Jamshedji Framji (27 April 1857,

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 ...

– 28 June 1923), professionally known as J. F. & Madan, was an Indian theatre and film magnate who was one of the pioneers of film production in India, an early exhibitor, distributor and producer of films and plays. He accumulated his wealth on the

Parsi theatre Parsi theatre is a generic term for an influential theatre tradition, staged by Parsis, and theatre companies largely-owned by the Parsi business community, which flourished between 1850 and the 1930s. Plays were primarily in the Hindustani langua ...

district scene in Bombay in the 1890s where he owned two theatre companies. He moved to

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 ...

in 1902 where he founded

Elphinstone Bioscope Company Madan Theatre Company, also known as Madan Theatres Limited or Madan Theatres in short, was a film production company founded by Jamshedji Framji & his partner Kanhaiyalal Kaushik, one of the pioneers of Indian Cinema. History A young Parsi bu ...

, and began producing and exhibiting silent movies including Jyotish Sarkar's '' Bengal Partition Movement'' in 1905. He expanded his empire considerably after acquiring rights to

Pathé Frères Pathé SAS (; styled as PATHÉ!) is a French major film production and distribution company, owning a number of cinema chains through its subsidiary Pathé Cinémas and television networks across Europe. It is the name of a network of Fren ...

films. He produced ''

Satyavadi Raja Harishchandra ''Satyavadi Raja Harishchandra'' (; ) is a 1917 in film, 1917 Silent film, silent Black-and-white, black and white Cinema of India, Indian short film directed and produced by Dadasaheb Phalke, Dhundiraj Govind Phalke. The film is a shorter ver ...

'' in 1917 and ''

Bilwamangal ''Bilwamangal'' (pronounced ), also known as ''Bhagat Soordas'', is a 1919 Indian black-and-white silent film directed by Rustomji Dhotiwala, based on a story by Champshi Udeshi about the medieval Hindu devotional poet Bilwamangala (also ident ...

'' in 1919. ''Satyavadi Raja Harishchandra'' was the first feature film to be shot in

. Elphinstone merged into Madan Theatres Limited in 1919 which brought adapted many of Bengali's most popular literary works to the stage. Madan Theatres was a major force in Indian theatre throughout the 1920s and 1930s.

Early life

He was born into a

Parsi The Parsis or Parsees () are a Zoroastrian ethnic group in the Indian subcontinent. They are descended from Persian refugees who migrated to the Indian subcontinent during and after the Arab-Islamic conquest of Iran in the 7th century, w ...

family in

. 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 to leave school, and he joined Elphinstone Dramatic Club as a

prop A prop, formally known as a (theatrical) property, is an object actors use on stage or screen during a performance or screen production. In practical terms, a prop is considered to be anything movable or portable on a stage or a set, distinct ...

boy in 1868. By 1875, this amateur club turned into a professional theatre company staging shows all over India.pp 17–20, The Gramophone Company's First Indian Recordings, 1899–1908, Michael Kinnear, Popular Prakshan, 2004,

Entrepreneur

In 1882, Madan left the theatre company and had a short successful stint in business at

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. He moved to

in 1883. His success in a business of supplying goods to army cantonments enabled him to buy Corinthian Hall, where theatre shows used to be staged. Also, he took over the Elphinstone Theatre Company, where he started his career, from Cooverji Nazir, one of the founders of the theatre. Corinthian Hall was turned into Corinthian Theatre, and it became very popular for

shows, which were full of grandeur and had women actors, a rarity in those days. In 1902, he started

bioscope show A Bioscope show was a music hall and fairground attraction consisting of a travelling cinema. The heyday of the Bioscope was from the late 1890s until World War I. History Bioscope shows were fronted by the largest fairground organs, and these fo ...

s in a tent in

Maidan Maidan is an originally Persian word for a town square or public gathering place (Persian: ), adopted by various other languages: Urdu (''maidān''); Arabic (''maydān''); Turkish ; Georgian (''moedani''); Bangla ময়দান, meaning f ...

