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1Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems2Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute3Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsNew Theatres, the Calcutta (now Kolkata) film studio founded by B.N. Sircar, is credited with introducing playback singing to Indian cinema in 1935. The milestone is associated with the Bengali film Bhagya Chakra and its Hindi counterpart, Dhoop Chhaon. Playback let a singer record a song separately, then have it played during filming while an actor lip-synced on camera.
What was New Theatres?
New Theatres was a major Calcutta film production company and studio established under producer B.N. Sircar. The dates commonly given for its beginnings refer to different events: the Bengal Film Archive says the first studio opened on 19 September 1930, while Chhayabani Private Limited gives 10 February 1931 as the date Sircar formed the company. The Bengal Film Archive’s studio history and Chhayabani’s New Theatres Studio page therefore describe a site opening and a company formation, respectively.
The company’s first feature production, Dena Paona, directed by Premankur Atarthi with music by Raichand Boral, was released on 30 December 1931, according to The Telegraph’s account of New Theatres. Its later filmography included titles such as Chandidas (1932), Devdas (1935), Bhagya Chakra (1935), Mukti (1937), Bidyapati (1938), Jiban Maran (1939), Daktar (1940) and Udayer Pathe (1944).
The Telegraph reports that New Theatres made more than 150 films across Bengali and Hindi, as well as a few in Tamil. That is a rounded newspaper total; the article does not explain a counting method. The studio’s influence also came from the range of people who worked there, including directors Debaki Bose, P.C. Barua and Nitin Bose; performers Kanan Devi and K.L. Saigal; musicians Raichand Boral and Pankaj Mullick; and sound recordist Mukul Bose.
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How did playback singing change film-making?
Before playback became established, singers often performed live during filming, with musicians positioned outside the camera’s view. Playback separated the singer’s recorded performance from the actor’s on-screen performance: the song was recorded in advance, played back on set and lip-synced by the actor.
The Government of India’s Yojana account describes early recording conditions as basic: a single microphone could serve singers, chorus and orchestra. Playback changed the production process, but it did not mean that early film recording was already technically elaborate. The Publications Division’s Yojana archive includes the August 2011 account of the beginnings of the music industry.
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Why are both Bhagya Chakra and Dhoop Chhaon named?
The playback milestone is dated to 1935 and linked to New Theatres’ Bengali film Bhagya Chakra and its Hindi counterpart, Dhoop Chhaon. Chhayabani describes the pair as a Bengali-Hindi bilingual production, while The Telegraph calls the Hindi film a remake. Calling them the Bengali film and Hindi counterpart reflects both accounts without treating the titles as identical language versions in every source’s description.
The Government of India’s Yojana account also associates the arrival of playback with Dhoop Chhaon. The studio page, that government publication and The Telegraph all identify the 1935 production as the first playback use in Indian cinema. The attribution is a widely repeated historical account; the sources cited here do not supply a technical record establishing every detail of the process.
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Who developed the playback system at New Theatres?
The accounts distinguish the film’s directorial use of playback from the people credited with developing the equipment:
- Nitin Bose, the director, is associated by The Telegraph with using playback for the first time in Indian cinema in Bhagya Chakra.
- Mukul Bose and Bani Dutta are credited by the Bengal Film Archive with developing a playback machine at New Theatres.
These are complementary attributions, not a detailed engineering history. The available accounts do not provide design documentation or settle every contributor’s role.
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What happened to New Theatres?
New Theatres’ production fortunes declined amid financial difficulties in the mid-1950s. The Telegraph identifies Bakul (1955) as the last production under B.N. Sircar’s leadership. The Bengal Film Archive describes a financial crisis around the same period and notes that the India Film Lab operated separately on part of the studio land. Film-related activity at the premises could continue even as production under the New Theatres banner wound down; the studio’s later use should not be confused with continued output by the original production company.
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