Anis at 20:17, 6 January 2026

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{{Short description|Indian film studio}}
{{More citations needed|date=April 2024}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2017}}
{{Use Indian English|date=October 2017}}
{{Infobox company
| name = Kohinoor Film Company
| image =
| logo =
| type = {{plainlist|
* [[Filmmaking|Film production]]
* [[Film distribution]]}}
| genre = {{hlist|[[Fantasy film|Fantasy]]| mythology}}
| foundation = 1918–1919<ref>Some sources date the company's establishment to 1918.
* {{cite book | last1=Chabria | first1=Suresh | last2=Usai | first2=Paolo Cherchi | title=Light of Asia: Indian Silent Cinema, 1912-1934 | publisher=Wiley Eastern | date=1994 | isbn=978-81-224-0680-1 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CORkAAAAMAAJ | page=15 |quote=Arguably the most important production company in Bombay was Duarkadas Sampat's Kohinoor Film Co. established in 1918.}}
* {{cite book | last=Kaul | first=Gautam | title=Cinema and the Indian Freedom Struggle: Covering the Subcontinent | publisher=Sterling Publishers | year=1998 | isbn=978-81-207-2116-6 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WNxkAAAAMAAJ|page=160|quote=On the 'Diwali day'* of 1918, Sampat opened his own Kohinoor Film Company and went into filmmaking.}}
* {{cite book | last=Thoraval | first=Yves | title=The Cinemas of India | publisher=Macmillan India | date=2000 | isbn=978-0-333-93410-4 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-OpkAAAAMAAJ | page=9 |quote=The studio system dominated the scene until the 1940s and '50s. One of the legendary ones was the Kohinoor Film Company, founded in 1918, in Bombay, by Dwarkadas N Sampat, a professional showman of repute.}}</ref>
| founder = Dwarkadas Sampat
| defunct = 1932{{sfn|Rajadhyaksha|Willemen|2014|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=SLkABAAAQBAJ&pg=PA126 126]}}
| location_city = [[Mumbai]]
| location_country = India
| industry = [[Entertainment]]
| products = Mostly [[silent film]]s
}}
'''Kohinoor Film Company''' was an Indian [[film studio]] established in 1919 by Dwarkadas Sampat (1884-1958).{{sfn|Rajadhyaksha|Willemen|2014|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=SLkABAAAQBAJ&pg=PA126 126]}}<ref>{{cite web |title=History of Cinema in India |url=http://www.filmbirth.com/india.html |access-date=25 December 2011 |archive-date=6 May 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120506014334/http://www.filmbirth.com/india.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> According to [[Ashish Rajadhyaksha]] and [[Paul Willemen]], it was the largest and most influential studio of the Indian silent film era.{{sfn|Rajadhyaksha|Willemen|2014|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=SLkABAAAQBAJ&pg=PA126 126]}} The studio gained national prominence when its 1921 film ''[[Bhakta Vidur]]'', was banned by the British colonial government{{sfn|Rajadhyaksha|Willemen|2014|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=SLkABAAAQBAJ&pg=PA126 126]}} on the ground that the character ''Vidur'', played by its producer Sampat, was "portrayed as a 'thinly-clad version' of [[Mahatma Gandhi]]."<ref>{{cite book | last=Nowell-Smith | first=Geoffrey | title=The Oxford History of World Cinema | publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] | date=1996 | isbn=978-0-19-874242-5 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MZwVDAAAQBAJ | page=403}}</ref>

