December 1895 – In France, Auguste and Louis Lumière hold their first public screening of films shot with their Cinématographe.
Following the screening of the Lumière moving pictures in London (1895), cinema became a sensation across Europe and by July 1896 the Lumière films had been in show in Bombay.
The screening of the films took place on July 7th 1896 at the Watson Hotel in Mumbai and the ticket was priced at Re.1. The Times of India referred to this event as the “miracle of the century”. The show received an overwhelming response and motion pictures were soon introduced to India, in Kolkata (Calcutta) and Chennai (Madras).
The six films screened that day were Entry of Cinematographe, The Sea Bath, Arrival of a Train, A Demolition, Ladies and Soldiers on Wheels and Leaving the Factory. The second film screening by the Lumiere Brothers took place on July 14th at a new venue, the Novelty Theatre, Bombay and twenty four films were screened that day, including A Stormy Sea and The Thames at Waterloo Bridge. Alternating between these two venues, the shows culminated on August 15th 1896.
Much before the introduction of film (silent or talkies) three elements were vital in Indian culture natya (drama) nritya (pantomime) and nrrita (pure dance). These three aspects were eventually passed on to Indian cinema. Bollywood films today epitomize Indian culture by their extravagant song and dance sequences and flamboyant costumes and Bollywood has contributed immensely to Indian music by composing some of the most melodious tunes in Indian music history.
Soon after 1886 Hiralal Sen, H.S. Bhatavdekar and some others started making short films in Calcutta and Bombay respectively. Now these short films were like video clips millions of which are being made today with the help of smart phones, but think of those days when moving images were just magic, equipments were not affordable and available easily, but here were people like Hiralal Sen who were passionate enough to stake everything they had, but sadly none of these films are available today. I have tried to compile a list, but this at best is only a partial list.
1897 Cocoanut Fair
Foreign photographer who possibly shot both Coconut Fair and Our Indian Empire
1897 Our Indian Empire Unknown Director
Often presented as the first Indian film. Usually credited to R.G. Torney, but recent research suggests he was only marginally involved. Made jointly by N.G. Chitre, the manager of the Coronation Cinematograph in Bombay, and · P.R. Tipnis, later a major Delhi-based distributor. The film about the Hindu saint is based, according to Harish Booch (1964), on Ramrao Kirtikar's Marathi play as staged by the Shripad Sangeet Mandali of Nasik. Shot on location in Bombay's Mangalwadi compound near Grant Road by a Bourne & Shepherd crew and released at the Coronation on 18 May, 1912. For the record, it must be pointed out that film-makers such as Hiralal Sen had made similar films of stage plays before Pundalik.
The first “bioscopes” were shown in theatres in Calcutta in 1890’s. The first Indian chain of cinema theatres, Madan Theatre, was owned by the parsi entrepreneur Jamshedji Framji Madan who oversaw production of 10 films annually and distributed them throughout the Indian sub-continent starting from 1902. He founded Elphinstone Bioscope Company in Calcutta, and opened Elphinstone Picture Palace in Calcutta in 1907.
Calcutta-based company; oldest and most prominent still photography dealers in India, set up in 1840 as a studio by Samuel Bourne. Charles Shepherd and A. Robertson started a Photographic Artists Studio in Agra (1862) which became Howard & Bourne in Simla (1863) and finally Bourne & Shepherd in Calcutta (1868). Both were photographers, making portraits of political and arts personalities, urban scenes of Calcutta and royal Durbars and were dealers in equipment and stock. They produced photographic variants of Company School painting for the popular art market: Hiralal Sen’s career started when he won a Bourne & Shepherd photography competition in 1887.
