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Kohinoor Film Company was an Indian film studio established in 1919 by Dwarkadas Sampat (1884-1958).Template:Sfn[1] According to Ashish Rajadhyaksha and Paul Willemen, it was the largest and most influential studio of the Indian silent film era.Template:Sfn The studio gained national prominence when its 1921 film Bhakta Vidur, was banned by the British colonial governmentTemplate:Sfn on the ground that the character Vidur, played by its producer Sampat, was "portrayed as a 'thinly-clad version' of Mahatma Gandhi."[2]
Under Kohinoor, directors such as Kanjibhai Rathod and Homi Master made some of the most popular films of the era.Template:Sfn For example, under Rathod's direction, the 1924 film Gul-e-Bakavali is widely regarded as the 'first all-India super hit'.[3][4] Several stars of the time such as Zubeida, Khalil, and Raja Sandow started their careers at the studio.Template:Sfn Film scholar Suresh Chabria, a former director of the National Film Archive of India,[5] argues that Kohinoor Film Company was "perhaps the first Indian studio to decisively move away from the artisanal production practices of D. G. Phalke, S. N. Patankar, and others."Template:Sfn
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.Template:Sfn He later entered film production and, through a partnership with S. N. Patankar, established Patankar Friends & Co,Template:Sfn which, according to Rajadhyaksha and Willemen, 'took off in 1917' with Sampat's entry.Template:Sfn
Film historian Amrit Gangar notes that Sampat established the Kohinoor Film Company after differences with Patankar.Template:Sfn
The studio also trained such people as Nandlal Jaswantlal and Mohan Bhavnani, and produced artists such as Goharbai, Zebunissa and Rampiyari.Template:Cn
Along with Ranjit Movietone and the Imperial Film Company it was the largest movie studio when Indian talkies began in the 1930s.[6]Template:Page needed
Filmography
| Film | Year | Director | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vikram Urvashi | 1920 | Kanjibhai Rathod | [7] |
| Mahasati Ansuya | 1921 | – | Template:Sfn |
| Bhakta Vidur | 1921 | – | Template:Sfn |
| Sukanya Savitri | 1922 | – | Template:Sfn |
| Gul-e-Bakavali | 1924 | – | Template:Sfn |
| Bismi Sadi | 1924 | Homi Master | Template:Sfn |
| Kala Naag | 1924 | K. Rathod | Template:Sfn |
| Cinema Ni Rani | 1925 | Mohan Bhavnani | Template:Sfn |
| Fankdo Fituri | 1925 | Homi Master | Template:Sfn |
| Kulin Kanta | 1925 | – | Template:Sfn |
| Lanka Ni Laadi | 1925 | – | Template:Sfn |
| Mojili Mumbai | 1925 | Manilal Joshi | Template:Sfn |
| Veer Kunal | 1925 | – | Template:Sfn |
| Telephone Ni Taruni | 1926 | Homi Master | Template:Sfn |
| Bhaneli Bhamini | 1927 | – | Template:Sfn |
| Gunsundari | 1927 | Chandulal Shah | Template:Sfn |
| Daily Mail | 1930 | Narayan G. Devare | Template:Sfn |
References
- ↑ History of Cinema in India. Retrieved 25 December 2011.
- ↑ The Oxford History of World Cinema{{#if:Nowell-Smith|, Nowell-Smith}. Oxford University Press(1996). ISBN 978-0-19-874242-5
- ↑ _
- ↑ Hundred years of Indian cinema. The Times of India(6 June 2012). Retrieved 8 July 2025.
- ↑ Personal essay: How films became a bridge to my past and my present. Scroll.in(20 April 2023). Retrieved 29 December 2025.
- ↑ Cinema studies: the key concepts{{#if:Hayward|, Hayward}. Taylor and Francis(2006). ISBN 9780203020210
- ↑ 'Bad' Women of Bombay Films: Studies in Desire and Anxiety{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Springer International Publishing(2019). ISBN 978-3-030-26788-9
Bibliography
- So Many Cinemas: The Motion Picture in India{{#if:Garga|, Garga}. Eminence Designs(1996). ISBN 978-81-900602-1-9
- Encyclopedia of Indian Cinema{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Routledge(2014). ISBN 978-1-135-94318-9
- Cinema and the Indian freedom struggle{{#if:Kaul|, Kaul}. Sterling Publishers(1998). ISBN 9788120721166
- Encyclopedia of Early Cinema{{#if:Abel|, Abel}. Taylor & Francis(2005). ISBN 978-0-415-23440-5
- Bombay before Bollywood: Film City Fantasies{{#if:Thomas|, Thomas}. State University of New York Press(2015). ISBN 978-1-4384-5677-5
- Indian Cinema: A Very Short Introduction{{#if:Rajadhyaksha|, Rajadhyaksha}. Oxford University Press(2016). ISBN 978-0-19-872309-7
- Routledge Handbook of Indian Cinemas{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Routledge(2013). ISBN 978-1-136-77291-7