1926: Key Events

• The Arya Samaj leader Swami Shraddhanand is assassinated.

• Periyar E. V. Ramaswamy Naicker starts the Self-Respect Movement, propagating atheism to oppose caste discrimination.

• The Imperial Conference redefines Dominions as ‘autonomous communities within the British Empire’. India is not offered Dominion Status until 1942, when the offer is rejected. The Conference also launches the notion of Empire Films.

• The Bengali literary monthly Kalikalam, edited by Murlidhar Basu, Sailajananda Mukherjee and Premendra Mitra, starts in the wake of Kallol’s success; indicted repeatedly by the conservative literary establishment for obscenity, it serialised Mitra’s controversial Pank.

• Foundation of the Punjab Film Corp. in Lahore, inaugurating the Punjabi film industry. Ardeshir Irani starts Imperial Films, eventually making India’s first sound film.

• Vande Mataram Ashram, the first Vande Mataram Film Co. production, is censored and briefly banned.

• The journal Photoplay starts in Calcutta.