhury edited:
Calcutta, The Living City, Vol II. Calcutta:
Oxford University Press
Contributed by Monish K Das, an alumnus
of the Film and Television Institute of India
(FTII), Pune with specialization in Film Editing,
1992. He now lives and works as a documentary
filmmaker and social communication consultant
in Kolkata.
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