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Franz Osten | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1876-12-23)23 December 1876 |
| Died | 2 December 1956(1956-12-02) (aged 79) |
| Nationality | Bavarian |
| Occupation(s) | Filmmaker,Director |
Franz Osten (23 December 1876 in Munich – 2 December 1956) was aBavarianfilmmaker who along withHimansu Rai was among the first retainers ofBombay Talkies. Osten partnered with Rai on a number of India's earliest blockbuster films likeAchhut Kanya andJeevan Naiya.
Osten was born Franz Ostermayr inMunich 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" with his brotherPeter Ostermayr, who later established the predecessor toBavaria Film Studios, today one of Germany's largestfilm studios. Amongst other films, he showedLife in India, a short documentary film about theMunich carnival. The run was not very successful: three days after the opening, theprojector exploded in flames. Osten decided to make films and in 1911 directed his first feature,Erna Valeska. His career was interrupted by the start of theFirst World War. He worked first as acorrespondent, then became a soldier. After the war Osten made peasant dramas likeThe War of the Oxen andChain of Guilt for EMELKA inMunich.
Franz Osten'ssilent films tell varieties of Indian stories.The Light of Asia (1925) dealt with the life ofBuddha.Shiraz (1928) dramatises the events that led to the construction of theTaj Mahal.A Throw of Dice (1929) was based on myths and legends drawn from Indian epicMahabharata. These movies contributed to increasing the understanding ofeastern religions and offered visual splendour and escapism, featuring live elephants in festive decoration and utilising thousands of extras.
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 theCastro Theatre at theSan Francisco Silent Film Festival in 2002,Prem Sanyas at the same festival in 2005, andA Throw of Dice in 2008.[1]Prapancha Pash was re-released in 2006.[2]
The Light of Asia was a unique collaboration which managed to satisfy the tastes of both German and Indian audiences began in 1924. The 28-year-old Indian solicitorHimansu Rai came toMunich in search of partners for series of films onworld religions. He had studied law inCalcutta and London where as a student of Nobel Prize winnerRabindranath Tagore he had also directed a theatre group that promised to revive Indian acting and theatre traditions. He had heard that thepassion plays ofOberammergau were a showcase for German culture and now wanted to create the Indian 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 andJosef Wirsching, and comedianBertl Schultes as interpreter, boarded a ship forIndia. On 18 March they arrived inBombay. There Osten began to shoot his first Indian film,Prem Sanyas –Die Leuchte Asiens-The Light of Asia, the firstGerman–Indian co-production. The film tells the story of PrinceGautama 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 sizeable 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 171,423Rupees was ten times that of an averageIndian 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.[3]
Director (German Films)
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