Hiralal Sen's native home was in Bagjuri, a village in Manikganj, approximately 80 km from Dhaka, the present-day capital of Bangladesh. Although he was the son of a successful lawyer of a zamindar family of that region, he grew up in Calcutta.
Sen was running a successful photography business when in 1898 he saw a film presentation by one Professor Stevenson that featured alongside the stage show The Flower of Persia at Calcutta's Star Theatre.
With Stevenson's encouragement and camera Sen made his first film, of scenes from The Flower of Persia which then featured in the Star Theatre programme.
After Stevenson had moved on Sen purchased an Urban Bioscope from the Warwick Trading Company in London and in 1899 with his brother Motilal Sen formed the Royal Bioscope company. Sen was initially dependent on imported film, generally exhibited at the Classic Theatre, Calcutta, where the films featured in the intervals in the stage shows.
When he began producing his own films regularly they chiefly were, as with Stevenson, scenes from stage productions at the Classic, such as Bhramar, Hariraj and Buddhadev, all between 1901 and 1904. This phase of his career culminated with his longest film, Alibaba and the Forty Thieves (1903), again based on an original Classic Theatre staging.
He also produced a number of advertising films and newsfilms taking commissions. Having made two films advertising Jabakusum Hair Oil and Edwards Tonic, he may have been the first Indian to use film for advertising purposes.
A film documenting the Anti-Partition Demonstration and Swadeshi movement at the Town Hall, Calcutta on 22 September 1905 is generally considered India's first political film. In 1905, it was advertised as a "genuine Swadeshi film of our own make" and ended with the rallying cry for freedom, Vande Mataram.
As newer film ventures entered the market place Royal Bioscope's fortunes declined, and production ceased in 1913.
Hiralal Sen's later years were filled with disappointment and economic hardship. Jamshedji Framji Madan of the Elphinstone Bioscope Company had long surpassed him in terms of success. To compound his misery, he was also suffering from cancer. A few days before his death in 1917, a fire broke out destroying every film he ever made.
In a creative career that extended up to 1913, Hiralal Sen made over forty films.
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