Dalsukh M. Pancholi (1906-59)
Hindi director. Exhibitor and Punjabi-Hindi producer born in Karachi. Studied scriptwriting and cinematography in New York. Inherited cinema network built by Rewashankar Pancholi during WW1. Expanded Empire Film Distributors (1922) into Empire Talkie Distributors (1931), established in Lahore and the largest importer of American films in Northern and Western India (approx 24 films annually). Exclusive contract with RKO gave them access to Photophone sound equipment. Made some documentaries, including footage on the Karachi Congress session (1931). Entered film production relatively late, but early productions in Punjabi (Gul-e-Bakavali, 1939, Yamla Jat, 1940) and Hindi (Khazanchi, 1941) were instrumental in bringing Lahore’s film industry into the national mainstream. Built his studio Pancholi Art Pics in Lahore with five floors but abandoned everything to migrate to Bombay following Partition (1946), apparently taking only the negative of his unfinished film, Patjhad (1948). For some years his team of film-makers (e.g. Gidwani and Ravindra Dave), actors (Ramola, Nurjehan, Smriti Biswas, Om Prakash, etc.) and composers (Ghulam Haider, O.P. Nayyar) were very influential in shaping a hybrid mass cultural film formula for a growing migrant working class in North India. Usually credited himself for his productions’ stories and scripts. FILMOGRAPHY: 1952: Aasmaan.