Probashi- Cover Story
Probashi- Cover Story
The Firsts in Indian Cinema
complete by his habit for gambling and horseracing . He soon moved to a chawl in Mumbai all his riches now a distant dream . However one woul still see film starss like Dilip Kumar , Sunil Dutt and
Amitabh Bachhan stop by his chawl to say hello to Bhagwan . Bhagwan died penniless in 2002 .
Nazeruddin Shah had termed him as the best actor ever in Hindi Movies . A superstar with both money and fame at his beck and call , Motilal ( 1910‐1965 ) would even pilot his own personal plane .
He is most remembered for his role as ‘ Chunni Babu ’ in Bimal Roy ’ s Devdas ( 19555 ), for which he won his first Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award . He lost all his money while making the film Chotti Chotti Baatein which took longer than expected . The film on its release didnot make a mark and Motilal by now a pauper died the year the film was released . He would never know that Chotti Chotti Baatein would win the President
’ s award the very next year . Same story was repeated for the
famous lyricist
Shailendra ( 1923‐ 1966 ), who went broke producing his maiden venture Teesri Kasam . He died in 1966 a pauper . Raj Kapoor and Waheeda Rehman starrer , Teesri Kasam , won the Presidents
Gold Medal , sadly Shailendra was no more .
In life unlike our movies there is never a perfect ending but for some the imperfection is rather unfair .
Written and researched by Probashi Editorial Team , coordinated by
Sudipto Sengupta
The Firsts in
Indian Cinema
First Indiann cinema hall : Jamshedji Framji Madan opened the Elphinstone Picture Palace in Calcutta on Hogg Street in 1907 . The Hall was later renamed Minerva , and subsequently renamed Chaplin . Father of the Bengali cinema ’ s superstar Uttam Kumar used to run the projector here . Two months ago in April 2013
, the demolition of the hall started . A piece of cinema history was allowed to be wiped out from the country which boasts of the largest film industry in the world .
1896 First cinema show in India ‐ Marvel of the Century , arranged by agents of Louis and August Lumiere , at Bombay ' s Watson Hotel on July 7 1899 First use of cine‐camera ‐ H . S . Bhatavdekar imports a cine‐camera from London . He films a wrestling bout at Hanging Gardens in Bombay , the first documentary . 1902 First bioscope show
‐ J . F . Madan launches his bioscope show in a tent at Calcutta Maidan .
1907 First Indian cinema hall ‐ J . F . Madan opens the Elphinstone Picture Palace in Calcutta , the first of his cinema chain .