Franz Osten
Encyclopedia
Franz Osten was a German
filmmaker who along with Niranjan Pal
was among the first retainers of Bombay Talkies
. Osten partnered with Pal on a number of India's earliest blockbuster films like Achhut Kanya
and Jeevan Naiya
.
on 23 December 1876. He trained to be a photographer like his father and gave acting a try. In 1907, he founded a traveling cinema called the "Original Physograph Company" together with his brother Peter Ostermayr, who later established the predecessor to Bavaria Film Studios
, today one of Germany
's largest film studios. Amongst other films, he showed Life in India, a short documentary film
about the Munich carnival. The run was not very successful: three days after the opening, the projector
exploded in flames. Osten decided to make films and in 1911 directed his first feature, Erna Valeska. His career was abruptly interrupted by the beginning of World War I
. He worked first as a correspondent
, then became a soldier
. After the war Osten made peasant dramas like The War of the Oxen and Chain of Guilt for EMELKA in Munich
.
s tell varieties of Indian stories. The Light of Asia (1926) dealt with the life of Buddha
. Shiraz (1928) dramatises the events that led to the construction of the Taj Mahal
. A Throw of Dice (1929) was based on myths and legends drawn from Indian epic Mahabarata. These movies contributed to increasing the understanding of eastern religions and offered a feast for the senses by showing elephants in festive decoration amid thousands of extras. His huge sets were ideal for escaping from reality; dark-skinned women aroused desire, associating sexuality with primitiveness.
Since early 2000s, there has been a revived interest in silent films in general and the trilogy
of Osten are in focus. Shiraz was shown at the Castro Theatre
at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival
in 2002, Prem Sanyas at the same festival in 2005, and A Throw of Dice in 2008. Prapancha Pash was re-released in 2006.
The Light of Asia was a unique collaboration which managed to satisfy the tastes of both German
and India
n audiences began in 1924. The 28-year-old Indian solicitor Himansu Rai came to Munich
in search of partners for series of films on world religions
. He had studied law in Calcutta and London
where as a student of Nobel Prize
winner Rabindranath Tagore
he had also directed a theatre group that promised to revive Indian acting and theatre traditions. He had heard that the passion play
s of Oberammergau
were a showcase for German
culture and now wanted to create the India
n equivalent.
The Germans were to provide equipment, camera crew
and the director, Franz Osten; Rai would provide the script, the actors, locations and all the capital necessary. On 26 February 1925, Osten and Rai, together with their cameramen, Willi Kiermeier and Josef Wirsching, and comedian Bertl Schultes, boarded a ship for India
. On 18 March they arrived in Bombay. There Osten began to shoot his first India
n film, Prem Sanyas
- Die Leuchte Asiens-The Light of Asia, the first German–Indian
co-production. The film tells the story of Prince Gautama Buddha
, who according to an omen will "follow the sad and lowly path of self denial and pious pain" if he ever faces old age, sickness or death. To prevent this, the King keeps him imprisoned behind the high walls of his palace. One day Gautama leaves his golden cage and is confronted with human misery. At night a revelation comes to him in a dream. A mysterious voice bids him to choose between the carefree life with his beloved wife Gopa and a life in pursuit of eternal truth. In the early morning hours Gautama leaves the court of the King. Attacking common religious practices of sacrifice and self-humiliation, he soon builds up a sizable following. A young woman kneels before him asking to be received amongst his followers. The woman is Gopa.
In India the film was rejected for lack of credibility. The cost of 171,423 Rupees
was ten times that of an average Indian film
. Even after amendments in the contract with EMELKA, the film lost Rs 50,000. In the United States
the film lacked success as "motion picture audiences in America do not care to pay an admission fee to see a prince become a beggar. But The Light of Asia was celebrated in Germany
: "A foreign world where legend and reality are not yet torn apart ... - this amazing Indian world emerges in front of our eyes"; "A Document of German skill and the German sense of duty". Another German critic noted: "Every now and then we see a film and know, that it was not just made for the money, but because of a spiritual principle, a bit of idealism". The fairy-tale look "as from A Thousand and one Nights" was admired as much as the "documentary
" quality of the images. Himansu Rai, who apart from managing the production also acted the lead role, was said to have "divine properties". In 1926 The Light of Asia was shown to King George V
and the press reported a positive reaction by the Royal Family.
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....
filmmaker who along with Niranjan Pal
Niranjan Pal
Niranjan Pal was a playwright, screenwriter and director in the Indian film industry in the silent and early talkie days...
was among the first retainers of Bombay Talkies
Bombay Talkies
The Bombay Talkies Limited was a movie studio produced 102 movies, founded in 1934 in Malad, Bombay , India, by Himanshu Rai, Rajnarayan Dube and Devika Rani along with businessmen like F. E...
