Bhishma Pratigna (1921 film)

Bhishma Pratigna
భీష్మ ప్రతిజ్ఞ
Directed byRaghupathi Surya Prakash
Produced byRaghupathi Surya Prakash
Raghupathi Venkaiah Naidu
StarringRagupathi Surya Prakash
Peggy Castello
Production
company
Star of the East
Release date
  • 1921 (1921)
CountryIndia
LanguageSilent
Budget₹12,000
Box office₹60,000

Bhishma Pratigna (transl. The oath of Bhishma) is a 1921 Indian Hindu mythological silent film directed by Raghupathi Surya Prakash (R. S. Prakash).[1] Produced by Surya Prakash and his father Raghupathi Venkaiah Naidu under the Star of the East production company, the film stars Surya Prakash as Bhishma and Peggy Castello as Ganga. It is widely recognised as the first Telugu feature film[2] and is also considered by some film historians to be the first feature film produced in South India.[3][4][5] The film was released across India, Burma, and Sri Lanka, and was a significant success.[6] Made on a budget of ₹12,000 (worth ₹2.2 crore in 2021 prices), it earned ₹60,000 in returns.[7]

  1. ^ "Bhishma (1936)". The Hindu. 1 February 2014. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 12 March 2023. The first silent version was produced and directed in 1921 by the now forgotten Indian film pioneer R. Prakash (then known as R. Suryaprakash or R.S. Prakash).
  2. ^ Thoraval, Yves (2000). The Cinemas of India. Macmillan India. p. 346. ISBN 978-0-333-93410-4.
  3. ^ Hindi Cinema Year Book. Screen World Publication. 2002. p. 21.
  4. ^ Asian Film Directory and Who's who. 1952. p. 33.
  5. ^ Hindustan Year-book and Who's who. M. C. Sarkar. 1989.
  6. ^ Chabria, Suresh; Usai, Paolo Cherchi (1994). Light of Asia: Indian Silent Cinema, 1912-1934. Wiley Eastern. p. 15. ISBN 978-81-224-0680-1.
  7. ^ Baskaran, Sundararaj Theodore (1981). The Message Bearers: The Nationalist Politics and the Entertainment Media in South India, 1880-1945. Cre-A.