UpdateBot at 22:23, 4 January 2022

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{{Short description|Indian documentary filmmaker (1903–1993)}}
{{EngvarB|date=August 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2015}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Ezra Mir
| image = Ezra_Mir_(1940).jpg
| caption = Ezra Mir (1940)
| birth_date = {{birth date|1903|10|26}}
| birth_place =
| death_date = {{death date and age|1993|3|7|1903|10|26}}
| death_place = [[Bombay, Maharashtra]], India
| death_cause =
| birth_name = Edwyn Myers
| occupation = Director <small>(films, documentary)</small>
| years_active = 1924–1993
| spouse =
}}
'''Ezra Mir''' (26 October 1903 – 7 March 1993)<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0591913/|title=Ezra Mir}}</ref><ref name="RajadhyakshaWillemen2014">{{cite book|author1=Ashish Rajadhyaksha|author2=Paul Willemen|title=Encyclopedia of Indian Cinema|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rF8ABAAAQBAJ&pg=RA9-PA1979|accessdate=17 August 2015|date=10 July 2014|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-1-135-94325-7|pages=9–|chapter=Mir, Ezra}}</ref> ([[Floruit|fl.]] 1924–1993) was an Indian film-maker, known for his [[documentary film]]s.

Mir changed his Jewish birth name, Edwyn Meyers, to Ezra Mir because he felt his original name "lacked Indianness". After working originally as a stage actor, he moved to New York in 1924 and started working in film, first as an actor and then later as an editor. During this period he also made his first short film, ''The Symbolesque'' (1929).<ref name=upperstall>{{cite web|title=Ezra Mir|url=http://www.upperstall.com/people/ezra-mir#|publisher=Upperstall.com|accessdate=26 Feb 2013}}</ref>

Returning to India, Mir began directing films based on [[Hindi theatre]]. He made his first full length film in this genre, ''Noorjehan'', for the Imperial Film Company in 1931, and subsequently ''Zarina'' and other films for the [[Sagar Movietone]]. He made a number of films for [[Madan Theatres Ltd|Madan Theatre Studios]] in the 1930s, and his most well-known work, ''Rickshawala'', was produced by [[Ranjit Studios|Ranjit Movietone]]. He then set up his own studio, Everest Pictures, in 1939.<ref name="upperstall"/><ref name="Kamath2005">{{cite book|author=N. J. Kamath|title=The world of Ezra Mir: a monograph|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XuVkAAAAMAAJ|accessdate=26 February 2013|date=1 January 2005|publisher=Publications Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Govt. of India|isbn=978-81-230-1202-5}}</ref>

During the 1940s, Mir joined the Film Advisory Board and began making documentary films. The three notable shorts he made for them were ''Making Money'', ''The Road To Victory'' and the ''Voice of Satan'' in 1940.<ref name=Mir>{{cite journal|last1=Patel|first1=Baburao|title=The Country Wants More Short Films|journal=Filmindia|date=October 1940|volume=6|issue=10|pages=63|url=https://archive.org/stream/filmindia194006unse#page/n637/mode/2up/search/Ezra+Mir|accessdate=17 August 2015|ref=Ezra Mir}}</ref> ''The Road To Victory'' was about the proclamation of dictatorship and was effectively directed and narrated by Mir.<ref name=RoadToVictory>{{cite journal|last1=Patel|first1=Baburao|title=Bombay Calling|journal=Filmindia|date=August 1940|volume=6|issue=8|pages=7|url=https://archive.org/stream/filmindia194006unse#page/n451/mode/2up/search/Ezra|accessdate=17 August 2015|ref=EzraMir}}</ref> ''Voice of Satan'' was a two-reeler about the propaganda used by the Germans in their broadcasting methods. Both the war documentaries were a production of [[Wadia Movietone]], a co-operative effort with the Film Advisory Board.<ref name=VoiceOfSatan>{{cite journal|last1=Patel|first1=Baburao|title=Bombay Calling|journal=Filmindia|date=December 1940|volume=6|issue=12|pages=8|url=https://archive.org/stream/filmindia194006unse#page/8/mode/2up/search/Ezra+Mir|accessdate=17 August 2015|ref=EzraMir}}</ref>

When the Advisory Board was replaced by Information Films of India, Mir continued to work for them, producing newsreels such as ''[[Indian News Parade]]''. After the war, he continued documentary work, founding the Indian Documentary Producers Association in 1956, and worked on over 700 documentary films. Mir was appointed Chief Producer of the [[Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (India)|Ministry of Information's]] Films Division in 1956;<ref name="Kamath2005"/> under his management, the Division was highly prolific, releasing newsreels at the rate of one per week as well as over 100 documentary films per year.<ref name="Barsam1992">{{cite book|author=Richard Meran Barsam|title=Nonfiction Film: A Critical History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z7p36FdLYdIC&pg=PA271|accessdate=26 February 2013|year=1992|publisher=Indiana University Press|isbn=978-0-253-20706-7|pages=271}}</ref> He was awarded the [[Padma Shri]] in 1970.<ref name="upperstall"/>

==Death==
He died on 7 March 1993, in Mumbai.<ref name=EM>{{cite web|title=Ezra Mir|url=http://www.jewishcalcutta.in/exhibits/show/film_p/ezra_mir|website=jewishcalcutta.in|publisher=RJC|accessdate=17 August 2015|ref=Recalling Jewish Calcutta}}</ref>

==Filmography==
;As director
*''The Symbolesque'' (1929)
*''Noorjehan'' (1931)
*''Zarina'' (1932)
*''Premi Pagal'' (1933)
*''Farzande Hind'' (1934)

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mir, Ezra}}
[[Category:1993 deaths]]
[[Category:Indian documentary filmmakers]]
[[Category:Film directors from Mumbai]]
[[Category:Indian Jews]]
[[Category:1903 births]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Padma Shri in arts]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian film directors]]
[[Category:Indian silent film directors]]
[[Category:Directors who won the Best Children's Film National Film Award]]

Ezra Mir - Revision history

UpdateBot at 22:23, 4 January 2022