Madan Theatre
Encyclopedia
Madan Theatre Company, also known as Madan Theatres Limited or in short, Madan Theatres was a film production company founded by Jamshedji Framji Madan
Jamshedji Framji Madan
Jamshedji Framji Madan , born in a Parsi family in Bombay, was one of the pioneers of the Indian film industry.-Early life:Madan's father suffered a huge monetary loss when Bombay Reclamation Bank, which was responsible for reclaiming land between the seven islands of Bombay, failed. JF Madan had...

, one of the pioneers of Indian Cinema.

Madan, a young Parsi businessman, who had experience in Theatre shows from an early age, stepped into entertainment business in 1902, when he started bioscope show
Bioscope show
A Bioscope show was a fairground attraction consisting of a travelling cinema. The heyday of the Bioscope was from the late 1890s until World War I....

s of imported cinemas a tent in Maidan, Calcutta
Maidan (Kolkata)
The Maidan is the largest urban park in Kolkata in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is a vast stretch of field and home to numerous play grounds, including the famous cricketing venue Eden Gardens, several football stadia, and Kolkata Race Course. Maidan is dotted with several statues and...

. Later, such shows were exhibited in Corinthian Theatre, which was already popular for Parsi Theatre shows. Madan also created the Elphinstone Bioscope Company, which produced a number of short films.

After the World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, Madan's business started growing rapidly. In 1919, his film production business became a joint stock company
Joint stock company
A joint-stock company is a type of corporation or partnership involving two or more individuals that own shares of stock in the company...

 with the name of Madan Theatres Limited. Madan Theatres and its associates had a great control over theatre houses in India those days. In 1919, Madan Theatres produced the first Bengali feature film Billwamangal
Billwamangal
Billwamangal is a 1919 Bengali black-and-white silent film by Rustomji Dhotiwala. It is credited as the first Bengali feature film and was released on November 1, 1919 at Comwallis Theatre in Calcutta....

. It was first screened in Cornwallis Theatre (now known as Sree Cinema).

Madan hired a number of foreign directors. Eugenio De Liguoro directed Nala Damayanti (1920) and Dhruva Charitra (1921), Camille Le Grand directed Ratnavali (1922) and Georgio Mannini directed Savitri Satyavan (1923). Patience Cooper
Patience Cooper
Patience Cooper was an Indian film actress. An Anglo-Indian from Calcutta , Cooper had a successful career in both silent and sound films. She was one of the early superstars of Bollywood. Cooper is credited with the first double roles of Indian cinema - as twin sisters in Patni Pratap and as...

, one of the early stars of Indian Cinema, acted in many of the movies produced by Madan Theatres.

Madan Theatres produced films like Bishabriksha (1922 and 1928), Durgesh Nandini (1927) and Radharani (1930) based on Bankim Chandra Chatterjee's works. Giribala (1929) was based on Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore , sobriquet Gurudev, was a Bengali polymath who reshaped his region's literature and music. Author of Gitanjali and its "profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse", he became the first non-European Nobel laureate by earning the 1913 Prize in Literature...

's work.

J J Madan, third son of J F Madan, became managing director of Madan Theatres after JF's death in 1923. Madan Theatres reached a peak in late 1920s when it owned 127 theatres and controlled half of the country's box office. Madan Theatres produced a number of popular and landmark films till 1937. First Bengali talkie, Jamai Shashthi
Jamai Shashthi
Jamai Shashthi is a 1931 Bengali film directed by Amar Choudhury, produced by Madan Theatre Limited. It is a milestone of Bengali cinema as it was the first Bengali talkie. It was released in the same year as Alam Ara, first Indian talkie. Released on 11 April 1931 at Crown Cinema Hall in Calcutta....

was made by Madan Theatres and released on 11 April 1931. Indrasabha (1932) was a very special musical made by Madan Theatres. This movie had nearly 70 songs.

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