Their nationwide distribution and processing/ printing network was one of the first to expand into film (by 1900) when, with the Bombay- based Clifton & Co., they started showing movies in their studios. Mainly sold or hired out equipment by Pathé-Freres, Gaumont and the Barker Motion Picture Co., aggressively marketing their services and making professional cameramen and crews available to shoot events of state or private importance on commission from the government, Indian royalty or business magnates (e.g. Pundalik, 1912). Until the establishment of Pathé (India) in 1907, companies like Bourne & Shepherd occasionally worked as agents for the Pathé Exchange, the International Newsreel Corp. and Fox Films, purchasing locally made documentaries for them as ‘News’ films, or the cheaper ‘Review’ films. The first extensively filmed public event in India, the British Royal Family’s visit in 1911 (shot by Patankar, Hiralal Sen, Madan Theatres and others) was also shot by the company: Their Imperial Majesties in Delhi (1911)
Samuel Bourne came to India in 1863, and set up a partnership with an established Calcutta photographer, William Howard, and they set up a new studio ‘Howard & Bourne’ at Shimla. Meanwhile Charles Shepherd, had already established a photographic studio, with Arthur Robertson, called ‘Shepherd & Robertson’ in Agra in 1862, and subsequently he too moved to Shimla in 1864. At some point Robertson left the business and Charles Shepherd, joined Bourne company to form ‘Howard, Bourne & Shepherd’. In 1863, he made first of three major Himalayan photographic expeditions, followed by another one 1866, prior to which he took an expedition to Kashmir in 1864, in fact all photographic histories of that era carry his works . He was known to travel heavy, as he moved with a large retinue of 42 coolies carried his cameras, darkroom tent and chests of chemicals and glass plates, he was to become one of India's greatest photographers of that era. Charles on the other hand became known as a master printer, he stayed back in Shimla and managed the commercial distribution and printing aspects of the business. Through the 1860s, Bourne’s work was exhibited in public exhibition in Europe and was also part of the Paris Universal Exposition in 1867. He also wrote several despatches for 'The British Journal of Photography between' 1863-1870, and the company became an avid provider of the Indian landscape views to the common visitors to the country and also to Britishers back home, and not just survived but the thrived in an era of fierce competition between commercial photographers. In 1866 after the departure of Howard, the company became ‘Bourne & Shepherd’. In 1867 Bourne returned to England briefly to get married and came back to run the new branch in Calcutta, soon it became the company premier photographic studios in India, at their peak their work was widely retailed throughout the subcontinent by agents and in Britain through wholesale distributors, and were patronized by the upper echelons of the British Raj as well as Indian royalty, so much so that at one point no official engagement, investiture or local durbar was considered complete without being first captured Bourne & Shepherd photographers.
In 1870, the year when Bourne went back to England, Bourne and Shepherd were operating from Shimla and Calcutta. Soon he started cotton-doubling business at Nottingham, and founded the Britannia Cotton Mills, and also become a local magistrate. He sold off his shares in studios, and left commercial photography all together; we also left behind his archive of some 2,200 glass plate negatives with the studio, which were constantly re-printed and sold, over the following 140 years, until their eventual destruction, in a fire at Bourne & Shepherd’s present studio in Calcutta, on February 6, 1991. After Bourne’s departure, new photographic work was undertaken by Colin Murray from 1840 to 84, following which in 1870s Charles Shepherd continued to photograph and at least sixteen Europeans are listed as assistants. Later the Bombay branch was opened in about 1876, operated by Charles Shepherd until his own departure from India around 1879, the branch continued operations till about 1902. In 1880, they even brought their services to as far as Lahore for a month, where they advertised in a local newspaper, in fact newspaper advertising has been a primary reason of the success of many photographers of that era. Soon their work was widely retailed throughout the subcontinent by agents and in Britain through wholesale distributors. Between 1870 and 1911 the firm sent photographers to Ceylon (Sri Lanka), Burma, Nepal and Singapore, had also become Art Publishers, with titles like 'Photographs of Architecture of Gujarat and Rajputana' (1904-5), and were now employing Indian photographers as well. In 1911, they were the official photographers of the Delhi Durbar held to commemorate the coronation of King George V and Queen Mary as Emperor and Empress of India, where they were given the title, 'Kaiser-e-Hind' which they still use as part of their official letterhead. During World Wars the studio thrived on the contracts for photographing Indian, British and American services personnel.In the following years, the studio changed hands several times, so much so the sequence of owners has been all but lost, however the last European owner, Arthur Musselwhite who took over the studio in 1930s, later after a major business slump following the independence, and exodus of European community and the end of princely states, he held an auction in 1955, in which it was bought over by its present owners, and today the building itself is a heritage property
Following the screening of the Lumière moving pictures in London (1895), cinema became a sensation across Europe and by July 1896 the Lumière films had been in show in Bombay.
