Edited by Anas
Khwaja
Background & Movie shows in Ahsan Manzil
*
Nawab Khwaja Ahsanullah and Nawab Khwaja Salimullah were great
admirers of art and culture. Both were members of the
* In the spring of April
1898 Nawab Khwaja Ahsanullah invited the visiting Cinematograph Company
from
* The first Bengali
organization for producing and exhibiting films was the Royal Bioscope Company
, established in 1898 in
*
On the 16th and 22nd March of 1911 Royal Bioscope Company
exhibited shows at Ahsan Manzil.
Nawab Salimullah arranged
these shows in honor of Khwaja Yusuf Jaan
who earlier had been bestowed the Nawab title. Two
more shows at the residences of K.
Abdul Alim and Khwaja Azizullah were arranged on the 24th and 25th
respectively. Starting June 5, 1916 for couple of days Nawabzada Khwaja Atikullah had also premiered movies at his Dilkhusha residence. (4)
* Under the initiative of
the Madan
Theatre Company the first Indian Bangla
silent movie Biswa Mangal
was released November 8, 1919. Priya Nath Ganguli, the famous
director-producer of a later period, was the man behind the screen. Priya Nath was the son of Chandra
Kumar Ganguly, the manager of the dhaka nawab estate, (5)
Footnotes:1.Anupam Hayat,
2.Dhaka Prokash 1926 Feb 1899, 3.Anupam Hayat, 4.Diary of Khwaja Moudud, 5.Anupam Hayat
Sukumari –The first short film of
At that
beginning of the 20th century
A shot from Sukumari
Sukumari was directed by Ambuj Prasanna Gupta, a high profiled dramatist and an instructor
in physical education of
Nawabzada Nasarullah played the hero
role. Interestingly at that time it was impossible to find an actress. A young
man, Syed Abdus Sobhan was chosen to play the heroine.
Shooting was
done in
Others who
helped to make this movie were Professor Andalib Sadani of
Their movie
was completed by 1928-29.The test was successful. When completed this was a
silent movie of four reels. Unfortunately the copy of the film was never
available for public screening. But there were a few private screenings.
The print of
'Sukumari' is lost forgood.
Only one priceless still photo (with hero Khwaja Nasarullah and heroine Syed Abdus Sobhan) is in the treasury
of the Bangladesh Film Archive.
The Last Kiss –The
first full length silent feature film of
After the
success of Sukumari, the young men of the Nawab family went for a bigger venture. They set up Dhaka
East Bengal Cinematograph Society and produced a full-length silent
movie titled The Last Kiss.
Khawja Ajmal played the role opposite
to heroine Lolita (as per Anupam Hayat).
Khwaja Nasarullah was the
hero initially and was replaced by Kazi Jalaluddin and Khwaja Ajmal later on (as per Dr.Md Alamgir). The central character (leader of the gang) was
played by noted artist Shailen Roy (Tona Babu). Other cast and crew
members were Khwaja Adel, Khwaja
Akmal, Khwaja Shahed, Khwaja Nasarullah and Syed Saheb E Alam.
The actresses
were Lolita alias Buri (heroine), Charu
Bala, Deba Bala alias Devi and Harimati. The
first three of these artists were drawn from the brothels of the old
Lolita-a scene from The
last Kiss
The shooting
of the film started from Octobar 1929, Shootings took
place in the vicinity of Dilkusha, Motijheel, Paribagh and Azimpur. The camera was handled by Khwaja
Azad. Assistant cameraman was Khwaja Ajmal and Khwaja Zahir.
The director of the movie Ambuj
Gupta himself composed the Bengali and the English subtitles of the film. Andalib Shadani of the
In 1931,
The Last Kiss was released in the Mukul cinema
hall (now Azad). Distinguished historian Dr Ramesh
Chandra Majumdar, professor of
.
K.M.Azad K.M.Ajmal
K.M.Adel
K.Nasarullah
K.M.Shahed
Syed Saheb E Alam Khwaja Zahir
Comments by
Sayeed
Shahabuddin says ,
I have vivid recollection of the filming of "The Last
Kiss", as some scenes were filmed at Bait-ul-Amn,
where we lived. Uncle Azad was operating the camera and large square
cardboards, covered with silver paper, were used as reflectors in sun light.
Then we saw the film. A whole row of Mukul Cinema was
occupied by us, children, to the best of my recollection - my sisters Tahera and Bilquis; Najma, Anwar and Hamid; Mashooque; Shahenshah; Effat and Shafique, Fayaz and I - if I have
missed anyone it is due to fading memory. One absentee was my three-year old
brother, Shahed, who was too young to be
with us, but old enough to take a prominent part in the film as a child
actor. He and Tuntun, daughter of Rai
Bahadur Satendra Nath Banerjee, if I remember
correctly, were the characters around whom the film was based.
There was a scene where Kaloo Chacha (Sahib-e-Alam), father of Fayaz Alam, an excellent
horseman, kidnapped the child Shahed and rode away
with him in his horse. My mother felt it was too dangerous, and did
not allow Shahed to be picked up on to a
galloping horse. Therefore, a doll or something was used for this scene.
Imagine our childishness. When this scene came on, all of us
watching the film, whispered to one another
"Don't say, it is not Shahed."
So much for a sail down memory lane.
With best wishes and blessings,
Amr Quadir says,
K.M.Ajmal was the hero in the
film, his brother K.M. Adel was the doctor, and my mother's Mamu
- Nawabzada Khwaja Nasarullah played the part of the police commissioner in
The Last Kiss...
My mother remembers seeing clips of the film as a young girl,
while living in
Allah Hafiz.
Best Regards,
Amr Quadir
Other Link: http://www.upperstall.com/Bengali/bengalihistory1.html