Samrick21 at 17:04, 4 May 2026

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{{Short description|Bengali filmmaker and photographer (1868–1917)}}
{{Use Indian English|date=December 2019}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2019}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Hiralal Sen
| image = Hiralal Sen.jpg
| caption = Hiralal Sen, {{circa|1900}}
| birth_date = 2 August 1868
| birth_place = [[Manikganj]], [[Bengal Presidency]], [[British India]] (present day [[Bangladesh]])
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1917|10|26|1868|08|02|df=y}}
| death_place = [[Calcutta]], Bengal Presidency, British India
| occupation = Photographer, filmmaker
| spouse = Hemangini Devi
| mother = Bidhumukhi Sen
| father = Chandramohan Sen
}}
[[File:HiralalSen FlowerofPersia DancingScene.jpg|thumb|Hiralal Sen, performing the ''Flower of Persia'' at the [[Star Theatre, Kolkata]].]]
'''Hiralal Sen''' ({{langx|bn|হীরালাল সেন}}, ''Hiralal Shen''; 2 August 1868 – 26 October 1917<ref>{{cite web
| last = Bandyopadhyay
| first = Alexander
| date = 2017-10-23
| url = http://www.bongodorshon.com/home/story_detail/hiralal-sen-the-pioneer-of-bengali-cinema
| title = Pioneer of Bengali Cinema Hiralal Sen (in Bengali)
| access-date = 24 October 2017
| archive-date = 25 October 2017
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20171025022250/http://www.bongodorshon.com/home/story_detail/hiralal-sen-the-pioneer-of-bengali-cinema
| url-status = live
}}</ref>) is generally considered one of [[India]]'s first [[filmmaker]]s. In 1903, he filmed the popular ''Alibaba and Forty Thieves'', the first full-length Indian film.<ref>{{Cite news |date=22 February 2021 |title=Kinjal Nanda: I'm Lucky to play Hiralal Sen on screen |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/bengali/movies/news/kinjal-nanda-im-lucky-to-play-hiralal-sen-on-screen/articleshow/81147006.cms |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241204035638/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/bengali/movies/news/kinjal-nanda-im-lucky-to-play-hiralal-sen-on-screen/articleshow/81147006.cms |archive-date=4 December 2024 |access-date=1 April 2025 |work=[[The Times of India]] |issn=0971-8257}}</ref> A noted photographer, he is also credited with creating India's first [[advertising]] [[film]]s and quite possibly India's first political film. A fire in 1917 destroyed all of his films.

==Early life==
Hiralal Sen's native home was in ''Bagjuri'', a village in [[Manikganj District|Manikganj]], approximately 80 km from [[Dhaka]], the present-day capital of [[Bangladesh]].<ref name="Hiralal1">{{cite web
|last = Teachers’ Medicare Benevolent Fund
|date = 2005-12-31
|url = http://www.abasar.net/filmhiralal.htm
|title = Hiralal Sen (in Bengali)
|accessdate = 2006-11-01
|archive-date = 6 December 2006
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20061206074536/http://www.abasar.net/filmhiralal.htm
|url-status = live
}}</ref> Although he was the son of a successful lawyer of a [[Baidya]] ''[[zamindar]]'' <ref>{{Cite book|last=Mukharji|first=Projit Bihari|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uGgpDQAAQBAJ&q=hiralal+sen+baidya|title=Doctoring Traditions: Ayurveda, Small Technologies, and Braided Sciences|date=2016-10-14|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=978-0-226-38313-2|language=en|access-date=5 February 2022|archive-date=20 August 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230820075354/https://books.google.com/books?id=uGgpDQAAQBAJ&q=hiralal+sen+baidya|url-status=live}}</ref> family of that region, he grew up in [[Calcutta]].<ref name="Hiralal1"/> In 1898, a film troupe en route to [[Paris]] screened a certain Professor Stevenson's short film along with the stage show, ''The Flower of Persia'' at the [[Star Theatre, Calcutta|Star Theatre]] in Calcutta.<ref name="Hiralal2">{{cite web
|last = McKernan
|first = Luke
|date = 1996-12-31
|url = http://www.victorian-cinema.net/sen.htm
|title = Hiralal Sen (copyright British Film Institute)
|accessdate = 2006-11-01
|archive-date = 23 May 2012
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120523154503/http://www.victorian-cinema.net/sen.htm
|url-status = live
}}</ref> Borrowing Stevenson's camera, Sen made his first film, "A Dancing Scene" from the opera ''The Flower of Persia''.<ref name="Hiralal2"/> With assistance from his brother, Motilal Sen, he bought an [[Urban Bioscope]] from [[Charles Urban]]'s [[Warwick Trading Company]] in [[London]].<ref name="Hiralal2"/> In the following year, with his brother, he formed the [[Royal Bioscope]] company.<ref name="Hiralal2"/>

