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A Cinematic Imagination: Josef Wirsching and the Bombay Talkies was a 2024 exhibition at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya (CSMVS), presented by the Jehangir Nicholson Art Foundation (JNAF). Its run ended on 17 April 2024. Through Wirsching’s photographs and related objects, the show treated early cinema not only as a story of stars and finished films, but also of the people, craft and city behind them.
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What the CSMVS exhibition showed
JNAF’s exhibition listing describes the show as a tribute to Josef Wirsching and Bombay Talkies, built around original print archives and objects. Guest curators Debashree Mukherjee and Rahaab Allana shaped a presentation that brought a cinematographer’s photographic archive into conversation with the history of a major film studio.
According to Scroll’s 2 March 2024 account, the exhibition displayed 145 photographs. Most were made on 35mm film with a Leica camera during the 1930s and 1940s, when Wirsching was working at Bombay Talkies. Scroll describes a selection spanning behind-the-scenes moments, actor publicity pictures and production stills; the figure of 145 is Scroll’s reported count of the exhibition display.
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Reading the photographs beyond the screen
Film work, not only film stars
Publicity photographs and production stills preserve the images a studio wanted audiences to see. Behind-the-scenes photographs can reveal a different world: how people gathered on sets and outdoor locations, how work was organized, and how filmmaking depended on collaboration among performers, technicians and other workers. Mukherjee emphasized those material conditions—the movement of people, labor, technique and craft—rather than treating the archive as a gallery of celebrity portraits alone.
In her introductory essay for the accompanying book, Mukherjee wrote: “These photographs, most of them taken on film sets and outdoor locations, show us a world of meaning that was never intended to be projected on the silver screen.”
A city seen through film production
For Mukherjee, the archive also offered a way to read Mumbai’s history through the places and networks that made cinema. She connected the CSMVS with Bombay Talkies’ Malad studio, the Majestic Hotel, Readymoney Mansion and film locations. Her description of the exhibition as a “homecoming” referred both to the archive’s return to Mumbai and to its ability to make the city’s media history visible through the work of entrepreneurs, creative talents and laborers.
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International influences and local traditions
JNAF’s curatorial note presents the archive as evidence of cultural exchange among Berlin, Calcutta, Munich and Bombay. It situates Bombay Talkies within Indian filmmakers’ engagement with international influences as well as local artistic traditions. Inaugurated in 1934, the studio’s core team included Himansu Rai, Franz Osten, Josef Wirsching, Niranjan Pal and Devika Rani.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Josef Wirsching and the Bombay Talkies archive
Scroll reports that Wirsching worked with Bombay Talkies until 1959 and later collaborated with other filmmakers, including Kamal Amrohi. He had shot Amrohi’s Mahal for Bombay Talkies in 1949 and was working on Pakeezah when he died in 1967.
The photographs survived through family stewardship. Scroll says Wirsching’s son Wolfgang Peter preserved the collection until his death in 2016; his grandsons Josef and Georg then became its keepers. Mukherjee praised their recognition of its historical importance and their work promoting the legacy. As she put it: “What is special is that they had the vision to recognise the historical value of the material and the drive to promote their grandfather’s cinematic legacy.” The family’s preservation, cataloguing and digitisation helped make the archive available for exhibition and research.
The collection had appeared in exhibitions in Panaji in 2017, Chennai in 2019 and Delhi in 2020, according to Scroll. The publication described the CSMVS presentation as the first time the collection had been exhibited in Mumbai.
A related book and the limits of the record
Bombay Talkies: An Unseen History of Indian Cinema, a Mapin publication released alongside the exhibition, offers another route into the archive. Scroll reports that the book contains 165 photographs and six essays. That is a book-content figure, distinct from Scroll’s reported count of 145 photographs displayed in the exhibition.
The exhibition description and reporting establish the broad kinds of material on view, but not a complete object-by-object checklist or blanket image rights. Any reproduction should use the credit and permissions verified for that particular photograph.
Can you visit the exhibition now?
No. The exhibition ran from 1 March to 17 April 2024 and has ended. CSMVS’s general visitor information is separate from access to this past show. The museum’s visitor page lists general hours, entry details and visitor rules, but those do not provide access to the exhibition or establish that its photographs remain on display. Check the museum’s current information before planning a visit.
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