GERMAN SPY WHO DIRECTED AN INDIAN MOVIE

He also wielded the camera for a Malayalam movie

Felix J Beyse, a German cinematographer, stumbled into Malayalam cinema and then simply disappeared from the scene after six months. His name is mentioned in the annals of Malayalam cinema as the director and cinematographer of the 1949 film Vellinakshatram. 

He was the technical brain behind Alapuzha-based Udaya Studio, owned later by producer-director Kunchako. People who worked with Beyse in the film and at the studio only knew him as a German cinematographer. Nothing was known about his background, how and why he reached India, and what happened to him, after the movie. Aleppey Vincent, who invited him to direct the movie, believed that Beyse was a German spy, monitoring the Madras port.

Germans in Bollywood

At least half a dozen Germans were behind the foundation of the Bollywood film industry. Dadasaheb Phalke’s Lord Harischandra was India’s first Black and white silent movie shot in 1912; it was in the 1930s that the Indian film Industry actually started opening up and the first truly “Indian” black and white sound movie, Alam Ara was shot in 1931 by Ardeshir Irani.

Felix Beyse

In 1925, an Indian lawyer in London, Himanshu Rai (1892-1940) collaborated with Niranjan Pal, a writer friend of his, to make a movie out of English poet- Edwin Arnold's The Light of Asia, based on the life of Buddha. Born into an aristocratic Bengali family, he spent several years in Santiniketan for his schooling. After obtaining a law degree from Kolkata, he went to London to become a barrister. There, he met the playwright and screenwriter Niranjan Pal. All of the biggest studios in England refused to take up The Light of Asia project stating that the scale was grandiose. This led Rai to Munich in Germany, and to the Emelka film studios. After a little negotiation, it was decided that the studio would help Rai.

Finally, the movie named Prem Sanyas was shot in Jaipur, India in 1925 by a team of four German filmmakers from Emelka Film Studios: Franz Osten directed the movie. Josef Wirsching was the main cameraman along with assistant cameraman Willie Kiermaier. Barthe Schultes was in charge of production. Himanshu Rai was the hero and primary producer.

It was shot at the Jaipur palace with the complete assistance of the Maharaja of Jaipur. This was historically the very first Indo-German Cinematic collaboration.

The movie was screened for the King and Queen of England in 1926 and it received rave reviews from British royalty. While making his third film, Prapancha Pash, he met and fell in love with actress Devika Rani, a great-grandniece of the Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore. Before this film was complete, he married her.

Devika Rani Kissing Himanshu Rai in Karma (1933)

Rai, along with his wife decided to start their film studio in Bombay in 1935 and Bombay Talkies was born at Malad. Emelka studios helped him procure all the equipment and provided him with a team of filmmakers to be the technical backbone of the studio. Apart from Osten and Wirsching, the team consisted of Karl Graf von Spretti for set design and architecture, Willy Zolle as the laboratory-in-charge and a Britisher, Ben Hartley in charge of sound recording.

They joined the ranks of other émigrés seeking refuge from German fascism, in India: writer Willy Haas; Walter Kaufmann, composer of the All India Radio theme; Paul Zils, who helped grow non-fiction film in the country.

Together, this creative Indo-German team produced some of the most iconic musical films of the era, such as Jawani ki Hawa (1935) and Achhut Kanya (1936), which dealt with urgent social reform and nationalist issues of the day.

The Wirschings—Josef and his wife, Charlotte—settled down in Mumbai. Their lives took a difficult turn when World War II broke out. Wirsching was held in internment camps in Ahmednagar, Dehradun and Satara, till 1947. After his home in Munich was destroyed in an air raid in 1944, Wirsching settled down in Mumbai, and started working with outside productions, including Kamal Amrohi’s Mahal (1950) and Dil Apna Aur Preet Parai (1960).

Josef Wirsching

Asok Kumar Ganguly, a simple Bengali boy hired by the studio to be Wirsching’s laboratory assistant, became one of the most distinguished actors in Indian Cinema. Rai had cast Asok Kumar, brother-in-law of Rai's film-maker partner Sashadhar Mukherjee in Jeevan Naiya, replacing its hero, Najmul Hasan. Rai suspected a secret liaison between Devika Rani and Hasan.

