This Article First Appeared In The Madrascourier On May 19, 2023
In the year 1868, two pioneers of filmmaking were born on opposite ends of the country—Harishchandra Sakharam Bhatavdekar was born in Maharashtra, and Hiralal Sen was born in Bengal, now Bangladesh). Forgotten in the history of cinema, these two started making films a decade before Dada Phalke’s
Bhatavdekar and Sen didn’t even know each other; they were both professional still photographers. Bhatavdekar, a national trader of cameras, established a studio in Bombay in 1880. Sen, a son of a lawyer, successfully ran his business on the other side.