Under Kohinoor, directors such as [[Kanjibhai Rathod]] and [[Homi Master]] made some of the most popular films of the era.{{sfn|Abel|2005|p=522}} For example, under Rathod's direction, the 1924 film ''[[Gul-e-Bakavali (1924 film)|Gul-e-Bakavali]]'' is widely regarded as the 'first all-India super hit'.<ref>_
* {{harvnb|Thomas|2015|p=[https://books.google.co.in/books?id=WHrmBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA9 9], "The first all-India super hit, a storm across the country in 1924, was Gul-e-Bakavali (The Bakavali Flower, Kanjibhai Rathod)"}}
* {{harvnb|Rajadhyaksha|2016|p=[https://books.google.co.in/books?id=88mSDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA21 21], "Gul-e-Bakavali was almost certainly the first truly national commercial hit in India"}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | last=Gooptu | first=Sharmistha | title=Hundred years of Indian cinema | website=[[The Times of India]] | date=6 June 2012 | url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/edit-page/hundred-years-of-indian-cinema/articleshow/13854661.cms | access-date=8 July 2025|quote=There was also the genre of films like Gul-e-Bakavali (1924), inspired by the popular Parsi theatres of Bombay and Calcutta, and which also became the first blockbuster talkies.}}</ref> Several stars of the time such as [[Zubeida]], [[Khalil (actor)|Khalil]], and [[P. K. Raja Sandow|Raja Sandow]] started their careers at the studio.{{sfn|Rajadhyaksha|Willemen|2014|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=SLkABAAAQBAJ&pg=PA126 126]}} Film scholar ''Suresh Chabria'', a former director of the [[National Film Archive of India]],<ref>{{cite news | last=Chabria | first=Suresh | title=Personal essay: How films became a bridge to my past and my present | website=[[Scroll.in]] | date=20 April 2023 | url=https://scroll.in/reel/1047582/personal-essay-how-films-became-a-bridge-to-return-to-my-past-and-my-present | access-date=29 December 2025}}</ref> argues that Kohinoor Film Company was "perhaps the first Indian studio to decisively move away from the artisanal production practices of [[Dadasaheb Phalke|D. G. Phalke]], [[S. N. Patankar]], and others."{{sfn|Abel|2005|p=521–522}}

==History==
Dwarkadas Narendas Sampat (1884–1958) started his career in Indian cinema in 1904, when he brought a projector and began to organise film screenings in [[Rajkot]], [[Bombay Presidency]].{{sfn|Gokulsing|Dissanayake|2013|p=89}} He later entered film production and, through a partnership with [[S. N. Patankar]], established ''Patankar Friends & Co'',{{sfn|Gokulsing|Dissanayake|2013|p=89}} which, according to [[Ashish Rajadhyaksha|Rajadhyaksha]] and [[Paul Willemen|Willemen]], 'took off in 1917' with Sampat's entry.{{sfn|Rajadhyaksha|Willemen|2014|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=SLkABAAAQBAJ&pg=PA172 172]}}

Film historian [[Amrit Gangar]] notes that Sampat established the ''Kohinoor Film Company'' after differences with Patankar.{{sfn|Gokulsing|Dissanayake|2013|p=90}}

The studio also trained such people as [[Nandlal Jaswantlal]] and [[Mohan Bhavnani]], and produced artists such as [[Goharbai]], [[Zebunissa (actress)|Zebunissa]] and [[Rampiyari]].{{cn|date=December 2025}}

Along with [[Ranjit Movietone]] and the [[Imperial Film Company]] it was the largest movie studio when Indian [[talkies]] began in the 1930s.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hayward |first=Susan |title=Cinema studies: the key concepts |year=2006 |publisher=Taylor and Francis |isbn=9780203020210 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=OlPXsA-OBMAC&q=kohinoor+film+company&pg=PA393}}</ref>{{Page needed|date=December 2025}}

