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{{Short description|Bavarian Filmmaker}}{{more citations needed|date=October 2017}}

{{EngvarB|date=September 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2014}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Franz Osten
| image =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1876|12|23}}
| birth_place = [[Munich, Bavaria]]
| birth_name =
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1956|12|2|1876|12|23}}
| death_place =
| nationality = [[Bavaria|Bavarian]]
| occupation = [[Filmmaker]], [[Film director|Director]]
| partner =
| yearsactive =
}}
'''Franz Osten''' (23 December 1876 in Munich – 2 December 1956) was a [[Bavaria|Bavarian]] [[filmmaker]] who along with [[Himansu Rai]] was among the first retainers of [[Bombay Talkies]]. Osten partnered with Rai on a number of India's earliest blockbuster films like ''[[Achhut Kanya]]'' and ''[[Jeevan Naiya]]''.

==Early life==
Osten was born Franz Ostermayr in [[Munich]] on 23 December 1876. He trained to be a photographer like his father and gave acting a try. In 1907, he founded a traveling cinema called the "Original Physograph Company" with his brother [[Peter Ostermayr]], who later established the predecessor to [[Bavaria Film Studios]], today one of Germany's largest [[film studio]]s. Amongst other films, he showed ''Life in India'', a short documentary film about the [[Munich carnival]]. The run was not very successful: three days after the opening, the [[Movie projector|projector]] exploded in flames. Osten decided to make films and in 1911 directed his first feature, ''Erna Valeska''. His career was interrupted by the start of the [[First World War]]. He worked first as a [[correspondent]], then became a soldier. After the war Osten made peasant dramas like ''The War of the Oxen'' and ''Chain of Guilt'' for EMELKA in [[Munich]].

==Filmography==

Franz Osten's [[silent film]]s tell varieties of Indian stories. ''[[The Light of Asia]]'' (1925) dealt with the life of [[Gautama Buddha|Buddha]]. ''[[Shiraz (film)|Shiraz]]'' (1928) dramatises the events that led to the construction of the [[Taj Mahal]]. ''[[A Throw of Dice]]'' (1929) was based on myths and legends drawn from Indian epic [[Mahabharata]]. These movies contributed to increasing the understanding of [[Dharmic religions|eastern religions]] and offered visual splendour and escapism, featuring live elephants in festive decoration and utilising thousands of extras.

Since early 2000s, there has been a revived interest in silent films in general and the trilogy of Osten are in focus. ''Shiraz'' was shown at the [[Castro Theatre]] at the [[San Francisco Silent Film Festival]] in 2002, ''Prem Sanyas'' at the same festival in 2005, and ''A Throw of Dice'' in 2008.<ref>[http://www.silentfilm.org/ Movies presented at the SF Silent Film Festival]</ref> ''Prapancha Pash'' was re-released in 2006.<ref>[http://www.athrowofdice.com Website of re-released ''A Throw of Dice''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110904151504/http://www.athrowofdice.com/ |date=4 September 2011 }}</ref>

===Director (Indian Films)===

* ''[[Prem Sanyas]]'' (1925) / ''[[Die Leuchte Asiens]]'' (German title) / ''[[The Light of Asia]]'' (English Title)
* ''[[Shiraz (film)|Shiraz]]'' (1928) / ''[[Das Grabmal einer großen Liebe]]'' (German title)
* ''[[Prapancha Pash]]'' (1929) / ''[[Schicksalswürfel]]'' (German title) / ''[[A Throw of Dice]]'' (English Title)
* ''[[Jawani Ki Hawa]]'' (1935)
* ''[[Achhut Kanya]]'' (1936) / ''[[Die Unberührbare]]'' (German title) / ''[[Untouchable Girl]]'' (English title)
* ''[[Janmabhoomi (1936 film)|Janmabhoomi]]'' (1936)
* ''[[Jeevan Naiya]]'' (1936)
* ''Mamta'' and ''Miya Aur Biwi" (1936)
* ''[[Izzat (1937 film)|Izzat]]'' (1937)
* ''[[Jeevan Prabhat]]'' (1937)
* ''[[Prem Kahani (1937 film)|Prem Kahani]]'' (1937)
* ''[[Savitri (1937 film)|Savitri]]'' (1937)
* ''[[Bhabhi (1938 film)|Bhabhi]]'' (1938)
* ''[[Nirmala (1938 film)|Nirmala]]'' (1938)
* ''[[Vachan (1938 film)|Vachan]]'' (1938)
* ''Durga'' (1939)
* ''[[Kangan (1939 film)|Kangan]]'' (1939)

