Early Years Essay

The Early Years

While exhibition of films in Calcutta can be dated back to 1896, when one Professor Stevens screened the Lumiere programmes at Star Theatre, it was only in the first decade of the twentieth century that Bengal had its first indigenous film maker Hiralal Sen. Calcutta at the time had a strong tradition of professional theatre and theatre houses served as outlets for films. The earliest screenings were held in theatre houses where films appeared as a double bill attraction alongside the plays. Influential theatre owners, like for example Amarendra Nath Dutta of Classic Theatre encouraged the production of films by allowing Hiralal Sen to photograph his stage productions which were then advertised as superfine pictures from our world renowned plays and exhibited. At the same time, given the Bengali’s natural propensity for topical and newsy items, it is not surprising that some of India’s first documentaries originated here, of course, in those days these were called ‘topicals’. Hiralal Sen himself went around Calcutta and shot

Among his varied business interests was a hugely successful theatre company. Fascinated by cinema, he got film projectors from Pathe Film Company in 1902 and set up regular ‘bioscope’ screening at key point in the city. In time, Madan Theatres would grow into the largest production distribution exhibition empire in the Indian subcontinent. With his astute business acumen he realized the interest the common man had in the momentous political events unfolding in Bengal and India. Beginning with Jyotish Sarkar’s coverage of the anti-partition demonstrations of 1905, he produced a number of topicals which were shown as added attraction to the main films he produced. In 1907, Madan built the Elphinstone Picture Palace in Calcutta, the first of the 37 halls they came to own