Marius Sestier and the Lumière cinématographe in India

The first projected motion pictures shown in India

When the Lumières¹ saw how immensely popular their cinématographe shows were after the first public (and paying) exhibitions in Paris from 28 December 1895 on, they fully realised the commercial potential and determined to spread the moving image. Over the following months, they trained several operators in the use of their cinématographe and their business procedures. These operators were not only tasked with showing motion pictures but also with taking them, so that the Lumières' stock of scenes of life in foreign places would continue to grow.

One such operator was Marius Sestier, who had trained as and had been a pharmacist; he was commissioned, presumably having volunteered, to exhibit the cinématographe in India and Australia. Having on 3 June 1896 bought their return tickets to Australia, at a cost of 1000 French francs each,² he and his wife left Marseille, France on 14 June 1896 on board the steamer Yarra of the Compagnie des Messageries Maritimes, and arrived at Bombay [Mumbai], India early on the morning of Tuesday, 30 June.³ They had with them a Lumière cinématographe and a collection of films to be shown therewith.

There is no obvious indication that the Sestiers had any person with whom to get in contact on their arrival in India. However, one of their fellow passengers was the French consul at Bombay, Joseph Pilinski,³ and there is little reason to believe that they didn't meet on the ship on the journey out. If nothing else Pilinski could have provided the Sestiers with entrées to the diplomatic or French communities in the city at the time.⁴ But by whatever means local connections were established Sestier quickly made known his and the cinématographe's presence in Bombay, having an article published in The Advocate of India⁵ two days after their arrival. Within a week, he had secured a venue to demonstrate the new techno­logical invention, and the first advertisements for exhibitions appeared in the Bombay press on the day of the first screening: billed as "THE MARVEL OF THE CENTURY!" and "THE WONDER OF THE WORLD!!",⁶ the cinématographe was shown publicly for the first time in India on Tuesday, 7 July 1896 at the Esplanade Hotel,⁷ Bombay. There were four showings, at 6, 7, 9, and 10 pm, of six films, and the price of admission at each screening was 1 rupee.

The first advertisement: The Bombay Gazette, 7 July 1896, p.2a Image courtesy of the British Library Oriental and India Office Collections

The Esplanade Hotel aka Watson's Hotel, Bombay, c. 1895 (looking roughly towards the south-east) Image courtesy of the National Library of Australia

It was on 9 July that The Bombay Gazette published a review of the first screening.⁹ There was criticism of the room at Watson's Hotel where the films were shown, it being too small to enable the images to appear life-size, as was promised in the advertisements. Nonetheless, the response to the films was enthusiastic. Interestingly, Sestier's name is not mentioned: the article states: "Messrs. Lumiere Brothers, who are on their way to Australia, are the exhibitors of this truly marvellous discovery, [...]". In fact, it was some time before The Bombay Gazette published the true name of the exhibitor of the cinématographe. Possibly Sestier did not communicate directly with the journalists, who used the name (Messrs. Lumiere Brothers) from the advertisements.

Further showings of the same 6 films were advertised for 9 July, again at Watson's Hotel, at the times 7, 9, and 10 pm.¹⁰

On the next night, the programme was changed, with six different films being shown,¹¹ once more at Watson's Hotel, and with the same session times as on 9 July. This programme was repeated on 11 July.¹²

Sestier had managed to secure a bigger and more appropriate venue, the Novelty Theatre – as early as 7 July he had paid for its hire for 3 evenings¹³ – and immediately below The Bombay Gazette advertisement for the sessions on 11 July is a notice for three nights there, on 14, 16, and 17 July.¹² There were to be two shows each night, at 6:30 and 9:30 pm, with 12 films at each show, and there would be three ticket prices: 2 rupees for the orchestra stall and dress circle; 1 rupee for "second" seats; and half a rupee (8 annas) for back seats. There is a short article¹⁴ about the new venue that says that the cinématographe will be shown better there. Again, Sestier is not named in The Bombay Gazette; "Messrs. Lumiere Brothers" made the decision to move.

On Monday, 13 July there were shows at Watson's Hotel.^15,16 Also on this day The Bombay Gazette published a technical note¹⁷ explaining (to some degree) how the cinématographe functioned. A picture would be worth several hundred words here!

But the first exhibitions at the Novelty Theatre were abandoned when there were (what appear to have been) problems with the electricity supply and it was not possible to generate sufficient light for acceptable projection.^18,19 (Perhaps ironically, this occurred on France's national day!) So the cinématographe returned to Watson's Hotel. Sestier was only able to get to the Novelty Theatre for a successful show on 21 July.^20,21 During that week screenings took place at both Watson's Hotel and the Novelty Theatre, with 3 nights at the latter on the same days of the week (Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday) as had been arranged for the previous week, as these had been paid for.

The cinématographe proved to be so popular that Sestier obtained a further lease of the Novelty Theatre "for a few more nights" – which turned out to be 3 weeks – from 27 July.²² There were no further advertised, public showings at Watson's Hotel.

At the end of July, "Mr. Seister, who is showing the cinematographe each evening", allowed the children of the Scottish Orphanage free admission to the shows.²³ Someone on the Gazette's staff almost had the name correct. And on 30 and 31 July and 1 and 2 August "Professor Lumiere" allowed the boys of the J. N. Petit Parsi Orphanage free admission to the exhibitions.²⁴ Why did The Bombay Gazette, for all their enthusiasm for Sestier's exhibitions, not yet know his name?

