''The Last Kiss'' is a 1931 British Indian

silent film A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, when ...

, directed by Ambuj Gupta. The film was produced by the

Dhaka Nawab Family The Nawab of Dhaka (Bengali: "ঢাকার নবাব"), originally spelt in English Nawab of Dacca, was the title of the head of largest Muslim zamindar in British Bengal and Assam, based in present-day Dhaka, Bangladesh. The title of ''na ...

and it is the first Bangladeshi film to be full-length. Shot in

Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; bn, ঢাকা, Ḍhākā, ), formerly known as Dacca, is the capital and largest city of Bangladesh, as well as the world's largest Bengali-speaking city. It is the eighth largest and sixth most densely populated city ...

post-production Post-production is part of the process of filmmaking, video production, audio production, and photography. Post-production includes all stages of production occurring after principal photography or recording individual program segments. The ...

work was done in

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

. ''The Last Kiss'' was released by the Mukul Theater. The film is considered

lost Lost may refer to getting lost, or to: Geography *Lost, Aberdeenshire, a hamlet in Scotland * Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail, or LOST, a hiking and cycling trail in Florida, US History *Abbreviation of lost work, any work which is known to have bee ...

. The two actresses, Lolita and Charubala Devi, were brought from brothels in Dhaka. The film was sold to the Aurora Film Company of Calcutta.

Plot

The full plot of the film is unknown, and sources vary about it. Khaza Shahed said it was about a conflict between two family members. Khaza Zahir said the plot involved the hero's wife being kidnapped, and the hero subsequently finding her in the bedroom of the villain, leading to a fight in which both the hero and his wife die.

Cast

* Khaza Azmal as a hero * Khaza Nasrullah as a villain * Lolita as the hero's wife * Shailen Roy as the chief robber * Khaza Adel as a landlord * Khaza Zahir as a robber * Syed Shahebe Alam as a police officer * Charubala Devi as the landlord's wife * Harimoti as a dancer and singer * Khaza Shahed as a child actor * Baby Tuntun as a child actor

Production

In 1928, Ambuj Gupta, a

sports coach A sports coach is a person coaching in sport, involved in the direction, instruction and training of a sports team or athlete. History The original sense of the word ''coach'' is that of a horse-drawn carriage, deriving ultimately from the Hun ...

at the

Jagannath College Jagannath University (JnU) ( bn, জগন্নাথ বিশ্ববিদ্যালয় ''Jagannātha biśbabidyālaẏa'', University Acrostic : জবি or JnU) is a state-funded public university at 9–10, Chittaranjan Avenue in Sa ...

, directed the silent film ''Sukumari''. In October 1929, shortly after finishing that project, he started to work on ''The Last Kiss''. It featured cinematography by Khaza Azad and Khaza Azmal. The 14-year-old lead actress, Lolita, was escorted from the Badamtoli

brothel A brothel, bordello, ranch, or whorehouse is a place where people engage in sexual activity with prostitutes. However, for legal or cultural reasons, establishments often describe themselves as massage parlors, bars, strip clubs, body rub par ...

, and the supporting actress Charubala Devi was escorted from the Kumartuli brothel. The production was completely filmed in the eastern part of the (then) Bengal province of British India, and post-production concluded in Calcutta, India. Title cards were displayed in three languages: Bengali, English, and Urdu. Gupta composed the title cards in the first two languages, and the Urdu titles were produced by Dr. W. H. Andalib Shadani. ''The Last Kiss'' is the first Bangladeshi film to be considered full-length. It was produced by the Royal Family.

Release

''The Last Kiss'' was released in 1931 in the Mukul Talkies (now the Azad Cinema).

Ramesh Chandra Majumdar Ramesh Chandra Majumdar (known as R. C. Majumdar; 4 December 1888 – 11 February 1980) was a historian and professor of Indian history. Majumdar is a noted historian of modern India. He was a former Sheriff of Kolkata. Early life and educatio ...

, a professor who attended the premiere, awarded two gold medals to Khaza Shahed and Baby Tuntun. In the same year, the only print of ''The Last Kiss was bought by Aurora Film Company of Calcutta for distribution of the film. The film's print and negative are considered

. The cast and crew of the film were separated upon completing the film. The two actresses, Lolita and Charubala Devi, returned to their brothels, and director Ambuj Gupta emigrated to Calcutta.

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Last Kiss, The (1931) 1931 lost films 1931 films Lost Indian films Indian black-and-white films 1931 drama films Indian drama films Indian silent films Dhaka Nawab family Silent drama films