Kohinoor Film Company was an Indian

film studio A film studio (also known as movie studio or simply studio) is a major entertainment company or motion picture company that has its own privately owned studio facility or facilities that are used to make films, which is handled by the production ...

established in 1918 by Dwarkadas Sampat (1884-1958). Along with

Ranjit Movietone Ranjit Studios, also known as Ranjit Movietone, was an Indian film production company with studio facilities located in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. It produced films between 1929 and mid-1970s. The studio was founded by Chandulal Shah along wit ...

and the

Imperial Film Company Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism. Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to: Places United States * Imperial, California * Imperial, Missouri * Imperial, Nebraska * Imperial, Pennsylvania * Imperial, Texa ...

it was the largest movie studio when Indian

talkies A sound film is a motion picture with synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, but decades passed before ...

began in the 1930s. Kohinoor didn't just produce some of the most successful films of its era. The studio also trained such people as Nandlal Jaswantlal and Mohan Bhavnani, and produced artists such as Goharbai, Zebunissa and Rampiyari.

History

In 1918, the film pioneer Dwarkadas Narendas Sampat (1884-1958) established the Kohinoor Film Company. Sampat introduced wooden sets, doing away with the painted sceneries of the past. In 1923 a fire at the studio destroyed negatives of the company's films. However, Eastman Kodak willingly granted further credit for raw film stock.

Filmography

Between 1919 and 1929, Sampat and Kohinoor made 98 films, including *''Vikram Urvashi'' (1920) *''Anusuya'' (1921) *'' Bhakta Vidur'' (1921) ::

Kanjibhai Rathod Kanjibhai Rathod was an Indian film director. Early life Kanjibhai Rathod from Maroli village in south Gujarat, was considered the first successful director in Indian cinema. His rise to fame in an era when most people stayed away from films d ...

directed this mythological

allegory As a literary device or artistic form, an allegory is a narrative or visual representation in which a character, place, or event can be interpreted to represent a hidden meaning with moral or political significance. Authors have used allegory th ...

, which alluded directly to political issues of the day. In the wake of the ''

Rowlatt Act The Anarchical and Revolutionary Crimes Act of 1919, popularly known as the Rowlatt Act, was a law that applied in British India. It was a legislative council act passed by the Imperial Legislative Council in Delhi on 18 March 1919, indefinitel ...

'' in 1919, which put restrictions on Indian imports, protests and agitation broke out, thrusting

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...

into the national spotlight. This film adapted a section from the ''

Mahabharata The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; sa, महाभारतम्, ', ) is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India in Hinduism, the other being the ''Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the struggle between two groups of cousins in the Kuruk ...

'' that concerns the fall of an empire at the hands of two warring clans, the

Pandavas The Pandavas (Sanskrit: पाण्डव, IAST: Pāṇḍava) refers to the five legendary brothers— Yudhishthira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva—who are the central characters of the Hindu epic ''Mahabharata''. They are acknowledg ...

and the

Kaurava ''Kaurava'' is a Sanskrit term which refers to descendants of Kuru, a legendary king of India who is the ancestor of many of the characters of the epic ''Mahabharata''. Usually, the term is used for the 100 sons of King Dhritarashtra and his wif ...

s. More overtly, the film's main character,

Vidur Vidura (Sanskrit: विदुर, lit. ''skilled'', ''intelligent'' or ''wise''), also known as Kshatri, plays a key role in the Hindu epic ''Mahabharata''. He is described as the prime minister of the Kuru kingdom and is the paternal uncle o ...

(Dwarkadas Sampat), is a dead ringer for Gandhi, complete with his trademark hat and

khaddar Khadi (, ), derived from khaddar, is a hand-spun and woven natural fibre cloth promoted by Mahatma Gandhi as ''swadeshi'' (self-sufficiency) for the freedom struggle of the Indian subcontinent, and the term is used throughout India, Pakistan ...

shirt. This film became something of a ''

cause célèbre A cause célèbre (,''Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged'', 12th Edition, 2014. S.v. "cause célèbre". Retrieved November 30, 2018 from https://www.thefreedictionary.com/cause+c%c3%a9l%c3%a8bre ,''Random House Kernerman Webs ...

'' in India, as it generated a huge censorship controversy and was ultimately banned in

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former cap ...

and

Madras Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

. The District Magistrate of Karachi ordered the ban, saying ''it is likely to excite disaffection against the government and incite people to non-cooperation''. *''Kala Nag'' (1924) *''

Kulin Kanta ''Kulin Kanta'' is Indian cinema's 1925 crime thriller silent film directed by Homi Master. Based on a true incident the Bawla murder case, ''Kulin Kanta'' featured the story of the Maharaja Holkar of Indore and a dancing girl who wanted to esca ...

'' (1925) *''Handsome Blackguard'' (1925) *''Telephone Girl'' (1926)

References

{{reflist

Sources

*Crow, Jonathan; ''Allmovie'' *Garga, B.D.; ''So Many Cinemas'', Eminence Designs Private Limited. *Rajadhyaksh, Ashish & Willeme, Paul; ''Encyclopaedia of Indian Cinema'',

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

. Film production companies based in Mumbai Mass media companies established in 1918 1918 establishments in India