==''The Light of Asia''==

''The Light of Asia'' was a unique collaboration which managed to satisfy the tastes of both German and Indian audiences began in 1924. The 28-year-old Indian solicitor [[Himansu Rai]] came to [[Munich]] in search of partners for series of films on [[Major religious groups|world religions]]. He had studied law in [[Calcutta]] and London where as a student of Nobel Prize winner [[Rabindranath Tagore]] he had also directed a theatre group that promised to revive Indian acting and theatre traditions. He had heard that the [[passion play]]s of [[Oberammergau]] were a showcase for German culture and now wanted to create the Indian equivalent.

The Germans were to provide equipment, [[Film crew|camera crew]] and the director, Franz Osten; Rai would provide the script, the actors, locations and all the capital necessary. On 26 February 1925, Osten and Rai, together with their cameramen, Willi Kiermeier and [[Josef Wirsching]], and comedian [[Bertl Schultes]] as interpreter, boarded a ship for [[India]]. On 18 March they arrived in [[Bombay]]. There Osten began to shoot his first Indian film, ''[[Prem Sanyas]]'' – ''Die Leuchte Asiens''-''The Light of Asia'', the first [[Germany–India relations|German–Indian]] co-production. The film tells the story of Prince [[Gautama Buddha]], who according to an omen will "follow the sad and lowly path of self denial and pious pain" if he ever faces old age, sickness or death. To prevent this, the King keeps him imprisoned behind the high walls of his palace. One day Gautama leaves his golden cage and is confronted with human misery. At night a revelation comes to him in a dream. A mysterious voice bids him to choose between the carefree life with his beloved wife Gopa and a life in pursuit of eternal truth. In the early morning hours Gautama leaves the court of the King. Attacking common religious practices of sacrifice and self-humiliation, he soon builds up a sizeable following. A young woman kneels before him asking to be received amongst his followers. The woman is Gopa.

In India the film was rejected for lack of credibility. The cost of 171,423 [[Indian rupee|Rupees]] was ten times that of an average [[Cinema of India|Indian film]]. Even after amendments in the contract with EMELKA, the film lost Rs 50,000. In the United States the film lacked success as "motion picture audiences in America do not care to pay an admission fee to see a prince become a beggar.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sch.eclipse.co.uk/html/fairy.html|title=The True Fairy Tale of Lord Buddha|access-date=22 July 2011}}</ref>

==Selected filmography==
'''Director (German Films)'''
* ''[[The War of the Oxen (1920 film)|The War of the Oxen]]'' (1920)
* ''[[The Monastery's Hunter (1920 film)|The Monastery's Hunter]]'' (1920)
* ''[[The Night of Decision (1920 film)|The Night of Decision]]'' (1920)
* ''[[The Black Face]]'' (1921)
* ''[[The Terror of the Sea]]'' (1924)
* ''[[The Tragedy of a Night of Passion]]'' (1924)
* ''[[A Song from Days of Youth]]'' (1925)
* ''[[Little Inge and Her Three Fathers ]]'' (1926)
* ''[[The Seventh Son (1926 film)|The Seventh Son]]'' (1926)
* ''[[Break-in (film)|Break-in]]'' (1927)
* ''[[The Lady in Black (1928 film)|The Lady in Black]]'' (1928)
* ''[[The Eccentric (film)|The Eccentric]]'' (1929)
* ''[[The Judas of Tyrol]]'' (1933)
* ''[[At the Strasbourg]]'' (1934)

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2584/is_n4_v15/ai_17782474 Franz Osten's 'the Light of Asia']
* {{IMDb name|0652302}}

{{Franz Osten|state=expanded}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Osten, Franz}}
[[Category:1876 births]]
[[Category:1956 deaths]]
[[Category:Film directors from Munich]]
[[Category:Hindi-language film directors]]

Franz Osten - Revision history

imported>Certes at 15:47, 13 August 2021