J. F. Madan
| Jamshedji Framji Madan | |
|---|---|
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| Born | 1856 Bombay |
| Died | June 28 1923 |
Jamshedji Framji Madan CBE (1856–June 28 1923), professionally known as J. F. Madan, was an Indian theatre and film magnate who was one of the pioneers of film production in India, an early exhibitor, distributor and producer of films and plays. He accumulated his wealth on the Parsi theatre district scene in Bombay in the 1890s where he owned two theatre companies. He moved to Calcutta in 1902 where he founded Elphinstone Bioscope Company, and began producing and exhibiting silent movies including Jyotish Sarkar's Bengal Partition Movement in 1905. He expanded his empire considerably after acquiring rights to Pathé Frères films. He produced Satyavadi Raja Harishchandra in 1917 and Bilwamangal in 1919.Satyavadi Raja Harishchandra was the first feature film to be shot in Calcutta. Elphinstone merged into Madan Theatres Limited in 1919 which brought adapted many of Bengali's most popular literary works to the stage. Madan Theatres was a major force in Indian theatre throughout the 1920s and 1930s.
He was born into a Parsi family in Bombay. Madan's father suffered a huge monetary loss when Bombay Reclamation Bank, which was responsible for reclaiming land between the seven islands of Bombay, failed. JF Madan had to leave school, and he joined Elphinstone Dramatic Club as a prop boy in 1868. By 1875, this amateur club turned into a professional theatre company staging shows all over India.
In 1882, Madan left the theatre company and had a short successful stint in business at Karachi. He moved to Calcutta in 1883. His success in a business of supplying goods to army cantonments enabled him to buy Corinthian Hall, where theatre shows used to be staged. Also, he took over the Elphinstone Theatre Company, where he started his career, from Cooverji Nazir, one of the founders of the theatre. Corinthian Hall was turned into Corinthian Theatre, and it became very popular for Parsi theatre shows, which were full of grandeur and had women actors, a rarity in those days.
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