Revision as of 20:22, 14 December 2018

Hiralal Sen (1866–1917)

Hira Lal Sen

Sen’s father was a lawyer from what was later came to be called East Bengal. The family were well-to-do landed gentry.

Hiralal set up a photography studio that proved popular and profitable

In 1898, while watching a stage version of The Flower of Persia at Calcutta's Star Theatre, during the interval he saw his first motion picture, presented by Professor Stevenson. It was a scene from a European stage play captured on film.

Stevenson loaned his camera to Sen and gave him the confidence to make his first film. This was a scene from The Flower of Persia.

Sen then bought an Urban Bioscope from the Warwick Trading Company in London. In 1899, Hiralal and his brother Motilal founded the Royal Bioscope company in Calcutta.

In those days short motion pictures would be screened during breaks in stage plays. Hiralal started importing short movies from the West and screening them at the Classic Theatre, Calcutta.

It occurred to him that not only would it be cheaper to shoot scenes from Calcutta plays, the audience would identify with them to a greater extent.

Between 1901 and 1904 he filmed excerpts from Bhramar, Buddhadev, and Hariraj, all being plays staged at the Classic. He also filmed the entire two-hour play Alibaba and the Forty Thieves (1903). This film, which was never screened in its entirety in one sitting, is sometimes hailed as India's first (silent) feature film.

A song Aay bandi tui Begum hobi is said to have been added to Sen’s Ali Baba, after the arrival of sound, well after Sen's death. People in Bengal still sing the song. That Ali Baba was a very popular stage musical of that era is certain. That this song is from one of the stage versions is also beyond doubt. the only question is: was it later added to Sen's film? If, yes, then when? Alam Ara, India's first talkie, released in 1931, whereas Sen's films were destroyed in 1917. So, when was this song added to Sen's film version?

Sen also made advertising films, recorded news snippets, filmed events for rich private clients and photographed the scenery and monuments of Calcutta and its environs. He would screen them at the residences of his affluent patrons, as well as durinmg the intervals of plays.

Sen made around forty films in all.

Soon others began shooting short motion pictures, mainly in Bombay. Royal Bioscope became a major drain on the family's fortunes. It was wound up in 1913.

Sen was ruined financially and died in 1917. A fire destroyed all his films in 1917, according to most accounts shortly after his death.

Sen's firsts

Even if the filmed version of Alibaba and the Forty Thieves cannot be considered India's first feature film, Hiralal Sen was arguably India's first maker of advertising films. His main clients were Jabakusum Hair Oil and Edwards Tonic,

Sen's most important newsfilms include a visual record of the Anti-Partition [of Bengal] Demonstration and Swadeshi movement at the Town Hall, Calcutta on 22 September 1905.

See also

Hiralal Sen

Cinema in India before 1913 Covers the era before the first Indian feature film

Indian cinema: 1913-20

Indian cinema: 1920-29

Indian cinema: 1930-39

Indian cinema: 1940-49

Indian cinema: 1950-59

Indian cinema: 1960-69

Indian cinema: 1970-79

Indian cinema: 1980-89

Indian cinema: 1990-99

Indian cinema: 2000-09

Indian cinema: 2010-19

CinemaScope and 70mm films Mainly about the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s.

70mm films in India/ South Asia I.e. Part 2 of this article. Mainly about the 1960s and 1970s.

Cinerama theatres in India, Pakistan, Sri LankaMainly about the 1960s.

3D films in South Asia

Colour films in South Asia: 1—South Asia as a whole.

Colour films in South Asia: 2 (Indian Cinema)—India as a whole.

Colour films in South Asia: 3-- Hindi-Urdu films. Mainly about the 1950s and 1960s.

See all articles on South Asian cinema in the alphabetical indexes of

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