Cinemaazi remebers P C Barua on his birth anniversary

One of the most prominent filmmakers of early Indian cinema, Pramathesh Chandra Barua's name is forever etched in history. The son of the wealthy Maharaja of Gauripur, he travelled to Europe after graduating from Presidency College in 1924. Influenced by the films of Rene Clair and Ernst Lubitsch, he started off as an actor. He became a shareholder of Dhiren Ganguly's British Dominion films in 1928. He soon started Barua Pictures in Calcutta in 1929, producing significant films like Aparadhi (1931) and Nishir Dak (1932). He joined New Theatres in 1932, where he made his most famous film Devdas (1934) starring himself, which was later remade in Hindi with K L Saigal in the lead. Later when differences emerged between him and B N Sircar, he left New Theatres and became a freelancer. He was a member of the conservative Swarajya Party which sought to protect the interests of Hindu zamindars, and was a member of the Assam Legislative Council from 1928-36. His films represented important steps in the development of the melodramatic style. Some of his notable films were Rooplekha (1934), Grihadaha (1936), Mukti (1937), Adhikar (1938), Shapmukti (1940), Mayer Pran (1941), Jawab (1942), Subah Shaam (1944), Amiri (1945) and Pehchan (1946). He was born on this day in 1903.