KOLKATA: Few would know this, but August 1934 is a red-letter day in Indian cinema. ‘ Sita’ , a film made by the legendary Debaki Kumar Bose, became the first Indian film to win international recognition this month eight decades ago.

The film, which was about the freedom struggle and depicted motherland in the form of an oppressed Sita, was awarded an honorary diploma at the Venice Film Festival held from August 1 to 20, 1934.

Bose also had a few other firsts to his credit. ‘Chandidas’, which he made in 1932, was the first Indian movie to have background music, while his ‘Aparadhi’ (1931) was the first Indian film to use artificial lighting and ‘Puranbhagat’ (1933) was the first to have playback songs. Bose, awarded the ‘Padmashree’ in 1938, made more than 50 films in Bangla, Hindi, Marathi, Tamil and English in a career spanning 31 years till 1961.

His achievements will be remembered at a two-day ‘Debaki Kumar Bose Film Festival’ on August 27 and 28 at Nandan. His short films ‘Raidas’, ‘Bargad Ki Aap Beti’, ‘Andhere Se Ujale Mein’ and ‘Brahmin’ and three full length feature films, apart from a Films Division documentary on Bose, will be screened at the festival.

Bose was born to a zamindar family in Burdwan in November 1898. When just out of college, he started ‘Shakti’, a journal that carried fiery anti-British articles. He joined Gandhiji’s non-cooperation movement and was jailed for a brief period, before making his first film ‘Panchasar’ in 1930.

He was a rare personality in the movie world, producing, directing, writing stories and scripts and even acting in his films. Many of his films had nationalist and philosophical leanings. His ‘Bhagaban Sri Krishna Chaitanya’ (1954) — the first Indian film to have a lady, Lily Saha, as assistant director — was awarded a certificate of merit at the National Film Festival and ‘Sagar Sangame (1959) was adjudged the best film five years later.

Bose counted stalwarts like Saratchandra Chattopadhyay and Kabi Nazrul Islam among his close friends. Islam even wrote a poem eulogizing Bose. Debaki Bose’s younger son Deb Kumar was also a national film awardee and one of the founders of Manipuri cinema. Deb Kumar’s son Debashis said that the film festival is being organized to educate people about his grandfather’s achievements. “Few people know about Debaki Kumar Bose and his contribution to Indian cinema. Hopefully, this film festival will go some way in creating awareness about this legendary figure,” he said. Unfortunately, ‘Sita’ will not be a part of the festival since no print of the film could be found. A few stills (which will be screened) are all that remain.