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Franz Osten (23 December 1876 in Munich – 2 December 1956) was a Bavarian
filmmaker Filmmaking or film production is the process by which a Film, motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, beginning with an initial story, idea, or commission. Production then continues through screen ...
who along with Himansu Rai was among the first retainers of
Bombay Talkies Bombay Talkies was a movie studio founded in 1934. During its period of operation, Bombay Talkies produced 40 movies in Malad, a suburb of the Indian city of Bombay. The studio was established in 1934 by Himanshu Rai and Devika Rani. Afte ...
. Osten partnered with Rai on a number of India's earliest blockbuster films like '' Achhut Kanya'' and ''
Jeevan Naiya ''Jeevan Naiya'' is a 1936 Indian Hindi film directed by Franz Osten, and produced by Himanshu Rai for his studio Bombay Talkies. It is famous for being the screen debut of early superstar Ashok Kumar. The film is about the ostracism of danc ...
''.


Early life

Osten was born Franz Ostermayr in
Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...
on 23 December 1876. He trained to be a photographer like his father and gave acting a try. In 1907, he founded a traveling cinema called the "Original Physograph Company" with his brother Peter Ostermayr, who later established the predecessor to Bavaria Film Studios, today one of Germany's largest
film studio A film studio (also known as movie studio or simply studio) is a major entertainment company that makes films. Today, studios are mostly financing and distribution entities. In addition, they may have their own studio facility or facilities; how ...
s. Amongst other films, he showed ''Life in India'', a short documentary film about the Munich carnival. The run was not very successful: three days after the opening, the
projector A projector or image projector is an optical device that projects an image (or moving images) onto a surface, commonly a projection screen. Most projectors create an image by shining a light through a small transparent lens, but some newer type ...
exploded in flames. Osten decided to make films and in 1911 directed his first feature, ''Erna Valeska''. His career was interrupted by the start of the
First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
. He worked first as a correspondent, then became a soldier. After the war Osten made peasant dramas like ''The War of the Oxen'' and ''Chain of Guilt'' for EMELKA in
Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...
.


Filmography

Franz Osten's
silent film A silent film is a film without synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, w ...
s tell varieties of Indian stories. '' The Light of Asia'' (1925) dealt with the life of
Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha (),* * * was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist legends, he was ...
. ''
Shiraz Shiraz (; ) is the List of largest cities of Iran, fifth-most-populous city of Iran and the capital of Fars province, which has been historically known as Pars (Sasanian province), Pars () and Persis. As of the 2016 national census, the popu ...
'' (1928) dramatises the events that led to the construction of the
Taj Mahal The Taj Mahal ( ; ; ) is an ivory-white marble mausoleum on the right bank of the river Yamuna in Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India. It was commissioned in 1631 by the fifth Mughal Empire, Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan () to house the tomb of his belo ...
. '' A Throw of Dice'' (1929) was based on myths and legends drawn from Indian epic
Mahabharata The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; , , ) is one of the two major Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epics of ancient India revered as Smriti texts in Hinduism, the other being the ''Ramayana, Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the events and aftermath of the Kuru ...
. These movies contributed to increasing the understanding of eastern religions and offered visual splendour and escapism, featuring live elephants in festive decoration and utilising thousands of extras. Since early 2000s, there has been a revived interest in silent films in general and the trilogy of Osten are in focus. ''Shiraz'' was shown at the Castro Theatre at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival in 2002, ''Prem Sanyas'' at the same festival in 2005, and ''A Throw of Dice'' in 2008. ''Prapancha Pash'' was re-released in 2006.


Director (Indian Films)