The screening of the films took place on July 7th 1896 at the Watson Hotel in Mumbai and the ticket was priced at Re.1. The Times of India referred to this event as the “miracle of the century”. The show received an overwhelming response and motion pictures were soon introduced to India, in Kolkata (Calcutta) and Chennai (Madras).
The six films screened that day were Entry of Cinematographe, The Sea Bath, Arrival of a Train, A Demolition, Ladies and Soldiers on Wheels and Leaving the Factory. The second film screening by the Lumiere Brothers took place on July 14th at a new venue, the Novelty Theatre, Bombay and twenty four films were screened that day, including A Stormy Sea and The Thames at Waterloo Bridge. Alternating between these two venues, the shows culminated on August 15th 1896.
Much before the introduction of film (silent or talkies) three elements were vital in Indian culture natya (drama) nritya (pantomime) and nrrita (pure dance). These three aspects were eventually passed on to Indian cinema. Bollywood films today epitomize Indian culture by their extravagant song and dance sequences and flamboyant costumes and Bollywood has contributed immensely to Indian music by composing some of the most melodious tunes in Indian music history.
Soon after 1886 Hiralal Sen, H.S. Bhatavdekar and some others started making short films in Calcutta and Bombay respectively. Now these short films were like video clips millions of which are being made today with the help of smart phones, but think of those days when moving images were just magic, equipments were not affordable and available easily, but here were people like Hiralal Sen who were passionate enough to stake everything they had, but sadly none of these films are available today. I have tried to compile a list, but this at best is only a partial list.
1897 Cocoanut Fair
Foreign photographer who possibly shot both Coconut Fair and Our Indian Empire
1897 Our Indian Empire Unknown Director
1898 Poona Races, Phillip Anderson
1898 Train Arriving at Bombay Station, Phillip Anderson
1898 ‘Dancing Scenes from the Flower of Persia’ was made by Hiralal Sen.
1898 A Panorama of Indian Scenes and Procession, Prof Stevenson
1899 Man and Monkey was made by H.S. Bhatavdekar
1899 The Wrestlers, H.S. Bhatavdekar
1899 Moving Pictures of Natural Scenes and Religious Rituals, Hiralal Sen
1899 Local Scenes Bombay, P.A. Stewart
1899 Panorama of Calcutta, Unknown Director
video available on indiancine.ma
video available on indiancine.ma
1900 Splendid New Views of Bombay, F.B. Thanawala
1900 Taboot Procession at Kalbadevi, F.B. Thanawala
1901 Atash Behram, H.S. Bhatavdekar
1901 Landing of Sir M.M. Bhownuggree, H.S. Bhatavdekar
1901 Scenes from Alibaba, Hiralal Sen
1901 Scenes from Bhramar, Hiralal Sen, produced by Classic Theatre
1901 Scenes from Buddhadev, Hiralal Sen, produced by Classic Theatre
1901 Scenes from 'Dol Leela' Hiralal Sen
1901 Scenes from Hariraj,Hiralal Sen, produced by Classic Theatre
1901 Scenes from Sarala, Hiralal Sen
1901 Scenes from Seetaram, Hiralal Sen
1902 Sir Wrangler R.P. Paranjpye, H.S. Bhatavdekar
R.P. Paranjpye's return from Cambridge after studying Math documented in this film. The first Indian Wrangler, Raghunath Paranjpye returned to India on December 7, 1901. He was felicitated at the residence of Narottam Morarji at Peddar Road, in Mumbai, formerly known as Bombay. This is heralded as the first Documentary. Many important personalities like Dr. B. K. Bhatavdekar, Gopal Krishna Gokhale were present at this event. Shakuntala Paranjpye, the well-known social worker, who worked mainly for the propagation of family planning was his daughter. She also played the role of Chitra in Prabhat Film Company's 'Kunku' (Marathi), 'Duniya Na Mane' (Hindi). Sai Paranjpye, the noted film writer and director is his grand-daughter.
