In 1901 Hiralal Sen’s Royal Bioscope held a film exhibition alongside the commercial Calcutta Theatre filming extracts from plays. In 1902 JF Madan launched his bioscope show in a tent on Calcutta Maidan.
In 1903 Bhatavdekar and the American Biograph filmed Curzon’s Delhi Durbar. It was around this time, one day, Phalke attended Manek Sethna’s screening of The Life of Christ in Bombay and was spellbound. Heralding from a small village in Maharashtra, Phalke was a photographer and often hung around the renowned painter Raja Ravi Varma who supported him to pursue his dream.
The story continues…