==Filmography==
{| class="wikitable" style="width:100%;"
!Film
!Year
!Director
!Notes
|-
!Vikram Urvashi
!1920
![[Kanjibhai Rathod]]
!<ref>{{cite book | last1=Sengupta | first1=S. | last2=Roy | first2=S. | last3=Purkayastha | first3=S. | title='Bad' Women of Bombay Films: Studies in Desire and Anxiety | publisher=Springer International Publishing | year=2019 | isbn=978-3-030-26788-9 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6z7CDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA96 | page=96}}</ref>
|-
!Mahasati Ansuya
!1921
!–
!{{sfn|Rajadhyaksha|Willemen|2014|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=SLkABAAAQBAJ&pg=PA244 244]}}
|-
![[Bhakta Vidur]]
!1921
!–
!{{sfn|Rajadhyaksha|Willemen|2014|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=SLkABAAAQBAJ&pg=PA244 244]}}
|-
!Sukanya Savitri
!1922
!–
!{{sfn|Rajadhyaksha|Willemen|2014|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=SLkABAAAQBAJ&pg=PA245 245]}}
|-
![[Gul-e-Bakavali (1924 film)|Gul-e-Bakavali]]
!1924
!–
!{{sfn|Rajadhyaksha|Willemen|2014|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=SLkABAAAQBAJ&pg=PA245 245]}}
|-
!Bismi Sadi
!1924
![[Homi Master]]
!{{sfn|Rajadhyaksha|Willemen|2014|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=SLkABAAAQBAJ&pg=PA245 245]}}
|-
!Kala Naag
!1924
!K. Rathod
!{{sfn|Rajadhyaksha|Willemen|2014|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=SLkABAAAQBAJ&pg=PA246 246]}}
|-
!Cinema Ni Rani
!1925
!Mohan Bhavnani
!{{sfn|Rajadhyaksha|Willemen|2014|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=SLkABAAAQBAJ&pg=PA247 247]}}
|-
!Fankdo Fituri
!1925
!Homi Master
!{{sfn|Rajadhyaksha|Willemen|2014|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=SLkABAAAQBAJ&pg=PA247 247]}}
|-
!Kulin Kanta
!1925
!–
!{{sfn|Rajadhyaksha|Willemen|2014|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=SLkABAAAQBAJ&pg=PA247 247]}}
|-
!Lanka Ni Laadi
!1925
!–
!{{sfn|Rajadhyaksha|Willemen|2014|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=SLkABAAAQBAJ&pg=PA247 247]}}
|-
![[Mojili Mumbai]]
!1925
![[Manilal Joshi]]
!{{sfn|Rajadhyaksha|Willemen|2014|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=SLkABAAAQBAJ&pg=PA248 248]}}
|-
!Veer Kunal
!1925
!–
!{{sfn|Rajadhyaksha|Willemen|2014|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=SLkABAAAQBAJ&pg=PA249 249]}}
|-
!Telephone Ni Taruni
!1926
!Homi Master
!{{sfn|Rajadhyaksha|Willemen|2014|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=SLkABAAAQBAJ&pg=PA249 249–250]}}
|-
!Bhaneli Bhamini
!1927
!–
!{{sfn|Rajadhyaksha|Willemen|2014|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=SLkABAAAQBAJ&pg=PA250 250]}}
|-
![[Gunsundari (1927 film)|Gunsundari]]
!1927
![[Chandulal Shah]]
!{{sfn|Rajadhyaksha|Willemen|2014|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=SLkABAAAQBAJ&pg=PA250 250]}}
|-
!Daily Mail
!1930
!Narayan G. Devare
!{{sfn|Rajadhyaksha|Willemen|2014|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=SLkABAAAQBAJ&pg=PA252 252]}}
|-
|}

==References==
{{reflist}}

===Bibliography===
* {{cite book | last=Garga | first=Bhagwan Das | title=So Many Cinemas: The Motion Picture in India | publisher=Eminence Designs | date=1996 | isbn=978-81-900602-1-9 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wXRZAAAAMAAJ}}
* {{cite book | last1=Rajadhyaksha | first1=Ashish | last2=Willemen | first2=Paul | title=Encyclopedia of Indian Cinema | publisher=[[Routledge]] | date=2014 | isbn=978-1-135-94318-9 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SLkABAAAQBAJ|archive-url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopaediaofi0000raja|archive-date=4 December 2018}}
* {{cite book |last=Kaul |first=Gautam |title=Cinema and the Indian freedom struggle |year=1998 |publisher=Sterling Publishers |isbn=9788120721166 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=WNxkAAAAMAAJ}}
* {{cite book | last=Abel | first=Richard | title=Encyclopedia of Early Cinema | publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]] | date=2005 | isbn=978-0-415-23440-5 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hFxwX-dM008C}}
* {{cite book | last=Thomas | first=Rosie | title=Bombay before Bollywood: Film City Fantasies | publisher=[[State University of New York Press]] | date=2015 | isbn=978-1-4384-5677-5 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WHrmBgAAQBAJ}}
* {{cite book | last=Rajadhyaksha | first=A. | title=Indian Cinema: A Very Short Introduction | publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] | year=2016 | isbn=978-0-19-872309-7 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=88mSDAAAQBAJ }}
* {{cite book | last1=Gokulsing | first1=K. | last2=Dissanayake | first2=Wimal | title=Routledge Handbook of Indian Cinemas | publisher=Routledge | date=2013 | isbn=978-1-136-77291-7 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QwGgF-rDucEC}}

[[Category:Film production companies based in Mumbai]]
[[Category:Mass media companies established in 1918]]
[[Category:1918 establishments in India]]
[[Category:Indian film studios]]
[[Category:Silent film studios]]
[[Category:Defunct companies of India]]
[[Category:Defunct film and television production companies]]

Kohinoor Film Company - Revision history

Anis at 20:17, 6 January 2026