1903 Delhi Durbar of Lord Curzon, H.S. Bhatavdekar
1903 Alibaba and the Forty Thieves, Hiralal Sen
Hiralal Sen's longest film, believed to be his only feature film based on a play. It was apparently never screened for an audience
1903 Coronation Ceremony and Durbar, Hiralal Sen
1903 Dances from Alibaba, Hiralal Sen
1903 Indian Life and Scenes, Hiralal Sen
1903 Scenes from Maner Matan, Hiralal Sen
1903 Scenes from Sonar Swapan, Hiralal Sen
1903 Delhi Durbar, Unknown Director
1904 The Bengali Fisherman, Unknown Director
1904 Commissioner Higgins Visits Ahmedabad Girls' School, Unknown Director
video available on www.indiancine.ma
video available on www.indiancine.ma
Commissioner Higgins of the Salvation Army visits Ahmedabad Girls' School and is greeted by a display of vigorous pom-pom waving. The speedy walk-by - and rapid departure - of Higgins and his entourage are unintentionally hilarious. (Robin Baker)
1904 The Fisherman's Boy, Unknown Director
1905 Great Bengal Partition Movement, Jyotish Sarkar
1905 Opening and Closing of Howrah Bridge, Jyotish Sarkar,Studio: Elphinstone Bioscope
1905 The Bengal Partition Film,Hiralal Sen
1906 Bathing Ghat: Howrah, Unknown Director, Studio: Elphinstone Bioscope
1906 Dancing of Indian Nautch Girls, Unknown Director,Studio: Elphinstone Bioscope
1906 Goat Sacrifice at Atkalighat, Unknown Director, Studio: Elphinstone Bioscope
1906 Goat Sacrifice at Kalighat, Unknown Director, Studio: Elphinstone Bioscope
1906 Grand Masonic Procession, Unknown Director, Studio: Elphinstone Bioscope
1906 Grand Pareshnath Procession, Unknown Director, Studio: Elphinstone Bioscope
1906 An Indian Washing the Baby, Unknown Director
video available on www.indiancine.ma
video available on www.indiancine.ma
1906 Royal Visit to Calcutta, Unknown Director
1906 Tilak Bathing at the Ganges, Unknown Director, Studio: Imperial Bioscope
1907 Amir of Kabul's Procession, Unknown Director, Studio: Elphinstone Bioscope
1908 The Terrible Hyderabad Floods,Unknown Director,Studio: Excelsior Cinematograph
1909 A View of Bombay, Unknown Director,Studio: Excelsior Cinematograph
1911 Their Majesties in Bombay, Advanced Bioscope
1911 Rehearsal of Calcutta's Pageant and Viceroy's Cup, Excelsior Cinematograph
1911 Ankurachi Wadh, Dhundiraj Govind Phalke
1911 King's Visit to Bombay, Barker Motion Photography, Excelsior Cinematograph
1911 Their Imperial Majesties in Delhi, Bourne & Shepherd
1911 Delhi Durbar and Coronation, Unknown Director
1911 Great Delhi Durbar and Presentation of Colours, Unknown Director
1912 Their Majesties in Calcutta, Globetrotter Bioscope
1912 Garden Party of Sir Shapurji Broacha Excelsior Cinematograph
1912 Mahalakshmi Races, Excelsior Cinematograph
1912 Great Cricket Match, Pathe Freres
1912 Savitri, S.N. Patankar, A.P. Karandikar, V.P. Divekar, Studio: Patankar Union, Mumbai
Cinematographer: S.N. Patankar, Cast: Narmada Mande, Vishnupant P. Divekar, K. G. Gokhale
1912 Arrival at Howrah, Hiralal Sen
1912 Grand Delhi Coronation Durbar, Hiralal Sen
1912 Princep's Ghat, Hiralal Sen
1912 Procession, Hiralal Sen
1912 Visit to Bombay and Exhibition, Hiralal Sen
1912 Coronation of Maharaja Holkar at Indore, Unknown Director, Studio: Gaumont
1912 Delhi Durbar and Coronation, Unknown Director, Studio: Imperial Bioscope
1912 An Episode from the Ramayana, Unknown Director, Studio: Cinema De Luxe
1912 The Ganapati Festival, Unknown Director, Studio: Cinema De Luxe
1912 Pundalik, P.R. Tipnis, N.G. Chitre, Cinematographer: Johnson
Cast: Dattatreya Damodar Dabke, Purushottam Rajaram Tipnis, Ramrao Balkrishna Kirtikar, Dadashabe Torne, Narayan Govind Chitre, Joshi
Often presented as the first Indian film. Usually credited to R.G. Torney, but recent research suggests he was only marginally involved. Made jointly by N.G. Chitre, the manager of the Coronation Cinematograph in Bombay, and · P.R. Tipnis, later a major Delhi-based distributor. The film about the Hindu saint is based, according to Harish Booch (1964), on Ramrao Kirtikar's Marathi play as staged by the Shripad Sangeet Mandali of Nasik. Shot on location in Bombay's Mangalwadi compound near Grant Road by a Bourne & Shepherd crew and released at the Coronation on 18 May, 1912. For the record, it must be pointed out that film-makers such as Hiralal Sen had made similar films of stage plays before Pundalik.
