Bilwamangal (1919)

Original title

বিল্বমঙ্গল

Directed by

Rustomji Dhotiwala

Genre

silent film, romance film

Country

British Raj

Runtime

14 min

Rating

8.0 of 10 from 1 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

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How it feels

The film tells the story of a medieval Hindu devotional poet. It follows his life and spiritual transformation.

early cinemahistoricaldevotionalslowsparsesilent

What happens

Bilwamangal (pronounced [bilamaŋal]), 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 identified with Surdas). This full length (12000 feet) film was produced by the Elphinstone Bioscope Company, Calcutta with Bengali intertitles and is credited as the first Bengali feature film. It was released on 1 November 1919 at Cornwallis Theatre in Calcutta. The National Film Archive of India acquired the footage of film from Cinémathèque Française, France in 2016. The acquired footage is 594 metres long or run 28 minutes at 18 fps. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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• Shakuntala (1920)
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• More like this film, on a shelf you can walk up to.It's the lit case on the top shelf.