''Bilwamangal'' (pronounced ), also known as ''Bhagat Soordas'', is a 1919 Indian
black-and-white
Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white to produce a range of achromatic brightnesses of grey. It is also known as greyscale in technical settings.
Media
The history of various visual media began with black and white, ...
silent film directed by Rustomji Dhotiwala, based on a story by
Champshi Udeshi about the medieval Hindu devotional poet
Bilwamangala (also identified with
Surdas
Surdas was a 16th-century blind Hindu devotional poet and singing, singer, who was known for his works written in praise of Krishna. His compositions captured his devotion towards Krishna. Most of his poems were written in the Braj language, ...
). This full length (12000 feet) film was produced by the Elphinstone Bioscope Company,
Calcutta
Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...
with Bengali intertitles and is credited as the first Bengali feature film. It was released on 1 November 1919 at Cornwallis Theatre in Calcutta.
The
National Film Archive of India
The National Film Archive of India (NFAI) was established as a media unit of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in February 1964. It was a member of the International Federation of Film Archives.
In March 2022, it was merged with th ...
acquired the footage of film from
Cinémathèque Française
A cinematheque is an archive of films and film-related objects with an exhibition venue. Similarly to a book library (bibliothèque in French), a cinematheque is responsible for preserving and making available to the public film heritage. Typically ...
, France in 2016. The acquired footage is 594 metres long or run 28 minutes at 18 fps.
Plot
It featured the story of
Bilwamangal (or
Surdas
Surdas was a 16th-century blind Hindu devotional poet and singing, singer, who was known for his works written in praise of Krishna. His compositions captured his devotion towards Krishna. Most of his poems were written in the Braj language, ...
), a man whose life ruined due to his relationship with courtesan Chintamani.
[
]
Cast
* Miss Gohur as Temptress Chintamani
* Dorabji Mewawala as Bilwamangal/Surdas
Surdas was a 16th-century blind Hindu devotional poet and singing, singer, who was known for his works written in praise of Krishna. His compositions captured his devotion towards Krishna. Most of his poems were written in the Braj language, ...
References
External links
*
1919 films
Indian silent films
1910s Bengali-language films
Indian black-and-white films
1910s romance films
Indian romance films
Films about courtesans in India
Hindu devotional films
Hindu mythological films
Indian biographical drama films
Silent drama films
1910s rediscovered films
Rediscovered Indian films
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