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| Industry | Entertainment |
|---|---|
| Genre |
|
| Founded | 1918–1919[1] |
| Founder(s) | Dwarkadas Sampat |
| Defunct | 1932[2] |
| Headquarters | , India |
| Products | Mostly silent films |
Kohinoor Film Company was an Indian film studio established in 1919 by Dwarkadas Sampat (1884-1958).[2][3] According to Ashish Rajadhyaksha and Paul Willemen, it was the largest and most influential studio of the Indian silent film era.[2] The studio gained national prominence when its 1921 film Bhakta Vidur, was banned by the British colonial government[2] on the ground that the character Vidur, played by its producer Sampat, was "portrayed as a 'thinly-clad version' of Mahatma Gandhi."[4]
Under Kohinoor, directors such as Kanjibhai Rathod and Homi Master made some of the most popular films of the era.[5] For example, under Rathod's direction, the 1924 film Gul-e-Bakavali is widely regarded as the 'first all-India super hit'.[6][7] Several stars of the time such as Zubeida, Khalil, and Raja Sandow started their careers at the studio.[2] Film scholar Suresh Chabria, a former director of the National Film Archive of India,[8] argues that Kohinoor Film Company was "perhaps the first Indian studio to decisively move away from the artisanal production practices of D. G. Phalke, S. N. Patankar, and others."[9]
History[edit | edit source]
Dwarkadas Narendas Sampat (1884–1958) started his career in Indian cinema in 1904, when he brought a projector and began to organise film screenings in Rajkot, Bombay Presidency.[10] He later entered film production and, through a partnership with S. N. Patankar, established Patankar Friends & Co,[10] which, according to Rajadhyaksha and Willemen, 'took off in 1917' with Sampat's entry.[11]
Film historian Amrit Gangar notes that Sampat established the Kohinoor Film Company after differences with Patankar.[12]
The studio also trained such people as Nandlal Jaswantlal and Mohan Bhavnani, and produced artists such as Goharbai, Zebunissa and Rampiyari.[citation needed]
Along with Ranjit Movietone and the Imperial Film Company it was the largest movie studio when Indian talkies began in the 1930s.[13][page needed]
Filmography[edit | edit source]
| Film | Year | Director | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vikram Urvashi | 1920 | Kanjibhai Rathod | [14] |
| Mahasati Ansuya | 1921 | – | [15] |
| Bhakta Vidur | 1921 | – | [15] |
| Sukanya Savitri | 1922 | – | [16] |
| Gul-e-Bakavali | 1924 | – | [16] |
| Bismi Sadi | 1924 | Homi Master | [16] |
| Kala Naag | 1924 | K. Rathod | [17] |
| Cinema Ni Rani | 1925 | Mohan Bhavnani | [18] |
| Fankdo Fituri | 1925 | Homi Master | [18] |
| Kulin Kanta | 1925 | – | [18] |
| Lanka Ni Laadi | 1925 | – | [18] |
| Mojili Mumbai | 1925 | Manilal Joshi | [19] |
| Veer Kunal | 1925 | – | [20] |
| Telephone Ni Taruni | 1926 | Homi Master | [21] |
| Bhaneli Bhamini | 1927 | – | [22] |
| Gunsundari | 1927 | Chandulal Shah | [22] |
| Daily Mail | 1930 | Narayan G. Devare | [23] |
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ Some sources date the company's establishment to 1918.
- Chabria, Suresh; Usai, Paolo Cherchi (1994). Light of Asia: Indian Silent Cinema, 1912-1934. Wiley Eastern. p. 15. ISBN 978-81-224-0680-1.
Arguably the most important production company in Bombay was Duarkadas Sampat's Kohinoor Film Co. established in 1918.
- Kaul, Gautam (1998). Cinema and the Indian Freedom Struggle: Covering the Subcontinent. Sterling Publishers. p. 160. ISBN 978-81-207-2116-6.
On the 'Diwali day'* of 1918, Sampat opened his own Kohinoor Film Company and went into filmmaking.
