This is how the film industry started in India:-
On July 7, 1996, an advertisement appeared in the Times of India in Bombay, inviting the townspeople to witness the 'greatest achievement of the century and the greatest miracle of the world' at the Boutson Hotel. People who witnessed this miracle at different times were allowed to enter the hall and each 'show' ticket was kept at one rupee, which was a huge amount at that time. This miracle was nothing but the first exhibition of 'movie' in the subcontinent, which we know today as 'film'. Coincidentally (or perhaps not coincidentally) today, Mumbai is one of the largest film production centers in the world and produces more films every year than Hollywood. But in 1996, people who came to watch the four shows running from 6 to 10 pm did not get to see the dance songs, excellent dialogues and fast action. The name of the most terrifying movie to be released that night was 'Arrival of a Train'. You must be wondering what kind of film this is, then let us tell you that in the early days of cinema, most of the films were generally about the same event and those films were like those reels which were like the first world war and After that, it was shown in theaters for many years. The two French brothers who produced and brought these films to India were Louis and August Lumiere, whose name for the company Cinematography is still used in the field of film production. Mihir Bose, in his book 'Bollywood', writes that the two brothers had previously shown such films at the Grade Café in Paris on December 28, 1995, and after their success in Paris, they also publicly demonstrated their invention at Regent Street in London. did. There was a screening of the film 'The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotte Station', in which a train was shown entering the station. There is nothing in the film that should surprise you, just a train stops at the platform. However, when the scene was shown on the big screen in London for the first time, the film's audience felt as if the train was coming off the screen and coming towards them and in a few moments they would be crushed under it. So during the film's exhibition some people got up from their seats in panic and ran towards the door, while some women fainted and the administration had to call nerves to take care of them. The book 'Indian Films' by Eric Banon and S Krishna Swamy also supports this claim of Mihir Bose. According to this book, 'The Lumiere brothers decided to show their cinematography films to other countries of the world as well. He left for Australia to screen his films, but came to Bombay on the way and decided why not stop for a while to screen his films in this 'cosmopolitan' city.' According to the most comprehensive history of the Indian film industry, 'Se Many Cinemas' (So Many Cinemas), 'each show featured six films 17–17 meters long. These films were based on the filming of a normal scene, but were very interesting to people at that time, as they had never seen such things. For example, in the scene of demolition, some masons are seen working to demolish a wall of a building. Although it is a minor thing, but the scene of the wall being demolished on the screen must have created a similar feeling in the hearts of the audience of that era, as it is today after watching a big budget action film.
Many shows of the film were shown
According to the same book, 'these films became very popular among the people of Bombay and a few days later, from July 14, 1996, these films were re-shown for three days at the Navalty Theater in Bombay.' Seeing the interest and enthusiasm of the people, the Lumiere Brothers also added a few more new films to the audience at the Novelty Theater. This series also became very popular and later this number of films was increased to 24 in view of the curiosity of the people watching the film. Fans flocked to the novelty theaters to watch the films, thus continuing for a month instead of three days. During this, a box was also arranged for the convenience of the veiled women and those who came to watch the film along with the family. The ticket price of the film was also changed and various seats were arranged from four annas to Rs. The ticket for four annas was for the rear seat and Rs 2 ticket for the front-seat audience with the orchestra. This series of screening of these films continued till 15 August 1896 in Bombay. Prem Pal Ashk wrote in his book 'Film Shanasi' that the Times of India commented on these films.
was that 'this invention of the Lumiere brothers is one of the great scientific inventions of the modern era.' While these films were being shown in the subcontinent, similar films by the Lumiere brothers were also being shown in other countries of the world. For example, on July 7, 1896, the day these films began to be screened in Bombay, the city of St. Petersburg, Russia, saw the first moving pictures.
Films were shown in many countries around the same time,
The films were also screened in China, Australia and South Africa. These films were shown a few weeks or a few months back in many cities in Europe and America. According to Eric Barno and S Krishna Swamy, the reason for this haste may be that the Lumiere brothers wanted to see the fruits of their invention on all continents of the world as soon as possible, because they feared that if they acted sluggishly. , then other inventors will take advantage of this opportunity. Maybe it was so. Over the next few years, several other film producing companies came to the subcontinent with their films. Stuart in January 1897, Hughes in September 1897 and Professor Anderson in 1898 exhibited their films and equipment for filmmaking in Bombay.
Apart from this, the audience felt the taste of films.