Wirsching was a publicity-shy filmmaker who made phenomenal contributions to German and Indian Cinema from 1925 to 1967. His magnum opus was Pakeezah which he worked on from its start in 1959-60 till 1967 when he died. It was finally released in 1972 after numerous cameramen tried to replicate his technical brilliance for a few remaining scenes.

All through this eventful history, Felix Beyse's name never figures anywhere.

Beyse in Madras

There was a German photo studio in Madras which was called Wiele & Klein. The Baedeker, a German travel guidebook with a tradition that goes back to 1828, mentions in its 1914 edition on India that it is the most famous late 19th and early 20th Century photographic Studio in the South of India, and identifies it as a German one.

E.F.H. Wiele has been described by many as British. He might have held a British passport, but certainly was an ethnic German. A well-known architect named Wilhelm Bockmann (1832-1902) reports in his travel book, published in Berlin in 1893, that he had in 1892 attended a Christmas reception by the German Consul in Madras, where he was introduced to several German businessmen who lived in Madras, amongst them a Mr Wiele and a Mr Klein. About Theodor Klein being German there is no dispute. The Wiele & Klein studio goes back to an earlier studio, Calastry Brothers.

In 1908, E.F.H. Wiele established his own studio in Bangalore. In 1908, Klein travelled to London, where he married the much younger Valeska Drinne­berg, sister of Erwin Drinneberg (1890-1964). It is not known what happened to the Kleins after Britain declared war on the German Empire in early August 1914.

Beyse landed in Madras when the Malayalam film industry was taking its baby steps. Movies did not enjoy the moral support of the upper strata of society and the technicians were mostly from the lower middle class. In 1948, the Malayalam movie Nirmala broke the convention by selecting members of the upper class as its main characters. The film produced by artist P J Cherian featured his newly-wed son and daughter-in-law in lead roles. Incidentally, Franz Osten directed an Ashok Kumar movie by the same name in 1938.

It was not a success and was followed by Vellinakshatram, a historic movie in the annals of the Malayalam industry on various counts. Though the film tasted failure at the box office, it is still remembered for the mystery that surrounds its director, Felix Beyse.

A book, Malayala Cinema Charithram, Vichithram by Chelangat Gopalakrishnan, who was associated with Alleppey Vincent, has the most authentic account of Beyse. Vincent, actor of the first Malayalam talkie, Balan, who was involved in the activities of Udaya Studio and also an integral part of Vellinakshatram knew something more about this mysterious German.

One of the shocking revelations Vincent made much after Beyse left was that he was a German spy sent to India by German Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler before the Second World War.

Those were the years when films on nationalism reaped success in India. The film buffs in Kerala began preparations to set up a studio and that marked the beginning of Udaya Studio at Alapuzha. Kunchako, who took over the reins of this fledgling studio later, was not in the picture at the time of its foundation.

Beyse behind the camera at Alapuzha

In an old building in Alapuzha, Vincent, Communist leader T V Thomas and a few others like Anandan Pillai and Raman Pillai gathered to form the studio. The group began working on a film on nationalism and Vincent, who had sufficient knowledge of movies after his stint with Balan in 1938, was sent to Madras to learn more about the technical side of film shooting, setting up a studio etc.

Vincent, who reached Madras to meet people and seek assistance for Udaya’s film, met Beyse at Victoria Hotel in Egmore. Beyse was apparently staying there.

One morning when Vincent was shaking off water from his hands after washing his face, droplets fell on a foreigner who was standing beside him. Vincent apologized and the foreigner returned a courteous gesture.

The two got talking and soon turned friends. Beyse agreed to assist in the production and Vincent was more than delighted because Beyse owned a camera. Vincent offered him Rs 1000 per month during the shooting.

Vincent returned to Alapuzha with Beyse, his wife and two children. They were put up at the tourist bungalow there. Beyse convinced Vincent and others that if there was a camera and a studio floor, the cost of making a film would be half of making it in Madras.

The next mission was to find an ideal location to set up the studio. Their search ended when they found a huge plot of land at Pathirappally, four miles north of Alapuzha town. Sometime in 1947 construction of the studio began in right earnest. Soon, the studio floors and other small buildings came up. All of them were designed by Beyse and he used one of the cottages. Vellinakshatram was shot in this studio.