Hiralal Sen is credited as one of India’s first directors when he set up the Royal Bioscope Company producing scenes from the stage productions of a number of popular shows at the Star Theatre, Minerva Theatre and Classic theatre. They were all silent films. Hiralal Sen is also credited as one of the pioneers of advertisement films in India. His ads for Jabakusum hair oil and Edward’s Tonic were india’s first advertisement films.
1898: Dancing Scenes from the Flower of Persia, 1899: Moving Pictures of Natural Scenes and Religious Rituals, 1901: Scenes from Alibaba, Scenes from Bhramar, Scenes from Buddhadev, Scenes from 'Dol Leela', Scenes from Hariraj, Scenes from Sarala, Scenes from Seetaram, 1903: Alibaba and the Forty Thieves, Coronation Ceremony and Durbar, Dances from Alibaba, Dances from 'Alibaba', Indian Life and Scenes, Scenes from Maner Matan, Scenes from Sonar Swapan, 1905: The Bengal Partition Film, 1912: Arrival at Howrah, Grand Delhi Coronation Durbar, Princep's Ghat, Procession, Visit to Bombay and Exhibition, 1913: Hindu Bathing Festival at Allahabad
Harishchandra Sakharam Bhatavdekar (b. 1868) Aka Save Dada. Almost certainly the first Indian film-maker. Professional still photographer often portrayed as an amateur, but, in fact, a businessman trading in cameras and film equipment on a nationwide basis. Made several shorts, including one on a wrestling match and one on the antics of monkeys. Best-known footage shows the return from England of R.P. Paranjpye, Minister of Education in Bombay Presidency, which he exhibited with imported shorts in a tent bioscope in Bombay. Sold equipment to Karandikar of S.N. Patankar’s company and retired from cinema in 1907. Interviewed in Screen, Bombay (30 April 1954).
Popularly known as Save Dada, was a portrait photographer and equipment dealer in Mumbai. Ordered a Riley camera from London after seeing films by the Lumiere Brothers for a sum of 21 guineas. Had a studio at Kennedy Bridge in Bombay.
