The centenary celebrations suggest that Indian film production began in 1913, but that is far from the truth. “The history of Indian cinema before 1913 is a fragmentary one, but it is no less interesting for that,” says Luke McKernan, moving image curator at the British Library. Estimates suggest that 99% of Indian silents are lost. But what we do know is that the history of Indian cinema has a little-known prequel. Movies first came to Mumbai on 7 July 1896. The Lumière brothers sent a man named Marius Sestier to screen their short films to a mostly British audience at the swanky Watson hotel. Read more