NFAI adds 'Bilwamangal', rare 1919 silent film on Surdas, to kitty

PUNE: The National Film Archive of India (NFAI) has acquired 'Bilwamangal, also known as Bhakta Surdas, a rare silent film shot in 1919 and produced by Elphinstone Bioscope Company later renamed as Madan Theatre Company.
The Kolkata-based production house, founded by Jamshedji Framji Madan, produced, distributed and exhibited over 100 silent films and talkies between 1913 and 1937.
Of these, Bilwamangal is the only remaining film produced by the studio as the other films have been destroyed. The feature film was originally 132-minutes long and NFAI has received 20-minute (594m) footage from Cinematheque Francaise in exchange for another film called Jamai Babu made in 1931 by Kalipada Das.
"It is an important film for our country. We consulted film historians Virchand Dharamsey and Suresh Chhabria and found that of the 100 films, this is the only surviving film produced by the studio. There were three major film production houses in the silent era - Dadasaheb Phalke's Hindustan Films, Kohinoor Film Company and Madan Theatre Company. Together they produced nearly 1,300 silent films, most of which were nitrate-based and are now lost. In NFAI, we have some complete and some incomplete films of only 28 titles," NFAI director Prakash Magdum said at a press conference on Thursday.
Since the Madan Theatre Company used to hire foreign technicians to shoot their films, it is highly likely that Bilwamangal was also shot by them. Italian director Eugenio de Liguoro was the cinematographer and director of the studio's Nala Damyanti made in 1921, Magdum added. Bilwamangal was remade in the talkies era by JJ Madan in 1932 with Patience Cooper, Kajjan and Nawab playing the main characters.
In 1929, the Kohinoor Film Company released the film directed by Homi Master. In 1931, Bharat Movietone released the talkie Chintamani directed by Kanjibhai Rathod.
The legend was adapted in Tamil as Chintamani (1937) by YV Rao. Other notable adaptations of the saint story are Ranjit Studios' Bhakta Surdas (1942) where Bilwamangal was played by KL Saigal.
DN Madhok wrote the dialogues and song lyrics in this film. In 1954, Madhok directed his own version of the story in which Suraiya played the role of Chintamani.
What's in the film