Dhundiraj Govind Phalke (Director)
Also known as Dadasaheb Phalke. (1870 - 1944) Pioneering director. Born in Trymbakeshwar, Nasik. Claimed to have started the film industry in India with Raja Harishchandra. Saw his cinema as a direct contribution to Swadeshi. Son of Sanskrit scholar. Studied at J.J. School of Art (1885) and at Kala Bhavana, Baroda. Then studied architecture. Became proficient as landscape painter of academic nature studies. Worked in photographic studio and learnt to develop and print negative film. At Ratlam studied three-colour blockmaking. photolithography and ceramics (1890). Worked as portrait photographer, stage make-up man, assistant to a German illusionist and as a magician (as Professor Kelpha). Started Phalke's Art Printing & Engraving Works at Lonavala (1908), later Laxmi Art Printing Works. Did photolitho transfers of Ravi Varma lithographs. Sailed to Germany to obtain three-colour printing equipment (1909). Saw The Life of Christ around Christmas 1910 in a Bombay cinema, an event he describes with great passion although contemporary notices suggest it must have been around Easter 1911. Strongly moved by the 'magic' of cinema. Also dedicated himself to bringing Indian images to the screen. Raised finance from Yeshwant Nadkarni. a photographic equipment dealer, with short trick film, Birth of a Pea Plant, shooting one frame a day to show a plant growing. Went to London in February 1912 to familiarise himself with film technology and to acquire equipment. Bought a Williamson camera, Kodak negative and a perforator. Cecil Hepworth tutored him at Walton Studios. Returned to establish Phalke Films on Dadar Main Road in Bombay (1912) for which he made five films, starting with Raja Harishchandra. Went to England again in 1914 to organise trade shows and received many offers to remain in Europe. Returned to India with new equipment, closed Phalke Films and set up the Hindustan Cinema Films (1918). Resigned briefly from Hindustan to write the Marathi play Rangbhoomi (1922) in Benares. Made 44 silent features, several shorts and one talkie, Gangavataran. The films introduced the mythological genre to Indian cinema, allowing him to merge his notion of Swadeshi with an industrial practice and a politico-cultural aesthetics. Satish Bahadur compiled the film D.C. Phalke, the First Indian Film Director for the Film (1964): the film contains the only existing footage of How Films Are Made, footage of himself directing Raja Harishchandra, and Setu Bandhan, and is a tribute nor only to the founder of the Indian film industry but also to a daring experimenter with animation techniques (including match- sticks), inventor of promotional films and of documentaries, creator of special effects and codifier of a new generic form, the mythological film. Essays on film, 'Bharatiya Chitrapat', were published in Navyug (1917-18).
With Dadasaheb Phalke's Raja Harishchandra (1913), Indian cinema took off in several directions : art form, medium of communication, possessing a reach never before possible and only occasionally envisaged by purveyors of the popular. Film actually brought to the fore tendencies simmering in painting, music and theatre, and so exposed new cultural and political frontiers for a variety of movements already in tussle with each other.
Phalke's own history, pre-cinema, makes fascinating reading and serves as a backdrop to film itself. Bom in April 1860, he spent most of his early life dabbling in several media, all of which were then undergoing fundamental technological change. At the age of 15 he joined the JJ. School of Art, which taught (and still teaches) according to the principles of British academic art, naturalist landscape painting and portraiture. Moving to Kalabhavan, Baroda, he did a five-year course in drawing and painting, becoming quite proficient in nature-study and stilHifes,both in oils and in water-colour. He bought his first still-camera there in 1890. Impressing his Principal with the results he obtained from it, he was sent to Ratlam where, under the tutelage of one Baburao Walavalkar, he leamt the processes of three-colour blockmaking, photolitho transfers, ceramics and, of course, techniques of dark-room printing.
*unfortunately I could not locate any pic of Sri Nath Patankar
Shri Nath Patankar (?-1941) Pioneer producer-director-cameraman with an impact on early Indian film equivalent to Phalke’s. Fragments of biographical information suggest that he was born in the early 1880s and became a still photographer who bought a film camera from Bhatavdekar and filmed the great Delhi Durbar (1911) also shot by Hiralal Sen, Madan Theatres and others. Started Patankar Union in partnership with V.P. Divekar and A.P. Karandikar (1913) and made some films mainly to raise funds. They were helped by nationalist leader Lokmanya Tilak, who persuaded financiers Bhagwandas Chaturbhuj and Dharamdas Narayandas to invest in the company. His second feature, Narayanrao Peshwa, is almost certainly India’s first historical. The company only took off in 1917 with the entry of Dwarkadas Sampat into Patankar-Friends & Co. Films made 1918-20, usually scripted by Mohanlal Dave, prepared the emergence of the Kohinoor Studio. Following Sampat’s exit (1920), Patankar started a third studio, National Film (1922), financed by Thakurdas Vakil and Harilal, and then a fourth, Pioneer Film financed by Vazir Haji, which was also the parent company of the Excelsior Studio. His historicals and mythologicals were among the most professionally made films before the studio era (pre-1925). With the transformation of Pioneer into the Excelsior Studio, freelanced for a while as cameraman and art director in Bombay. Shot all the films he directed.
