Kohinoor Film Company
| Company type | |
|---|---|
| Industry | Entertainment |
| Genre |
|
| Founded | 1918–1919[1] |
| Founder | 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
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.
Along with Ranjit Movietone and the Imperial Film Company it was the largest movie studio when Indian talkies began in the 1930s.[13]
Filmography
| 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
- ^ 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.
- ^ a b c d e 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.
- ^ a b 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.
- ^ a b Rajadhyaksha & Willemen 2014, p. 244.
- ^ a b c Rajadhyaksha & Willemen 2014, p. 245.
- ^ Rajadhyaksha & Willemen 2014, p. 246.
- ^ a b c d Rajadhyaksha & Willemen 2014, p. 247.
- ^ Rajadhyaksha & Willemen 2014, p. 248.
- ^ Rajadhyaksha & Willemen 2014, p. 249.
- ^ Rajadhyaksha & Willemen 2014, p. 249–250.
- ^ a b Rajadhyaksha & Willemen 2014, p. 250.
- ^ Rajadhyaksha & Willemen 2014, p. 252.
Bibliography
- 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.