20/07/2021
Shree Bharat Lakshmi Studio, established in Bengal by the late Babulal Choukhani holds a venerable position in the history of Indian cinema. Babulal Choukhani founded Shree Bharat Lakshmi Pictures in 1930 when he was under contract with the Madans to produce films under Madan Theatres banner with an indirect acknowledgement to Shree Bharat Lakshmi Pictures. He was inspired to start his own studio working with the Madans on the production of “Krishna Kanter Will” and “Kalanka Bhanjan” and that was the genesis of Shree Bharat Lakshmi Studio in 1934.
The studio was an impressive establishment on Prince Anwar Shah Road in Calcutta with four shooting floors, a vast open area for outdoor shootings, huge technical team with equipments like cameras, lights, sound recording machines etc., post-production facilities like editing, printing and developing, projection facilities and even its own distribution offices in undivided India.
The first production of the studio was “Chand Saudagar” which was released on 17th March 1934. The film was immensely popular and put Shree Bharat Lakshmi Pictures on the map. It was the only film enterprise of Bengal which produced films in seven different Indian languages over three decades. The studio experimented with different genres like biographicals, mythologicals, social topics and musicals. It also produced different kinds of non-fiction films like: documentaries on sports (Mohan Bagan vs. Dalhosie &Amar Jyoti Coronation Challenge Cup in 1937); travelogues (“Banga Darshan” in1938); “Chitra Bakwali” (1932) a film in verse with 156 songs; “Alibaba” (1937) a wonderful mix of opera and cinema. Other notable feature films produced by the studio included “Abhinay” (1938) that touched upon the problems of marital life, ”Parasmani” (1939) that focused on the industrial scene and “Abatar” (1941), an early experiment in science fiction. Stars like Ahindra Choudhury, Chabi Biswas, Durgadas Banerjee, Himanshu Dutta, Jiban Ganguly, Manmatha Roy, Madhu Bose, Prafulla Roy, Sadhana Bose, S.D.Burman, Tulsi Lahiri, Vithaldas Panchotia are the few names who were associated with this banner.
Shree Bharat Lakshmi Pictures produced 60 films in three decades from 1930. By the end of 1940s as the Government introduced rationing of film raw stock and a yearly production quota for each studio, it was compelled to cut down its productions. And after “Meera Bai” in 1960 it stopped its production activities and concentrated on film distribution and exhibition. After the death of its founder Babulal Choukhani in 1978 his son and grandsons are carrying forward his legacy.
Photo: Babulal Choukhani with technicians
Courtesy: Jyoti Choukhani
