Bollywood circa 1925: Archival pictures by India’s earliest cinematographer, Josef Wirsching

Josef Wirsching and Charlotte Wirsching in a cabaret sequence for the song Ithni Badi Mehfil for the Kamal Amrohi’s Dil Apna Aur Preet Parai 1959 with a young Om Prakash as the bar tender. (Josef Wirsching)

Updated on: Oct 29, 2015 6:28 PM IST

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Josef Wirsching and Charlotte Wirsching in a cabaret sequence for the song Ithni Badi Mehfil for the Kamal Amrohi’s Dil Apna Aur Preet Parai 1959 with a young Om Prakash as the bar tender. (Josef Wirsching)

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The main cast and crew of the silent film Light of Asia, 1925. (From right to left) Barthe Schultes the Production Manager, Josef Wirsching the main Cameraman, Himanshu Rai the lead actor and producer of the film, Niranjan Pal the scriptwriter, Willie Kiermaier the other Cameraman and Modhu Bose with an additional cast member on the far left atop the ramparts of the Jaipur Palace. (Josef Wirsching)

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Actress Devika Rani in a scene from Bombay Talkies’ film, Durga 1939 (Josef Wirsching)

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Kamal Amrohi (far left), Josef Wirsching, Meena Kumari and a few of Wirsching’s assistants while filming in Kashmir for Kamal Pictures’ Dil Apna Aur Preet Parai, 1959 (Josef Wirsching)

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Kishore Sahu (the director), left), Meena Kumari (the lead actress), Josef Wirsching, Kamal Amrohi looking at Josef’s light meter, during the shoot for Dil Apna Aur Preet Parai. (Josef Wirsching)

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Piver banks of the temple town of Benares (Varanasi) was restored from a large format film negative shot by Wirsching (Josef Wirsching)

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This still image was used for the marketing and publicity of Bombay Talkies film Achhut Kanya, 1936. Devika Rani (center) flanked by the two other leading actresses in the film Sunita Devi and Kusum Kumari (Josef Wirsching)

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A still from the making of Savitri, 1937. The studio was made up to look like heaven, with numerous Indian Gods looking down at the mortal human race. The clapper boy and the overhanging boom microphone adds a nice touch to the image. (Josef Wirsching)

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Devika Rani and Ashok Kumar in an iconic scene from Nirmala, released in 1938. (Josef Wirsching)

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The Wirsching family picture was taken by Josef with a timer on a camera set on a tripod. This image is one of the few rare images that show Charlotte Wirsching, his son Wolfgang Peter, their pet dog Rani posing together on the balcony of their apartment above the old Bombay Talkies studio office building , Malad. Shot in 1952. (Josef Wirsching)