| | 3 | Studio in Calcutta initially named Aurora Cinema (Est: 1911) by founders Debi Ghosh, Anadi Bose and Charu Ghosh. It ran tent shows in Howrah and around Assam, showing Western films as part of a variety bill. Started making films in 1917, having won the contract to make shorts for the army during WW1 with cameras bought from Hiralal Sen. Early productions include shots of plays from Calcutta’s Art Theatres (Basabadatta, Chandrasekhar) and Manmohan Theatres (Bishabriksha). Later known for major films like Surendra Narayan Roy’s Ratnakar (1921) and Bidyasundar (aka The Lover’s Trance, 1922) and Aurora Tuki-taki (Aurora Tidbits, compilations of clips). Converted into Aurora Film when Anadi Bose became sole proprietor, purchasing the studio premises of Barua Pics (1929). Made films in Bengali (e.g. by Niranjan Pal and Naresh Mitra), in Hindi and some in Telugu and Tamil (e.g. by Sundarrao Nadkarni). Niranjan Pal helped launch the pioneering Aurora Screen News, which shot the footage of Rabindranath Tagore’s funeral later used by Satyajit Ray in his documentary (1961). The only silent Bengali studio still operating in 1992. |