Calcutta-based company; oldest and most prominent still photography dealers in India, set up in 1840 as a studio by Samuel Bourne. Charles Shepherd and A. Robertson started a Photographic Artists Studio in Agra (1862) which became Howard & Bourne in Simla (1863) and finally Bourne & Shepherd in Calcutta (1868). Both were photographers, making portraits of political and arts personalities, urban scenes of Calcutta and royal Durbars and were dealers in equipment and stock. They produced photographic variants of Company School painting for the popular art market: Hiralal Sen’s career started when he won a Bourne & Shepherd photography competition in 1887.
Their nationwide distribution and processing/ printing network was one of the first to expand into film (by 1900) when, with the Bombay- based Clifton & Co., they started showing movies in their studios. Mainly sold or hired out equipment by Pathé-Freres, Gaumont and the Barker Motion Picture Co., aggressively marketing their services and making professional cameramen and crews available to shoot events of state or private importance on commission from the government, Indian royalty or business magnates (e.g. Pundalik, 1912). Until the establishment of Pathé (India) in 1907, companies like Bourne & Shepherd occasionally worked as agents for the Pathé Exchange, the International Newsreel Corp. and Fox Films, purchasing locally made documentaries for them as ‘News’ films, or the cheaper ‘Review’ films. The first extensively filmed public event in India, the British Royal Family’s visit in 1911 (shot by Patankar, Hiralal Sen, Madan Theatres and others) was also shot by the company: Their Imperial Majesties in Delhi (1911)
Samuel Bourne came to India in 1863, and set up a partnership with an established Calcutta photographer, William Howard, and they set up a new studio ‘Howard & Bourne’ at Shimla. Meanwhile Charles Shepherd, had already established a photographic studio, with Arthur Robertson, called ‘Shepherd & Robertson’ in Agra in 1862, and subsequently he too moved to Shimla in 1864. At some point Robertson left the business and Charles Shepherd, joined Bourne company to form ‘Howard, Bourne & Shepherd’. In 1863, he made first of three major Himalayan photographic expeditions, followed by another one 1866, prior to which he took an expedition to Kashmir in 1864, in fact all photographic histories of that era carry his works . He was known to travel heavy, as he moved with a large retinue of 42 coolies carried his cameras, darkroom tent and chests of chemicals and glass plates, he was to become one of India's greatest photographers of that era. Charles on the other hand became known as a master printer, he stayed back in Shimla and managed the commercial distribution and printing aspects of the business. Through the 1860s, Bourne’s work was exhibited in public exhibition in Europe and was also part of the Paris Universal Exposition in 1867. He also wrote several despatches for 'The British Journal of Photography between' 1863-1870, and the company became an avid provider of the Indian landscape views to the common visitors to the country and also to Britishers back home, and not just survived but the thrived in an era of fierce competition between commercial photographers. In 1866 after the departure of Howard, the company became ‘Bourne & Shepherd’. In 1867 Bourne returned to England briefly to get married and came back to run the new branch in Calcutta, soon it became the company premier photographic studios in India, at their peak their work was widely retailed throughout the subcontinent by agents and in Britain through wholesale distributors, and were patronized by the upper echelons of the British Raj as well as Indian royalty, so much so that at one point no official engagement, investiture or local durbar was considered complete without being first captured Bourne & Shepherd photographers.
