In Bengal, a region rich in culture and intellectual activity, the first Bengali film was a remake of Phalke`s Raja Harishchandra. It was titled Satyawadi Raja Harishchandra. It was directed by Rustomjee Dotiwala, a Parsi and was produced by JF Madan. In 1918, producer, director, cameraman Nath Patankar made Ram Vanvas. The serialization kind of filming of this Indian epic is considered to have had an impact as the films of Phalke.

Dhiren Ganguly was passionate about photography and along with the several associates went on to create the Indo-British Film Company (1918). He was the product of Tagore`s Shantiniketan and a self-taught intellectual. He wrote and acted in the well known film, `Bilet Pherat.` It was directed by Nitish C Lahiri. It was one of the first social satires of Indian cinema that highlighted those Indians who blindly aped the attires and habits of the British rulers. Ganguly went on to establish in 1929, the British Dominon Film Studios along with Pramatesh Chandra Barua. In 1922 he made a film based on communal problems, Razia Begum.

Less prolific than Bombay, around 122 feature films were made in Kolkata, erstwhile Calcutta. The Madan family`s production company, the Elphinstone Bioscope, financed a certain number of films. These included the first Bengali silent feature film, Satyawadi Raja Harishchandra. The Madans owned the first cinema theatre in India to be equipped with a permanent sound system. This was the Elpnihstone Picture Palace in Calcutta in 1928. Within two years 30 of the 370 theatres in India were similarly equipped.

Bengali silent films were dependent on themes based on literary works, theatre and social subjects rather than religious tales or mythology. Another Bengali production unit was Aurora Cinema Company, which in 1931, made the last noteworthy silent Bengali silent film, Pujari. It was directed by Niranjan Pal. In the same also came Jamai Babu by Kalipada Das.