- Thoraval, Yves (2000). The Cinemas of India. Macmillan India. p. 9. ISBN 978-0-333-93410-4.
The studio system dominated the scene until the 1940s and '50s. One of the legendary ones was the Kohinoor Film Company, founded in 1918, in Bombay, by Dwarkadas N Sampat, a professional showman of repute.
- Chabria, Suresh; Usai, Paolo Cherchi (1994). Light of Asia: Indian Silent Cinema, 1912-1934. Wiley Eastern. p. 15. ISBN 978-81-224-0680-1.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Rajadhyaksha & Willemen 2014, p. 126.
- ↑ "History of Cinema in India". Archived from the original on 6 May 2012. Retrieved 25 December 2011.
- ↑ Nowell-Smith, Geoffrey (1996). The Oxford History of World Cinema. Oxford University Press. p. 403. ISBN 978-0-19-874242-5.
- ↑ Abel 2005, p. 522.
- ↑ _
- Thomas 2015, p. 9, "The first all-India super hit, a storm across the country in 1924, was Gul-e-Bakavali (The Bakavali Flower, Kanjibhai Rathod)"
- Rajadhyaksha 2016, p. 21, "Gul-e-Bakavali was almost certainly the first truly national commercial hit in India"
- ↑ Gooptu, Sharmistha (6 June 2012). "Hundred years of Indian cinema". The Times of India. Retrieved 8 July 2025.
There was also the genre of films like Gul-e-Bakavali (1924), inspired by the popular Parsi theatres of Bombay and Calcutta, and which also became the first blockbuster talkies.
- ↑ Chabria, Suresh (20 April 2023). "Personal essay: How films became a bridge to my past and my present". Scroll.in. Retrieved 29 December 2025.
- ↑ Abel 2005, p. 521–522.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Gokulsing & Dissanayake 2013, p. 89.
- ↑ Rajadhyaksha & Willemen 2014, p. 172.
- ↑ Gokulsing & Dissanayake 2013, p. 90.
- ↑ Hayward, Susan (2006). Cinema studies: the key concepts. Taylor and Francis. ISBN 9780203020210.
- ↑ Sengupta, S.; Roy, S.; Purkayastha, S. (2019). 'Bad' Women of Bombay Films: Studies in Desire and Anxiety. Springer International Publishing. p. 96. ISBN 978-3-030-26788-9.
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 Rajadhyaksha & Willemen 2014, p. 244.
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 Rajadhyaksha & Willemen 2014, p. 245.
- ↑ Rajadhyaksha & Willemen 2014, p. 246.
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 18.3 Rajadhyaksha & Willemen 2014, p. 247.
- ↑ Rajadhyaksha & Willemen 2014, p. 248.
- ↑ Rajadhyaksha & Willemen 2014, p. 249.
- ↑ Rajadhyaksha & Willemen 2014, p. 249–250.
- ↑ 22.0 22.1 Rajadhyaksha & Willemen 2014, p. 250.
- ↑ Rajadhyaksha & Willemen 2014, p. 252.
Bibliography[edit | edit source]
- Garga, Bhagwan Das (1996). So Many Cinemas: The Motion Picture in India. Eminence Designs. ISBN 978-81-900602-1-9.
- Rajadhyaksha, Ashish; Willemen, Paul (2014). Encyclopedia of Indian Cinema. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-135-94318-9. Archived from the original on 4 December 2018.
- Kaul, Gautam (1998). Cinema and the Indian freedom struggle. Sterling Publishers. ISBN 9788120721166.
- Abel, Richard (2005). Encyclopedia of Early Cinema. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-0-415-23440-5.
- Thomas, Rosie (2015). Bombay before Bollywood: Film City Fantasies. State University of New York Press. ISBN 978-1-4384-5677-5.
- Rajadhyaksha, A. (2016). Indian Cinema: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-872309-7.
- Gokulsing, K.; Dissanayake, Wimal (2013). Routledge Handbook of Indian Cinemas. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-136-77291-7.