Bilat Ferat

Bilat Ferat বিলেত ফেরত (England Returned) also known as Bilet Pherat, is a 1921 Bengali silent comedy drama film directed by Nitish Chandra Laharry^[1][2] and produced by Dhirendra Nath Ganguly. A satirical comedy,^[3] it is one of the earliest Bengali feature film, which marked the debut of Dhiren Ganguly as an actor.^[4] He also co-directed the film.^[5] It is the first Indian feature film having intimate kissing scenes. It was the first silent love-story (comedy included), which became a great hit. This film started a never-ending trail of love and romance stories in Indian movies. The Indian filmmakers incorporated in this film realistic love scenes, with kisses aplenty, as was the norm followed by their British and American counterparts.^[6][7] However, the Indian masses, while enjoying the British and American films, were certainly not comfortable with the forward Indian heroine and considered the stark depiction of passion as wayward. Dhirendra Nath Ganguli, the deputy collector of Barisal, produced this film and himself acted in it.

Bilat Ferat
Dhirendranath Ganguly in film
Directed by	Nitish Chandra Laharry Dhirendranath Ganguly (co-director)
Produced by	Dhirendra Nath Ganguly
Starring	Dhirendranath Ganguly Manmatha Pal Kunjalal Chakraborty Sushilabala Nripen Bose Nitish Lahiri Shishubala
Cinematography	Jyotish Sarkar
Release date	1921 (1921)
Country	India
Languages	Silent film Bengali intertitles

Bilat Ferat means "Foreign Returned" and foreign generally meant England at that time. The film was about Indians returning from abroad following an education and adapting pro-western attitudes in contrast to the conservatives in India who were opposed to change.^[8][9]

Cast

• Dhirendranath Ganguly
• Manmatha Pal
• Kunjalal Chakraborty
• Sushilabala
• Nripen Bose
• Nitish Lahiri
• Shishubala

References

1. Lahiri, Nitish Chandra, Bilet Ferat (Comedy), Dhirendranath Ganguly, Manmatha Pal, Kunjalal Chakraborty, Indo-British Film, retrieved 16 June 2024
2. Armes, Roy (29 July 1987). Third World Film Making and the West. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-05690-9.
3. K. Moti Gokulsing; Wimal Dissanayake (2013). Routledge Handbook of Indian Cinemas. Routledge. p. 50. ISBN 978-1-136-77291-7.
4. CulturoAdmin (7 April 2020). "Silent Films of India". Culturopedia. Retrieved 16 June 2024.
5. Ashish Rajadhyaksha; Paul Willemen (September 2014). Encyclopedia of Indian Cinema. Taylor & Francis. p. 1994. ISBN 978-1-135-94325-7. Retrieved 8 September 2015.
6. "India's First Film To Show Kissing Scene Was Silent Film 'Bilat Ferat'". www.indianfilmhistory.com. Retrieved 16 June 2024.
7. "Valentine's Day Special: Love, sealed with a kiss in cinema". The Times of India. 13 February 2021. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 16 June 2024.
8. Zakir Hossain Raju (2014). Bangladesh Cinema and National Identity: In Search of the Modern?. Routledge. p. 100. ISBN 978-1-317-60181-4.
9. "Bilet Ferat (1921)". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 16 June 2024.

External links

• Bilet Pherat at IMDb