Though the plans for the next film ensued, the founding partners of Udaya Studio entered into a legal tangle after Kunchako committed a deal to buy the studio. Kunchako gained the rights to the studio, and the dispute seemed to upset Beyse. Following the tussle, the studio was locked down for some time and its future was hanging in balance. Beyse left in a huff.

That Beyse was a Nazi spy was revealed to Chelangat Gopalakrishnan by Vincent when the duo were in Kochi after they set up the Ajanta Studios at Aluva. Vincent cautioned Gopalakrishnan not to reveal the truth until his death.

Aleppey Vincent

Vincent suspected that Beyse was posted in Madras to report on the movement of the British and their activities in and around the city. Beyse was supposed to have been trained in a studio by none other than Joseph Goebbels, Hitler’s propaganda man.

During this time the Indian National Army (INA) founded by Subhash Chandra Bose had a strong base in Madras. Many INA soldiers and workers chose Madras as a gateway to Malaya, Singapore and Japan, countries that were Germany’s allies during the War. INA was a strong ally of Germany and Bose had met Hitler.

Berlin was a base of Indian revolutionaries like Virendranath Chatopadhyaya (Chatto, 1880-1937), Bhupendranath Dutta (Swami Vivekananda's brother, 1880-1961), Chempaka Raman Pillai (1891-1934) and they were funded by Germany generously. An Indian bureau was set up in Berlin to launch a revolution in India. Other Indians associated with the Berlin Committee were: Abhinash Chandra Bhattacharya (1882-1962), Tarachand Roy (1890-1952), Mansur Ahmed (1898-1979), Maulavi Barakatullah (1854-1927), Taraknath Das (1884-1958), Birendranath Dasgupta and the brothers Abdel Jabbar Kheiri (1880-1958?), Chandrakant Chakravarty, M. Prabhakar, Birendra Sarkar, Heramba Lal Gupta (c.1854- 1950) and Abdel Sattar Kheiri (1885-1953?). M N Roy, Lala Hardayal and Madam Cama were associated with this outfit.

A British Communist spy, Walter Strickland, who posed as a Botanist in Travancore, had recruited Chempaka Raman Pillai. Pillai's life was mired in controversies, including a squabble with Adolf Hitler, and he is credited with coining the salutation and slogan "Jai Hind" in the pre-independence days of India. 

On September 22, 1914, the SMS Emden, a German warship commanded by Captain Karl von Muller entered the waters off the coast of Madras, bombed the facilities near the Madras harbour and slipped back into the ocean. The British were taken aback by this sudden attack. His family stated that Pillai coordinated the German attack with his personal presence in the SMS Emden, though this is not the official view. It is widely believed that Pillai and some Indian revolutionaries had a hand in the SMS Emden bombardment of Madras.

Goebbels had been sending spies around the globe and Madras port was a corridor for the Nazi spies to make their forward journey to East Asian countries, where there was a fierce revolt against the British. Thus it was suspected that Beyse had been sent by Goebbels to shoot in and around the Madras port. Vincent remembered that Beyse seemed restless whenever the news about the Nuremberg trials, held to bring Nazi criminals to justice, appeared in the papers.

In 1940, Rumours about a Mysore-based German businessman, Ernest Neuenhofer, had been swirling about for a while. A suspected Nazi spy, he was being held at Parole Camp in Yercaud by the British. 

The spy in Kerala

To Sebastian Paul, a former Member of Parliament, who has written a biography titled Alleppey Vincent: Malayala Cinemayude Snapakan, Vincent confided that Beyse indeed had been a spy. But Paul didn't mention Beyse in the book because there was no mention of him in his notebooks of Vincent. Vincent had a degree and was a law student and politician. He had enough capability to assess a person.

Vincent cited six reasons to believe that Beyes had been a spy:

1. Madras always had a presence of spies. It had been the only city that was attacked by Germany during the First World War. The German cruiser S M S Emden attacked the port on September 22, 1914, and destroyed four British oil tankers.

