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This article argues for the necessity of rethinking the beginnings of cinema in South India through
a broader historical consideration of the specific entertainment contexts, which both preceded and
were eventually transformed by the introduction of film. The first film exhibitors introduced film to
Madras as a kind of European entertainment using the same local venues as the European variety
circuit. Their shows conformed to a variety format and they frequently mixed films with other kinds
of live performances. In addition to situating early touring cinema shows within the local, European
entertainment circuits of Madras city, the second strand of my argument is that we need to rethink
the mobility of early cinema in India. Rather than fixating on any discrete point of origin, I suggest that
our attention needs to turn to how early cinema worked as a portable technology that traveled along
various transnational networks through India. Thus, in our effort to ground early cinema as part of
local history in Madras, we must also reconcile this with a better understanding of its spatial movement
throughout South Asia and beyond.