Calcutta also became the center of interest of the inventors, where Stevens showed his films at the Star Theatre. The series of screenings of these films on behalf of the Lumiere Brothers ended on August 15, 1896, but now the audience can see these moving pictures. Had a taste for it. Therefore, only a few months later, from January 4, 1897, the Getty Theater in Mumbai started showing regular films. Firoz Rangoonwala writes in his book 'A Pictorial History of Indian Cinema' that soon new changes and inventions were made in these films. For example, some documentaries and historical films based on Gladstone's funeral, Nelson's death, the war between Greece and Turkey, and the London fire brigade were also shown. Some such films were also shown which were made in the subcontinent itself. The films The Arrival of the Train and Pune Race 1898 were shown in Mumbai in a special show on the special occasion of Christmas in Rasal 1898. These films were made by foreign filmmakers. At the same time, imports of foreign films continued, and on January 1, 1900, 25 new films were screened, imported from Britain, America, Italy, Denmark and Germany. Mihir Bose writes, 'The audience of these films screened in the subcontinent were mostly British or Indians who were mourners of the lifestyle of English society. These films had a great impact on some local people. One such local was Harish Chandra Sakharam Bhatwadekar, a native of Maharashtra, commonly known as Save Dada. 'He was a photographer by profession and opened his own photography studio in Bombay around 1880. In 1896, when he saw the films of the Lumiere brothers, he was fascinated by their magic. He immediately ordered a motion picture camera from London, which was probably the first of its kind to be imported into the subcontinent. This camera arrived in India in 1897. With its help, Save Dada filmed the wrestling between two wrestlers, Pandalak Dada and Krishna Nehdi at the Hanging Gardens in Mumbai and sent it to London for processing.' During this time he also bought a projector. When the wrestling film came back from London, he performed it. He made another film, Circus, on the subject of training of monkeys. He then got the opportunity to film a very important event – RP Paranjpe, an Indian student who had secured a major in mathematics at the University of Cambridge. When he returned to India in December 1901, he was given a warm welcome. Save Dada filmed the incident and when it was performed it was highly appreciated by the nationalist Indians. It was the first newsreel in the film history of the subcontinent. In 2013, Nand Kishore Vikram's book 'International Urdu Literature, Cinema Centenary Issue' came out. It is claimed in this book that the first film to be made in India
Made by foreign professor Stevenson. The name of this film made in 1898 was 'A Panorama of Indian Scenes and Processes'. The film was also screened in London in 1899. The film is still preserved at the British Film Institute.
Film business started in India
According to the book 'Seventy Years of Indian Cinema' edited by TM Ramachandran, 'At the same time in the year 1900, another filmmaker, Pal Pathe, also started the film business in India. The good thing about his films was that Indian scenes were also shown in them. According to Parik Vanon and S Krishna Swamy, seeing the success of Harish Chandra Sakharam and Parth, some other Indians also turned to making such films, in which the names of FB Thanawala, Hora Lal Sen and OF Madan are very important. FB Yanawalla filmed the scenes and people being taken to Mumbai and presented them for the exhibition. Heera Lal Sen, a resident of Calcutta, filmed various scenes of seven popular Bengali plays under the Royal Bioscope. JF Madan and his Elphinstone Bioscope Company (Calcutta) started making films regularly in 1905. These films were usually shown in theatres. Sometimes this film was also presented as a special item of drama and Jaadu Ke Khel. Scenes from the famous narakas that Hira Lal Sen had shot in Calcutta were shown after these plays. In 1896, Carl Hadjn, the famous magician of Mumbai, used to show films after his magic. In large cities it was possible to show these films in theatres, but in smaller towns, karyas and villages, they were again often shown with tents in gardens and grounds. These moving movies soon became popular all over India. But a very important role in popularizing films in the subcontinent was played by JF Madan, whose full name was Jamshed Ji From Ji Madan. He belonged to a Parsi family in Mumbai. His passion for theater took him to Calcutta. Where he started his career with very minor characters in Coronation Hall, gradually became a famous actor and then came a day. When he bought Yo Theater Company itself. Apart from theatre, JF Madan was also involved in a variety of other businesses, including business of food, liquor, medicine, insurance and property transactions. Throughout his life, he continued to successfully run businesses other than theatre. In 1902, JF Madan bought film production equipment and arranged for his bioscope to be shown at a ground in the middle of Calcutta. It was a great center of film production, distribution and exhibition. This was the beginning of the empire, which lasted for three decades not only in India but also in Varma and Solan. In those three decades, he had become the owner of 37 cinema halls. Abdul Ali Yusuf Ali started his career by showing films in tents during the same period. From 1901 to 1907, he continued to exhibit his bioscope throughout South Asia (Singapore, Sumatra, Java, Burma and Ceylon) 1908 to 1914. Till then he exhibited Bioscope all over India. The tent on which these films were shown was 100 feet long and 50 feet chanda and about a thousand people used to come in it. Abdullah Ali Yusuf Ali used to get these films from London and used to show forty to fifty films in one show. These included Comivus, Amera, Yatra films and sports competitions. During the same period, he appeared in a film based on Queen Victoria's funeral and fight scenes. These films also became very popular. In 1914, Abdul Ali Yusuf Ali, together with a partner, built the Alexandra Cinema Garida in Mumbai and in 1918 the Majestic Cinema, where the subcontinent's first full-length film, 'Alam Ara', was screened in 1931. However, according to Firoz Rangoonwala, the first film on the subcontinent based on a single story was 'Padalak'. The film was produced by Arjo Tone and NG Chatra and was based on the life of a famous veteran from Maharashtra. The film was screened at the Coronation Cinema in Mumbai on May 18, 1912 and Hindus were specially invited to see it. Some film historians consider Pandalak to be the first silent film in the subcontinent. However, most historians attribute the Bay achievement to 'Raja Harishchandra', which was released on May 3, 1913, almost a year after the release of Pandalak and was made by the famous filmmaker Dadasaheb Phalke.
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