Hero Hiralal: Remembering the first Indian behind the movie camera
In 1913, Dadasaheb Phalke created history when he directedRajaHarishchandra,the country’s first feature film. However,hewasnotthefirstIndianto make movies.
That credit belongs to Hiralal Sen (1866-1917) from Calcutta.
Sen not only experimented with the new medium, but also madefundamentalcontributions to it. “In1904,hecapturedonfilm apublicrallyopposingLordCurzon’s plan to divide Bengal. To recordtheimmensityoftherally, heplacedthecameraontopofthe treasurybuildingsothathecould film the speakers, including Surendranath Banerjee (1848-1925), against the backdrop of a huge crowd that extended almost two miles,” said Sanjoy Mukherjee, filmhistorianandformerprofessor of film studies at Jadavpur University. The camera placement was novel in those days.
Many consider the film on the proposed Bengal partition to be thefirstpoliticaldocumentaryin the country.
Senalsoshottwoproductcommercials for Jabakusum hair oil andEdward’santi-malariadrug thatwereprobablythecountry’s first commercials.
“The high point of Hiralal Sen’s career was the movie he made when George V came to India. The other was the film on the Bengalpartition,” said Mukherjee.
It wasn’t easy, said another expert. “… ailing from cancer of the throat and standing on the verge of insolvency, he stood in competition with no less than MOVIES he made; most were destroyed in a fire at 18 Blacquire Square, on October 24, 1917. Born: 1866 in Bogjuri (now in Bangladesh)
Parents: Chandranath Sen (father), Bidhumukhi (mother)
Company: Royal Bioscope Company, 1898; quit in 1913 to join London Bioscope First show: In Bhola, Barishal (now in Bangladesh) in 1898
Product commercials: Jabakusum hair oil and Anti Malaria Specific
Died: October 26, 1917
Alibaba and Forty Thieves (1903). Sita Ram, Subala, Buddha, Dol Leela, Hariraj, Duti Pran (Two Hearts), Mrinalini, Moner Moton (Soulmate), Bodhu (Bride), Moja (Fun), Whip (Shot between 1900 and 1905) fourofthebestcameramenfrom Englandworkingforthegovernment of India and beat them in theirowngamebybeingthefirst to release the Visit Film of Delhi Durbar with a wider coverage,” wrote Kaushik Majumdar, a researcher onsilent films in The Silent Film Quarterly, a magazine published from Hollywood.
Movies were a natural progression for Sen, who once won the top award in a contest organised by Calcutta’s famous photography studio Bourne & Shepherdthatwassetupin1863.Itwas oneoftheearliestintheworld.On December28,1895,thefirstmovie was shown in Paris — or anywhere in the world. In India, the first show was held at Watson Hotel in Bombay on July 7, 1896. In 1898, Hiralal Sen shot a dancing scene from the opera The Flower of Persia.
AlongwithhisbrotherMotilal, Sen set up The Royal Bioscope Company in 1898, India’s first movie company.
Initially, theypurchasedfilms made by companies in England and showed them at parties and weddingsoftherich.Thesewere mainlyfilmsshotbyEnglishmen about daily life on the streets of Calcutta and in India.
But the creative urge did not allow Sen to make money showing films made by others. He wantedtoshootthemtoo.In1903, he filmed the popular Alibaba and Forty Thieves.
Unfortunately, Sen now only lives in a few books and notes of researchers and academics. Thereisnotevenaproperbiographyonhim.OnOctober24,1917,a fireinagodowninnorthKolkata where all his films were stored, gutted his complete works. He died two days later.
Sen lacked the business acumen that could have helped him findcommercialsuccesswiththe mediumhewaspassionateabout.
Towards the closing years, he fell on such hard times that he had to sell off his favourite cameras to a usurer. Poor at managing relations, his ties with brotherMotilalSenalsosnapped towards the end.
“Sen is indeed the pioneer ofmovies,butdidnotgetthatrecognition,” said Anjan Bose, whose grandfather Anadi Nath Bose purchased two cameras used by Sen.
Sen did not marry, movies were his only spouse.
“Though Alibaba and Forty Thieves was not a feature film, Hiralal Sen made it in 1903, the sameyearwhentheGreatTrain Robbery, one of the very first films, was released in the US. If a fire destroyed his works, we are guilty of almost erasing his contribution and memory,” rued Dipankar Bhattacharya, secretary of Uttarpara Cine Club.
In 2012, the year after the Trinamool Congress government assumed power, an open platformwassetupbyKolkataInternational Film Festival authorities to screen silent era films in thewaytheywerescreenedatthe turn of the twentieth century. They called the platform Hiralal Sen mancha.
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