, Calcutta along with similar shows in Corinthian Theatre. The equipments used were procured from

of Paris. Most of the films shown in those shows were from Pathé Productions. These bioscope shows were organised under the banner of

. Elphinstone Bioscope Company produced a number of short films. He also started film shows in Alfred Theatre, which he bought in the same year. In 1907, he established Elphinstone Picture Palace (currently known as Chaplin Cinema), which was the first permanent show house in Calcutta. He also opened Madan Theatre and Palace of Varieties (now known as Elite Cinema). During the First World War, he helped as a supplier to Supply and Transport Corps in the British Indian Army in

Lucknow Lucknow () is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and the largest city of the List of state and union territory capitals in India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is the administrative headquarters of the epon ...

. He was appointed an Officer of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

in the

1918 Birthday Honours The 1918 Birthday Honours were appointments by King George V to Orders, decorations, and medals of the United Kingdom, various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of the British Empire. The appointments were made to ...

for his support, and was invested as a Commander of the Order in 1923. After the war, his business started growing rapidly. In 1919, his film production business became a

joint stock company A joint-stock company (JSC) is a business entity in which shares of the company's capital stock, stock can be bought and sold by shareholders. Each shareholder owns company stock in proportion, evidenced by their share (finance), shares (certifi ...

with the name of Madan Theatres Limited.

Madan Theatre Madan Theatre Company, also known as Madan Theatres Limited or Madan Theatres in short, was a film production company founded by Jamshedji Framji & his partner Kanhaiyalal Kaushik, one of the pioneers of Indian Cinema. History A young Parsi pe ...

s and its associates had great control over theatre houses in India during that period. In 1919, Madan produced the first Bengali feature film, ''

''. It was first screened in the Cornwallis Theatre (now known as the Sree Cinema). The Electric Theatre (now known as Regal Cinema), Grand Opera House (currently known as Globe Cinema) and Crown Cinema (now known as Uttara Cinema) were all owned by Madan Theatres.

Legacy

Madan and his relatives were involved in a variety of businesses including liquor imports, food, pharmaceutical products, real estate, insurance, etc. But among all these, Madan Theatre was the most well-known and most well-established. It spread over

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and

Ceylon Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

, which were part of

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

. J. J. Madan, third son of J. F. Madan, became managing director of Madan Theatres after the latter's death in 1923. Madan Theatres reached a peak in the 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 until 1937.

Indian-American Indian Americans are Americans whose ancestry originates wholly or partly from India. The terms Asian Indian and East Indian are used to avoid confusion with Native Americans in the United States, who are also referred to as "Indians" or "Am ...

actor

Erick Avari Erick Avari (born Nariman Erick Avari; 13 April 1952) is an Indian-American actor whose roles in science-fiction and action productions include ''Stargate'' (1994), ''Independence Day'' (1996), and ''The Mummy'' (1999), as well as the histori ...

is a great-great-grandson of J. F. Madan (and great-grandson of J. J. Madan). Cyrus J. Madan is also the great-great grandson of J.F. Madan. He lives in Kolkata (India) with his wife Trista Madan. They have three children Jamshed, Shara and Tashya. Cyrus is a reputed figure in the Indian Horse Racing and theatre circles.

References

External links

*
Bengali article on J F Madan at abasar.net
{{DEFAULTSORT:Madan, Jamshedji Framji 1857 births 1923 deaths Film producers from Mumbai Bengali film producers Parsi people from Mumbai Indian theatre managers and producers Commanders of the Order of the British Empire 19th-century Indian businesspeople Film directors from Mumbai 20th-century Indian businesspeople 20th-century Indian people Indian silent film directors Indian silent film producers Film producers from Kolkata Film directors from Kolkata Businesspeople from British India People from Bombay Presidency