In 1870, the year when Bourne went back to England, Bourne and Shepherd were operating from Shimla and Calcutta. Soon he started cotton-doubling business at Nottingham, and founded the Britannia Cotton Mills, and also become a local magistrate. He sold off his shares in studios, and left commercial photography all together; we also left behind his archive of some 2,200 glass plate negatives with the studio, which were constantly re-printed and sold, over the following 140 years, until their eventual destruction, in a fire at Bourne & Shepherd’s present studio in Calcutta, on February 6, 1991. After Bourne’s departure, new photographic work was undertaken by Colin Murray from 1840 to 84, following which in 1870s Charles Shepherd continued to photograph and at least sixteen Europeans are listed as assistants. Later the Bombay branch was opened in about 1876, operated by Charles Shepherd until his own departure from India around 1879, the branch continued operations till about 1902. In 1880, they even brought their services to as far as Lahore for a month, where they advertised in a local newspaper, in fact newspaper advertising has been a primary reason of the success of many photographers of that era. Soon their work was widely retailed throughout the subcontinent by agents and in Britain through wholesale distributors. Between 1870 and 1911 the firm sent photographers to Ceylon (Sri Lanka), Burma, Nepal and Singapore, had also become Art Publishers, with titles like 'Photographs of Architecture of Gujarat and Rajputana' (1904-5), and were now employing Indian photographers as well. In 1911, they were the official photographers of the Delhi Durbar held to commemorate the coronation of King George V and Queen Mary as Emperor and Empress of India, where they were given the title, 'Kaiser-e-Hind' which they still use as part of their official letterhead. During World Wars the studio thrived on the contracts for photographing Indian, British and American services personnel.In the following years, the studio changed hands several times, so much so the sequence of owners has been all but lost, however the last European owner, Arthur Musselwhite who took over the studio in 1930s, later after a major business slump following the independence, and exodus of European community and the end of princely states, he held an auction in 1955, in which it was bought over by its present owners, and today the building itself is a heritage property
Anadi Nath Bose established the Aurora Film Company around 1906. The company at that time was a travelling cinema unit, and exhibited films, magic and drama shows in different parts of Bengal.The company made some short silent films, generally featuring female dancers and filmed with a hand-winding camera. It also started to produce newsreels and continued to import films from abroad.
In 1911, Anadi Bose, cinematographer Debi Ghosh, and magician Charu Ghosh formed the Aurora Cinema Company, opening a studio and film-processing laboratory in North Kolkata. Anadi Bose assumed sole management of the company in 1912. Anadi Bose and Debi Ghosh began making more short features in 1916, notable among them Bisha Briksha, based on the novel of the same name by Bankimchandra Chattopadhyay. In 1917, the company received a contract from the British government to produce features for the entertainment of the armed forces. In 1919, Anadi Bose began screening his films at the Manmohan Theatre in North Kolkata, and released the company's first feature-length film, Dasyu Ratnakar, in 1921, screening it at the Russa Theatre (today the Purna Cinema) in South Kolkata. In 1921 Anadi Bose renamed his company Aurora Film Corporation.
In 1946, a fire in Aurora's studio in Kolkata destroyed most of its films. Founder Anadi Bose died on 21 September the same year. His elder son Ajit Bose and youngest son Arun Bose and, later, grandson (Anjan Bose), took over the management.
Aurora's studio was located in Maniktala, Kolkata. This was housed inside a palatial building made by Banabehari Shaw facing a large lake. This property had been leased by Anadi Bose from Banabehari Shaw. Unfortunately after the lease lapsed, the studio was demolished. The company currently maintains a studio in the Salt Lake neighbourhood of Kolkata, and a post-production facility in Tollygunj.
Aurora was involved in the distribution and/or production of several acclaimed films. The company bought Pramathesh Barua's production company (Barua Pictures), and produced two films starring Barua, Pujari and Niyoti. Aurora was the distributor for Satyajit Ray's debut film Pather Panchali (1955); it was the distributor for Ray's Parash Pathar (1958) and producer for Jalsaghar (1958). The company partially financed Aparajito (1956), the second instalment of Rays' Apu Trilogy. Noted film director Ritwik Ghatak made documentaries for the company.
Aurora became inactive in the feature film industry in the 1970s, although it continued to produce shorts and documentaries as of 2011. The last feature film Aurora produced was Duronto Joy in 1973, and the last one it distributed was Moyna Tadanta in 1982.
According to Anjan Bose, the current (2011) managing director, Aurora is "the only film producing house in India being run by a family for three generations".
Aurora pioneered newsreels in India. These newsreels contain important video documents featuring personalities such as Rabindranath Tagore, Mahatma Gandhi, Subhas Chandra Bose, and events such as the celebration of the India's first Independence Day and the funeral of Rabindranath Tagore.
Aurora produced the first children's film of India, Hate Khari.
The company's Raja Rammohan (1965) was the first Bengali film to be declared tax-free (patrons did not have to pay entertainment tax). Bhagini Nivedita (1962) was the first Bengali film to be shot in England.
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