Hindustan Cinema Films Company

Est: 1918 in Nasik, Maharashtra. First purely indigenous film studio with corporate shareholding. Started by Phalke to replace the ailing Phalke Films with partners Waman Shridhar Apte, Mayashankar Bhatt (later financier for Sharda Studio), Gokuldas Damodar and Madhavji Jessing. Phalke resigned from the Board (1919) but returned to become its chief producer and technical adviser (1923) as well as its main film-maker, directing 43 of its 96 films. 35 of the films were directed by G.V. Sane, 11 by Shinde (including Tukaram, 1921); other directors include V.S. Nirantar (4), Kashinath Bharadi, Munshi Abbas and Abhaychand Lahiri who each made one film there. The first studio to have its own distribution operation (run briefly by Bhogilal Dave) with offices in Bombay and Madras. Started offshoot Bharat Film (1919). Its last film, Phalke’s Setu Bandhan (1932), was postsynchronised for sound but the studio failed in 1933.

Studio