The history of Bengali cinema dated back to those days when the first bioscope was introduced in Kolkata in 1980. It has come along a long way since its inception. Initially it was stage actors who shouldered the responsibility of establishing the Bengali film industry successfully. It flourished first in Hiralal Sen's silent movie, ‘Billwamangal’ released in 1919 produced by the ‘Madan Theatre Company of Calcutta’.