New Theatres is an Indian film studio.[1] It was formed in Calcutta by producer B. N. Sircar (Birendranath Sircar, the recipient of Dadasaheb Phalke Award of 1970). It was formed on February 10th, 1931. The company motto was "Jivatang Jyotiretu Chhayam," meaning, "Light infusing shadows with life." Sircar preferred to function roughly analogous to an executive producer. He built a processing laboratory, and acquired staff. Once a film subject was selected and a team assembled to create the picture, Sicar ensured that adequate funds were provided, while refraining from interfering with its execution. He made New Theatres a symbol of Bengali cinema's artistic good taste and technical excellence.[2]: 12–13 [according to whom?]

New Theatres Limited
Company typePrivate
Founded10 February 1931; 93 years ago (10 February 1931)
Headquarters,
India
Key people
B. N. Sircar
(Founder)
OwnerB. N. Sircar

Dena Paona, a Bengali talkie, was produced by New Theatres and released in 1931. It was directed by Premankur Atarthi, with music composed by Raichand Boral.

According to Kironmoy Raha, "New Theatres made its reputation secure with Chandidas directed by Debaki Bose in 1932,"[2]: 13  after the studio produced five talkies.

In 1935, P.C. Barua directed and acted in Devdas, based on Saratchandra Chatterjee's novel Devdas, and this film became successful in the industry.[citation needed][according to whom?]

In 1935, playback singing was first used in India in the Bengali film Bhagya Chakra by Nitin Bose. The singers were K C Dey, Parul Ghosh and Suprabha Sarkar.[3] Dhoop Chhaon, a Hindi remake of this film, was the first Hindi film to use playback singing.[4]

Kanan Devi was the first popular actress, who appeared in many films produced by New Theatres.[clarification needed] There was also a group of actors working with New Theatres like K.L. Saigal, K. C. Dey, Prithviraj Kapoor, Trilok Kapoor, Chhabi Biswas, Bikash Roy, Pahari Sanyal, Basanta Choudhury.

Directors like Premankur Atarthi, P.C. Barua, Debaki Bose, Phani Majumdar and Nitin Bose worked in New Theatres films. Musicians who worked there included R. C. Boral, Pankaj Mullick, Timir Baran and Mani Bardhan.

Filmography

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New Theatres produced films in its studios at Tollygunge in Kolkata, founded on February 10th, 1931.[5] From 1931 to 1955, 150 films were shot in these studios.[5] New Theatres made a comeback with the 2011 film Aadur Prem. Films produced by New Theatres include:[6]

References

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  1. ^ "The NEW THEATRES is Back with ADUR PREM – Calcutta Tube".
  2. ^ a b Raha, Kironmoy (1991). Bengali Cinema. Calcutta: Nandan, West Bengal Film Centre.
  3. ^ "Bhagya Chakra (1935)". imdb.com. Retrieved 23 October 2008.
  4. ^ "Dhoop Chhaon (1935)". imdb.com. Retrieved 23 October 2008.
  5. ^ a b c New Theatres Is Back
  6. ^ Sur, Ansu (1999). Ansuur (ed.). Bengali film directory. Nandan, Calcutta. p. 319.
  7. ^ "The film - Bhagavan Sri Ramakrishna - revised file" (on YouTube); English subtitles give credits for Kanu Banerji (Sri Ramakrishna, 0:08), Bibhuti Chakravarty (photography, 0:11), Baidyanath Chaterji (producer, 0:30), Pulin Ghosh (stage setting, 0:44), New Theatre Studio (production location, 0:53), Officials of Dakshineshwar Kali Temple (thanks, 1:05), Chabi Bishwas (Mathur, 1:23), Shobha Sen (Sri Ma Saradadevi, 1:23), Kalyani Films (production, 1:38), Prafulla Chakravarty (script writer and director, 1:43) (accessed 14 January 2013)
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