Vellinakshatram poster

2. Vincent saw with Beyse several photos of Port Trust, boat house, Madras Sailors Club, and National Bank of India. The same places were the targets of Emden. While at Alapuzha for six months, Beyes showed keen interest in picturing the port and the Kerala coast. He left the studio and stayed at the guest house at the beach.

3. Germany had equipped the Nazi Gestapos with state-of-the-art cameras. Two Germans had co-operated with Indian language films before Beyse: Josef Wirsching, German cinematographer (1903-1967) and Bado Gus Walker, Cinematographer of Balan. Though Vincent knew Gus Walker, he had left for Germany. Nothing much is known about Guswalker also.

4. The Nuremberg trials began on November 25, 1945, and ended on October 1, 1946. The execution of those punished in the trial began the next year when the shooting of Vellinakshatram was in progress. Vincent saw a depressed Beyse suddenly becoming depressed asking him to oversee the shooting.

5. Beyse began speaking Malayalam within two months, without none tutoring him. He photographed visuals which had no connection with the movie.

6. Though Beyse had established a close rapport with Vincent, he distanced himself in the final days of the shooting.

It is not clear whether it was the quarrel in the Udaya studios or the aftermath of the Nuremberg trials that made Beyse disappear. He left one night with his wife without informing anyone. But others believe that Beyse did this because he suspected that people knew of his identity and feared that this would lead to his arrest here.

He was clever enough not to leave any trace, not even a photograph of his. But he left his camera at the location.

It is said that Beyse spent his later life in Australia while others believe that he spent the remaining years of his life in some remote village in Europe. Rumours were rife at that time that Beyse and his wife were eliminated in Kerala itself.

Vellinakshatram introduced several artists who proved their mettle later in the Malayalam film industry. Lyricist Abhayadev, music composer B A Chidambaranath, editor K D George, and actresses Miss Kumari and Baby Girija are among them.

Vincent the politician

Aleppey Vincent was born to Pollayil Vincent and Margarita as the youngest child, in Ambalappuzha taluk of Alappuzha district in the Indian state of Kerala.

When the proposed heroine of Balan, Kunjamma eloped with Sundaram Pillai, the assistant director of the movie, Vincent brought a new heroine M K Kamalam who was then working as a drama artist at Sebastian's drama troupe and introduced her to the director, S Nottani. Vincent was the first person to record his voice in a Malayalam cinema. He uttered the first line, ''Good Luck, everyone".

Udaya Studio

In the second Malayalam talkie, Jnanambika, both Vincent and Sebastian acted. Vincent acted in the film 'Oral Koody Kallanayi' in 1964 with Prem Nazir and in the 1974 film 'Kamini'. Vincent was lucky to work with M. G. R. in the Malayalam film Genova in 1953. It is the only Malayalam film M. G. R. ever acted in.

Vincent was having his own drama troupe based at Alapuzha and has presented several successful plays for a long period. He died on July 12, 1992.

Alleppey Vincent was perhaps the first film actor in the country to file his nomination papers for an election.

Despite their political differences, Vincent and T V Thomas remained fast friends. They even dressed alike in the white Jubba or kurta and white dhoti. In February 1948, an election to the Travancore legislative council was declared. The Congress decided to field Vincent as their candidate from Alapuzha. Vincent belonged to the Latin Catholic community that held sway in this area; the party thought to cash in on Vincent’s popularity as a film actor.

Months before the election, Congress kicked off its campaign. They used posters from Vincent’s films that had his face. A clever move by Thomas saw to it that the Communist Party did not field a candidate against Vincent. The other person in the fray was one Iyer, who contested as an independent.

Even before the filing of the nomination papers, there were rumours that the Dewan Sir C P Ramaswamy Iyer would issue instructions to reject Vincent’s nomination. The Congress party devised an alternate strategy. They decided to change the initials of Vincent’s name to S P instead of X.P. He followed his party’s direction and changed this in his nomination papers. The idea was to protect Vincent from being identified by the Dewan. 

However, the Dewan smelled a rat and directed his officers to reject Vincent’s nomination. Vincent’s nomination was rejected on the ground that he had changed his initials. The independent candidate was declared the winner. Thus Vincent lost out on being the first ever actor to participate in an election and even win it.

© Ramachandran