== Filmmaking career ==
In 1898, Hiralal was in Kolkata star Theatre, West Bengal (earlier known as Calcutta)and was watching "flower of Persia". That theatre play had interval were some short film was played and that was the moment he had an idea. He borrowed a camera from the plays director and recorded the whole Flower of Persia play. Furthermore, with added funds by his father he got his first cinematograph camera, and started India's first movie enterprise named - "Royal Bioscope film company" in 1898 itself. In a creative career that extended up to 1913, Hiralal Sen made over forty short films.<ref name="Bandyopadhyay1990">{{cite book |last=Bandyopadhyay |first=Samik |author-link=Samik Bandyopadhyay |chapter=The Early Years of Calcutta Cinema |year=1990 |editor-last=Chaudhuri |editor-first=Sukanta |editor-link=Sukanta Chaudhuri |title=Calcutta: The Living City |volume=II: The Present and Future |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=293–294 |isbn=978-0-19-563697-0}}</ref> Most of the films he made depicted scenes from theatrical productions played at Amarendra Dutta's Classic Theatre in Calcutta. At that time raw [[photographic film|film]] was imported into the country.<ref name="Hiralal2"/> Between 1901 and 1904, he produced many films for Classic Theatre including ''Bhramar'', ''Hariraj'', and ''Buddhadev''.<ref name="Hiralal2"/> His longest film, produced in 1903 and titled ''Alibaba and the Forty Thieves'', was also based on an original Classic Theatre performance.<ref name="Hiralal1"/><ref name="Hiralal2"/> However, not much is known about this [[feature film]] since it was never screened.<ref name="Hiralal1"/> He also produced a number of advertising films and newsfilms taking commissions.<ref name="Hiralal2"/> Having made two films advertising Jabakusum Hair Oil and Edwards Tonic, he became the first Indian to use film for advertising purposes.<ref name="Hiralal1"/><ref>{{Cite web|title=Bengal's Jabakusum Hair Oil - First Asian brand advertised in The Bengal Gazette|url=https://www.getbengal.com/details/bengals-jabakusum-hair-oil-first-asian-brand-advertised-in-the-bengal-gazette|access-date=2021-12-14|website=Get Bengal|language=en|archive-date=14 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211214225051/https://www.getbengal.com/details/bengals-jabakusum-hair-oil-first-asian-brand-advertised-in-the-bengal-gazette|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1905, Sen advertised a "genuine Swadeshi film of our own make". Documenting the "Anti-[[1905 Partition of Bengal|Partition]] Demonstration and [[Swadeshi movement]] at the Town Hall, Calcutta, on the 22nd September 1905", it is, according to critic [[Samik Bandyopadhyay]], India's first political film.<ref name="Bandyopadhyay1990" />

[[Royal Bioscope]] made its last film in 1913.<ref name="Hiralal2" />

== Filmography ==
{| class="wikitable"
!Year
!Title
|-
|1903
|''Alibaba and the Forty Thieves''
|-
|between 1901 and 1904
|''Bhramar''
|-
|between 1901 and 1904
|''Hariraj''
|-
|between 1901 and 1904
|''Buddhadev''
|-
|1905
|''Anti-[[1905 Partition of Bengal|Partition]] Demonstration and [[Swadeshi movement]] at the Town Hall, Calcutta, on the 22nd September 1905''
|}

== Later years ==
Hiralal Sen's later years were filled with disappointment and economic hardship.<ref name="Hiralal1"/> [[Jamshedji Framji Madan]] of the [[Elphinstone Bioscope Company]] had long surpassed him in terms of success.<ref name="Bandyopadhyay1990" /> To compound his misery, he was also suffering from [[cancer]].{{Citation needed|date=December 2021}} A few days before his death in 1917, a fire broke out destroying every film he ever made.<ref name="Hiralal1"/><ref name="Hiralal2"/>

== In popular culture ==
In 2021, a film named ''[[Hiralal (film)|Hiralal]]'' was made on his life starring Kinjal Nanda.<ref>{{Cite web|title='Hiralal' - Times of India|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/bengali/movies/previews/hiralal/articleshow/81154201.cms|access-date=2021-03-07|website=The Times of India|language=en|archive-date=24 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210424105854/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/bengali/movies/previews/hiralal/articleshow/81154201.cms|url-status=live}}</ref>

== Notes ==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book |last=Raju |first=Zakir Hossain |author-link=Zakir Hossain Raju |year=2014 |title=Bangladesh Cinema and National Identity: In Search of the Modern? |publisher=Taylor and Francis |isbn=978-1-317-60181-4}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb name |0784006}}
* [http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=58106 "Remembering Hiralal Sen"]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sen, Hiralal}}
[[Category:1866 births]]
[[Category:1917 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Manikganj District]]
[[Category:Bengali film directors]]
[[Category:Bengali film producers]]
[[Category:Indian documentary filmmakers]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian people]]
[[Category:Indian silent film producers]]
[[Category:People from British India]]
[[Category:People from the Bengal Presidency]]

Hiralal Sen - Revision history

Samrick21 at 17:04, 4 May 2026