. Osten partnered with Pal on a number of India's earliest blockbuster films like Achhut Kanya
Achhut Kanya
Achhoot Kanya is a 1936 Hindi film. Among the early super-hits in the Bombay film industry, the film deals with the social position of Dalit girls and is considered a reformist period-piece.The film was one of several successful Bombay Talkies collaborations between Franz Osten, Niranjan Pal,...
and Jeevan Naiya
Jeevan Naiya
Jeevan Naiya is a 1936 film famous for being the first screen appearance and launch pad of early superstar Ashok Kumar, the film is about the ostracism of dancing girls. The film was one of several successful Bombay Talkies collaborations between Franz Osten, Niranjan Pal, Himanshu Rai, and their...
.
Early life
He was born as Franz Ostermayr in MunichMunich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
on 23 December 1876. He trained to be a photographer like his father and gave acting a try. In 1907, he founded a traveling cinema called the "Original Physograph Company" together with his brother Peter Ostermayr, who later established the predecessor to Bavaria Film Studios
Bavaria Film Studios
The Bavaria Film in Geiselgasteig, a district of Munich's suburb Grünwald, Bavaria belongs to one of Europe's biggest and most famous film production companies.- History :...
, today one of Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
's largest film studios. Amongst other films, he showed Life in India, a short documentary film
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
about the Munich carnival. The run was not very successful: three days after the opening, the projector
Movie projector
A movie projector is an opto-mechanical device for displaying moving pictures by projecting them on a projection screen. Most of the optical and mechanical elements, except for the illumination and sound devices, are present in movie cameras.-Physiology:...
exploded in flames. Osten decided to make films and in 1911 directed his first feature, Erna Valeska. His career was abruptly interrupted by the beginning of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. He worked first as a correspondent
Correspondent
A correspondent or on-the-scene reporter is a journalist or commentator, or more general speaking, an agent who contributes reports to a newspaper, or radio or television news, or another type of company, from a remote, often distant, location. A foreign correspondent is stationed in a foreign...
, then became a soldier
Soldier
A soldier is a member of the land component of national armed forces; whereas a soldier hired for service in a foreign army would be termed a mercenary...
. After the war Osten made peasant dramas like The War of the Oxen and Chain of Guilt for EMELKA in Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
.
Filmography
Franz Osten's silent filmSilent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...
s tell varieties of Indian stories. The Light of Asia (1926) dealt with the life of Buddha
Gautama Buddha
Siddhārtha Gautama was a spiritual teacher from the Indian subcontinent, on whose teachings Buddhism was founded. In most Buddhist traditions, he is regarded as the Supreme Buddha Siddhārtha Gautama (Sanskrit: सिद्धार्थ गौतम; Pali: Siddhattha Gotama) was a spiritual teacher from the Indian...
. Shiraz (1928) dramatises the events that led to the construction of the Taj Mahal
Taj Mahal
The Taj Mahal is a white Marble mausoleum located in Agra, India. It was built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his third wife, Mumtaz Mahal...
. A Throw of Dice (1929) was based on myths and legends drawn from Indian epic Mahabarata. These movies contributed to increasing the understanding of eastern religions and offered a feast for the senses by showing elephants in festive decoration amid thousands of extras. His huge sets were ideal for escaping from reality; dark-skinned women aroused desire, associating sexuality with primitiveness.
Since early 2000s, there has been a revived interest in silent films in general and the trilogy
Trilogy
A trilogy is a set of three works of art that are connected, and that can be seen either as a single work or as three individual works. They are commonly found in literature, film, or video games...
of Osten are in focus. Shiraz was shown at the Castro Theatre
Castro Theatre
The Castro Theatre is a popular San Francisco movie palace which became San Francisco Historic Landmark #100 in September 1976. Located at 429 Castro Street, in the Castro district, it was built in 1922 with a Spanish Colonial Baroque façade that pays homage—in its great arched central window...
at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival
San Francisco Silent Film Festival
The San Francisco Silent Film Festival is a film festival first held in 1996 and presented annually every July at the Castro Theatre in San Francisco, California, USA...
in 2002, Prem Sanyas at the same festival in 2005, and A Throw of Dice in 2008. Prapancha Pash was re-released in 2006.
Director (Indian Films)
- Prem SanyasPrem SanyasPrem Sanyas was 1925 silent film, directed by Franz Osten and Himansu Rai. It was film adapted from the book, The Light of Asia in verse, by Edwin Arnold, based on the life of Prince Gautama Buddha, who after enlightenment became the Buddha, the learned one.-Production:The film was an...
(1925) / Die Leuchte Asiens (German title) / The Light of AsiaThe Light of AsiaThe Light of Asia, subtitled The Great Renunciation, is a book by Edwin Arnold. The first edition of the book was published in London in July 1879....
(English Title) - Shiraz (1928) / Das Grabmal einer großen Liebe (German title)
- Prapancha Pash (1929) / Schicksalswürfel (German title) / A Throw of DiceA Throw of DiceA Throw of Dice is a 1929 silent film by German-born director, Franz Osten, based on an episode from the Indian epic The Mahabharata....