* '' Prem Sanyas'' (1925) / '' Die Leuchte Asiens'' (German title) / '' The Light of Asia'' (English Title) * ''
Shiraz Shiraz (; ) is the List of largest cities of Iran, fifth-most-populous city of Iran and the capital of Fars province, which has been historically known as Pars (Sasanian province), Pars () and Persis. As of the 2016 national census, the popu ...
'' (1928) / '' Das Grabmal einer großen Liebe'' (German title) * '' Prapancha Pash'' (1929) / '' Schicksalswürfel'' (German title) / '' A Throw of Dice'' (English Title) * ''Jawani Ki Hawa'' (1935) * '' Achhut Kanya'' (1936) / ''
Die Unberührbare Die, as a verb, refers to death, the cessation of life. Die may also refer to: Games * Die, singular of dice, small throwable objects used for producing random numbers Manufacturing * Die (integrated circuit), a rectangular piece of a semicondu ...
'' (German title) / '' Untouchable Girl'' (English title) * '' Janmabhoomi'' (1936) * ''
Jeevan Naiya ''Jeevan Naiya'' is a 1936 Indian Hindi film directed by Franz Osten, and produced by Himanshu Rai for his studio Bombay Talkies. It is famous for being the screen debut of early superstar Ashok Kumar. The film is about the ostracism of danc ...
'' (1936) * ''Mamta'' and ''Miya Aur Biwi" (1936) * '' Izzat'' (1937) * '' Jeevan Prabhat'' (1937) * '' Prem Kahani'' (1937) * '' Savitri'' (1937) * '' Bhabhi'' (1938) * '' Nirmala'' (1938) * '' Vachan'' (1938) * ''Durga'' (1939) * '' Kangan'' (1939)


''The Light of Asia''

''The Light of Asia'' was a unique collaboration which managed to satisfy the tastes of both German and Indian audiences began in 1924. The 28-year-old Indian solicitor Himansu Rai came to
Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...
in search of partners for series of films on world religions. He had studied law in
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 ...
and London where as a student of Nobel Prize winner
Rabindranath Tagore Rabindranath Thakur (; anglicised as Rabindranath Tagore ; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengalis, Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer, and painter of the Bengal Renai ...
he had also directed a theatre group that promised to revive Indian acting and theatre traditions. He had heard that the passion plays of
Oberammergau Oberammergau is a municipality in the district of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, in Bavaria, Germany. The small town on the Ammer River is known for its woodcarvers and woodcarvings, for its NATO School, and around the world for its 380-year tradition of ...
were a showcase for German culture and now wanted to create the Indian equivalent. The Germans were to provide equipment, camera crew and the director, Franz Osten; Rai would provide the script, the actors, locations and all the capital necessary. On 26 February 1925, Osten and Rai, together with their cameramen, Willi Kiermeier and Josef Wirsching, and comedian Bertl Schultes as interpreter, boarded a ship for
India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
. On 18 March they arrived in
Bombay Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial centre, financial capital and the list of cities i ...
. There Osten began to shoot his first Indian film, '' Prem Sanyas'' – ''Die Leuchte Asiens''-''The Light of Asia'', the first German–Indian co-production. The film tells the story of Prince
Gautama Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha (),* * * was a śramaṇa, wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist lege ...
, who according to an omen will "follow the sad and lowly path of self denial and pious pain" if he ever faces old age, sickness or death. To prevent this, the King keeps him imprisoned behind the high walls of his palace. One day Gautama leaves his golden cage and is confronted with human misery. At night a revelation comes to him in a dream. A mysterious voice bids him to choose between the carefree life with his beloved wife Gopa and a life in pursuit of eternal truth. In the early morning hours Gautama leaves the court of the King. Attacking common religious practices of sacrifice and self-humiliation, he soon builds up a sizeable following. A young woman kneels before him asking to be received amongst his followers. The woman is Gopa. In India the film was rejected for lack of credibility. The cost of 171,423 Rupees was ten times that of an average Indian film. Even after amendments in the contract with EMELKA, the film lost Rs 50,000. In the United States the film lacked success as "motion picture audiences in America do not care to pay an admission fee to see a prince become a beggar.


Selected filmography

Director (German Films) * '' The War of the Oxen'' (1920) * '' The Monastery's Hunter'' (1920) * '' The Night of Decision'' (1920) * '' The Black Face'' (1921) * '' The Terror of the Sea'' (1924) * '' The Tragedy of a Night of Passion'' (1924) * '' A Song from Days of Youth'' (1925) * '' Little Inge and Her Three Fathers '' (1926) * '' The Seventh Son'' (1926) * '' Break-in'' (1927) * '' The Lady in Black'' (1928) * '' The Eccentric'' (1929) * '' The Judas of Tyrol'' (1933) * ''
At the Strasbourg ''At the Strasbourg'' () is a 1934 German comedy film directed by Franz Osten and starring Hans Stüwe, Ursula Grabley, and Anna von Palen.Bock & Bergfelder p. 536 The film's sets were designed by the art directors Kurt Dürnhöfer and Max Knaa ...
'' (1934)


References


External links


Franz Osten's 'the Light of Asia'
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Osten, Franz 1876 births 1956 deaths Film directors from Munich Hindi-language film directors German silent film directors