1908: Key Events

• Establishment of The Tata Iron & Steel Co. India’s largest private-sector corporation.

• Terrorist movements in Bengal, active since 1902, reach their peak with organisations such as the Anushilan Samiti of Calcutta and Dacca, the return of Hemchandra Kanungo from Paris and raids such as the Barrah dacoity by Pulin Das’s group. The movement, often led by upper-caste men proclaiming a communal Hindu or casteist ideology, dominated the romantic imagination of Bengali nationalism for decades.

• Khudiram Bose, a former Swadeshi activist and member of the Revolutionary Party, is hanged on 11 August.

• Bal Gangadhar Tilak is convicted of sedition and deported to Mandalay. Keshavrao Bhosle starts the Sangeet Natak troupe, Lalitkaladarsh. For a link to the case ​click here

• ​Abdulally Esoofally, a South Asian and Singaporean travelling showman, starts exhibiting in India. An enterprising man, Abdulally Esoofally took his projector & films, folding screen, and tent (that could accomodate 1000 spectators) from country to Asian country, from Indian town to Indian village! Films till then were restricted to the major towns and cities. Esoofally's shows included operas, comedies, sports events and travelogues. Between 1908 and 1914, he had travelled across most of India. Later, Esoofally and Irani set up Imperial Film Company. Esoofally set up the Majestic Theatre, again in Bombay, that premiered Alam Ara, India's first talkie.

Abdulally Esoofally bought foreign film copies and demonstrated these, equipped with film projector and tent, in a Wanderkino. From 1908 to 1914 it pulled through in such a way Burma, Sumatra, Java, Singapore, Ceylon and India and announced the cinema in remote areas. Starting from 1946 Abdulally Esoofally was active member that Cinema Exhibitors Association OF India.