Kattukkaran Varunny Joseph (also known as Jose Kattookkaran and shortly, Kattukkaran Varunny) who is known as "Father of Malayalam cinema and theater industry" was an industrialist who established the former film exhibiting company in Kerala named Royal Exhibitors. He started Jos Theatre in

Thrissur Thrissur (, ), Renaming of cities in India, formerly Trichur, also known by its historical name Thrissivaperur, is a city and the headquarters of the Thrissur district in Kerala, India. It is the List of most populous urban agglomerations in Ke ...

which is the first permanent theatre in

Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile ...

and Davison Theatre in

Kozhikode Kozhikode (), also known as Calicut, is a city along the Malabar Coast in the state of Kerala in India. Known as the City of Spices, Kozhikode is listed among the City of Literature, UNESCO's Cities of Literature. It is the nineteenth large ...

under Royal Exhibitors. He had established the first electrically operated film projector ''Jose Electrical Bioscope'' at

Ollur Ollur is a major suburban area and an old commercial town in the city of Thrissur of Kerala state, South India. It is about away from Swaraj Round on old National Highway 47 (India) towards Kochi. From ancient time onwards, Ollur was a major bu ...

city in 1913.

Early life

Varunny was born on 26 November 1871 in

a suburban area of

, Kerala, India. He died on 26 May 1925.

History of film exhibition

Varunny purchased the first projector and a few movies from railway officer Vincent Paul who bought the setup from a French exhibitor, and had the first showcase in Thrissur, under the banner ''Jose Bioscope'' In early 1907. His first exhibition was in Thekkinkadu Maidan in connection with the Thrissur Pooram at the same year. He used a manual projector and a tent that could fit around hundred people at a time, showcasing videos of blooming flowers, horse races and the life of Christ with unrelated narrations that nevertheless astounded the crowd. He toured all of south India with his ''Jose Bioscope'' and eventually established the first electrically operated film projection named ''Jose Electrical Bioscope'', with the advent of electricity, in 1913. An unprecedented disaster struck when he lost his bioscope to a storm, when sailing from Mangalore after an exhibition. Not one to give up, K V Joseph founded ''Royal Exhibitors Company'', in partnership with a few others. He also eventually founded ''Babysun Talkies'', laying the foundation for film exhibition in Kerala.

References

External links

Kattukkaran Trust

* [https://www.chethas.com/%E0%B4%B8%E0%B4%BF%E0%B4%A8%E0%B4%BF%E0%B4%AE%E0%B4%AF%E0%B5%81%E0%B4%9F%E0%B5%86-%E0%B4%B0%E0%B4%BE%E0%B4%B7%E0%B5%8D%E0%B4%9F%E0%B5%8D%E0%B4%B0%E0%B5%80%E0%B4%AF%E0%B4%82/ സിനിമയുടെ രാഷ്ട്രീയം] {{DEFAULTSORT:Kattookkaran, Jose 1871 births 1925 deaths Film people from Kerala Businesspeople from Thrissur Film exhibitors Industrialists from British India