A Bavarian in early Bollywood

federica · Jun 15th, 2009, 21:00

Today I came to know that one of the pioneers of Bollywood was Franz Osten from Munich. He was born as Franz Ostermayr in 1876.

Together with his brother Peter Ostermayr he founded a travelling cinema. Later they wanted to make their own films and started their own production company Emelka (later "Bavaria Film", still one of Germany's largest film studios)

In 1924 his life took a turn when he met Himansu Rai who wanted to develop the Indian film industry. Together with two cameramen and an assistant director they went to Bombay for their first project.

His first film in India was "Prem Sanyas/The Light of Asia" in 1925, a movie about Gautama Buddha with 1000s of extras and 30 elephants, shot in 15 cities. A logistic masterpiece, especially as he couldn't speak Hindi and even his English was very poor.

Later movies were Shiraz (1928) and Prapancha Pash/A Throw of Dice (1928).

He spent 14 more years in India making several films before he had to leave as a "hostile foreigner" with the beginning of WWII in 1939. His last film had to be finished by his Indian colleagues.

Today his films show a picture of India in 1920ies/1930ies, almost all shot "on the spot" in real cities.

KABAARY · Jun 16th, 2009, 02:41

I was wondering why the name was sounding so familiar. Achut Kanya (Untouchable Girl) directed by him was one of the landmark Hindi films.

Incidentally, Devika Rani (who starred in the film and is often referred to as the First Lady of the Indian Screen) was married to the Russian painter Roerich (recall his museum in Naggar) and has the dubious distinction of enacting the longest kissing scene in the movie world with her first husband Himanshu Rai in the movie Karma.

Jun 15th, 2009, 21:00	#1
federica Maha Guru Member Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Bavaria Posts: 1,774	A Bavarian in early Bollywood Today I came to know that one of the pioneers of Bollywood was Franz Osten from Munich. He was born as Franz Ostermayr in 1876. Together with his brother Peter Ostermayr he founded a travelling cinema. Later they wanted to make their own films and started their own production company Emelka (later "Bavaria Film", still one of Germany's largest film studios) In 1924 his life took a turn when he met Himansu Rai who wanted to develop the Indian film industry. Together with two cameramen and an assistant director they went to Bombay for their first project. His first film in India was "Prem Sanyas/The Light of Asia" in 1925, a movie about Gautama Buddha with 1000s of extras and 30 elephants, shot in 15 cities. A logistic masterpiece, especially as he couldn't speak Hindi and even his English was very poor. Later movies were Shiraz (1928) and Prapancha Pash/A Throw of Dice (1928). He spent 14 more years in India making several films before he had to leave as a "hostile foreigner" with the beginning of WWII in 1939. His last film had to be finished by his Indian colleagues. Today his films show a picture of India in 1920ies/1930ies, almost all shot "on the spot" in real cities.

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Jun 16th, 2009, 02:41	#2
KABAARY Maha Guru Member Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: INDIA Posts: 1,262	I was wondering why the name was sounding so familiar. Achut Kanya (Untouchable Girl) directed by him was one of the landmark Hindi films. Incidentally, Devika Rani (who starred in the film and is often referred to as the First Lady of the Indian Screen) was married to the Russian painter Roerich (recall his museum in Naggar) and has the dubious distinction of enacting the longest kissing scene in the movie world with her first husband Himanshu Rai in the movie Karma.