(English Title) - Achhut KanyaAchhut KanyaAchhoot Kanya is a 1936 Hindi film. Among the early super-hits in the Bombay film industry, the film deals with the social position of Dalit girls and is considered a reformist period-piece.The film was one of several successful Bombay Talkies collaborations between Franz Osten, Niranjan Pal,...
(1936) / Die Unberührbare (German title) / Untouchable Girl (English title)
The Light of Asia
The Light of Asia was a unique collaboration which managed to satisfy the tastes of both German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
and India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n audiences began in 1924. The 28-year-old Indian solicitor Himansu Rai came to Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
in search of partners for series of films on world religions
Major religious groups
The world's principal religions and spiritual traditions may be classified into a small number of major groups, although this is by no means a uniform practice...
. He had studied law in Calcutta and London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
where as a student of Nobel Prize
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
winner Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore , sobriquet Gurudev, was a Bengali polymath who reshaped his region's literature and music. Author of Gitanjali and its "profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse", he became the first non-European Nobel laureate by earning the 1913 Prize in Literature...
he had also directed a theatre group that promised to revive Indian acting and theatre traditions. He had heard that the passion play
Passion play
A Passion play is a dramatic presentation depicting the Passion of Jesus Christ: his trial, suffering and death. It is a traditional part of Lent in several Christian denominations, particularly in Catholic tradition....
s of Oberammergau
Oberammergau
Oberammergau is a municipality in the district of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, in Bavaria, Germany. The town is famous for its production of a Passion Play, its woodcarvers, and the NATO School.-Passion Play:...
were a showcase for German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
culture and now wanted to create the India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n equivalent.
The Germans were to provide equipment, camera crew
Film crew
Television crew positions are derived from those of film crew positions.A film crew is a group of people hired by a production company for the purpose of producing a film or motion picture. Crew are distinguished from cast, the Actors who appear in front of the camera or provide voices for...
and the director, Franz Osten; Rai would provide the script, the actors, locations and all the capital necessary. On 26 February 1925, Osten and Rai, together with their cameramen, Willi Kiermeier and Josef Wirsching, and comedian Bertl Schultes, boarded a ship for India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. On 18 March they arrived in Bombay. There Osten began to shoot his first India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n film, Prem Sanyas
Prem Sanyas
Prem Sanyas was 1925 silent film, directed by Franz Osten and Himansu Rai. It was film adapted from the book, The Light of Asia in verse, by Edwin Arnold, based on the life of Prince Gautama Buddha, who after enlightenment became the Buddha, the learned one.-Production:The film was an...
- Die Leuchte Asiens-The Light of Asia, the first German–Indian
Germany–India relations
The bilateral relations between the Republic of India and the Federal Republic of Germany have been traditionally strong due to strong commercial, cultural and strategic cooperation.- History :...
co-production. The film tells the story of Prince Gautama Buddha
Gautama Buddha
Siddhārtha Gautama was a spiritual teacher from the Indian subcontinent, on whose teachings Buddhism was founded. In most Buddhist traditions, he is regarded as the Supreme Buddha Siddhārtha Gautama (Sanskrit: सिद्धार्थ गौतम; Pali: Siddhattha Gotama) was a spiritual teacher from the Indian...
, who according to an omen will "follow the sad and lowly path of self denial and pious pain" if he ever faces old age, sickness or death. To prevent this, the King keeps him imprisoned behind the high walls of his palace. One day Gautama leaves his golden cage and is confronted with human misery. At night a revelation comes to him in a dream. A mysterious voice bids him to choose between the carefree life with his beloved wife Gopa and a life in pursuit of eternal truth. In the early morning hours Gautama leaves the court of the King. Attacking common religious practices of sacrifice and self-humiliation, he soon builds up a sizable following. A young woman kneels before him asking to be received amongst his followers. The woman is Gopa.
In India the film was rejected for lack of credibility. The cost of 171,423 Rupees
Indian rupee
The Indian rupee is the official currency of the Republic of India. The issuance of the currency is controlled by the Reserve Bank of India....
was ten times that of an average Indian film
Cinema of India
The cinema of India consists of films produced across India, which includes the cinematic culture of Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Gujarat, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Orissa, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal. Indian films came to be followed throughout South Asia and...
. Even after amendments in the contract with EMELKA, the film lost Rs 50,000. In the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
the film lacked success as "motion picture audiences in America do not care to pay an admission fee to see a prince become a beggar. But The Light of Asia was celebrated in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
: "A foreign world where legend and reality are not yet torn apart ... - this amazing Indian world emerges in front of our eyes"; "A Document of German skill and the German sense of duty". Another German critic noted: "Every now and then we see a film and know, that it was not just made for the money, but because of a spiritual principle, a bit of idealism". The fairy-tale look "as from A Thousand and one Nights" was admired as much as the "documentary
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
" quality of the images. Himansu Rai, who apart from managing the production also acted the lead role, was said to have "divine properties". In 1926 The Light of Asia was shown to King George V
George V of the United Kingdom
George V was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 through the First World War until his death in 1936....
and the press reported a positive reaction by the Royal Family.