Early in August Sestier had 4 advertising sandwich boards made up, with Gujarati and Marathi texts, and had them carried around in the streets to promote his shows.²⁵ There is a manuscript note in his collection of newspaper clippings that might be (the English version of) the text for the sandwich boards:

Novelty Theatre - Every evening
Animated Photographic pictures
The greatest scientific marvel
So wonderful it should be seen by everybody
Admission R - 2 - 1 - 0,8 - 0 4²⁶

Following suggestions,²⁷ at the later (9:00 pm) sessions on 11, 13, and 14 August, there were special exhibitions at which there was "suitable music", under the direction of Mr. F. Seymour Dove.²⁸ The Bombay Gazette considered the first of these shows to be "the best M. Sestier has yet given in Bombay".²⁹ We can only imagine how the piano music, played during the showing of the films, "added [...] to the realistic character of the spectacle presented on the canvas"! And at last Marius Sestier was acknowledged by his true name.

The last showing of the cinématographe in Bombay was on the night of Saturday, 15 August 1896 at the Novelty Theatre, at 6:30 pm.³⁰ Again, F. Seymour Dove provided musical selections with the films.

On 26 August, the Sestiers left Bombay aboard the steamer Calédonien.³¹ They were the only passengers listed for Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, though they had to change ship at Colombo, Ceylon [Sri Lanka], where they arrived on 29 August³² and departed on 31 August aboard the steamer Polynésien.³³ They reached Sydney on 16 September 1896 (having called at Albany, Western Australia; Adelaide, South Australia; and Melbourne, Victoria). During the trip from Colombo, Sestier gave exhibitions of the cinématographe as evening entertainment on the ship.³³

In the week and a half between the last public exhibition of the cinématographe and the departure of the Sestiers from Bombay, little is known of their movements. An entry in Sestier's Indian accounts book reads "Voyage Poona", at a cost of 60 rupees,³⁴ so presumably at least one of them paid a visit to Poona [Pune]. They may have gone there simply for a rest and some sight-seeing; if they exhibited films there, presumably this would be noted in local newspapers. And if they went to escape the dismal weather of Bombay they were out of luck, as there was plenty of rain in the hill town – as well as an outbreak of cholera.³⁵

The following table shows when and where the cinématographe was (publicly) exhibited in Bombay in July and August 1896. All times are pm. Times marked with an asterisk indicate sessions at which music was included in the programme. Note that this was compiled from advertise­ments and reports and may not accurately reflect what in fact took place. The bottom line of each cell notes the total receipts in rupees for the respective date, as reported by Sestier; these are discussed below.

July and August 1896

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
6	7	8	9	10	11	12
	Watson's Hotel		Watson's Hotel	Watson's Hotel	Watson's Hotel
	6:00, 7:00, 9:00, 10:00		7:00, 9:00, 10:00	7:00, 9:00, 10:00	7:00, 9:00, 10:00
		Rs 37	Rs 53	Rs 64	Rs 62
13	14	15	16	17	18	19
Watson's Hotel	Novelty Theatre		Watson's Hotel	Watson's Hotel	Watson's Hotel
7:00, 9:00, 10:00	6:30, 9:30		7:00, 9:15, 10:00	7:00, 9:15, 10:00	7:00a
			Rs 66	Rs 48	Rs 22
20	21	22	23	24	25	26
Watson's Hotel	Novelty Theatre	Watson's Hotel	Novelty Theatre	Novelty Theatre	Watson's Hotel
7:00, 9:15, 10:00	6:30, 9:30	7:00, 9:15, 10:00	6:30, 9:30	6:30, 9:30	7:00a
Rs 24	Rs 88	Rs 0	Rs 137	Rs 221	Rs 0
27	28	29	30	31	1	2
Novelty Theatre	Novelty Theatre	Novelty Theatre	Novelty Theatre	Novelty Theatre	Novelty Theatre
6:30, 9:30	6:30, 9:30	6:30	6:30, 9:30	6:30, 9:30	6:30
	Rs 93		Rs 70	Rs 120	Rs 0
3	4	5	6	7	8	9
Novelty Theatre	Novelty Theatre	Novelty Theatre	Novelty Theatre	Novelty Theatre	Novelty Theatre
6:30, 9:30	6:30, 9:30	6:30	6:30, 9:30	6:30, 9:30	6:30
Rs 101	Rs 83	Rs 124	Rs 132	Rs 251	Rs 129
10	11	12	13	14	15	16
Novelty Theatre	Novelty Theatre	Novelty Theatre	Novelty Theatre	Novelty Theatre	Novelty Theatre
6:30, 9:30	6:30, 9:00*	6:30	6:30, 9:00*	6:30, 9:00*	6:30*
Rs 81	Rs 315	Rs 79	Rs 327	Rs 345	Rs 290

[a] There was only one cinématographe exhibition at Watson's Hotel on each of the nights of 18 and 25 July because Carl S. Gunnery put on his shows there at 9:30 pm.

Films shown in India

For the films listed below the French titles and the numbers in parentheses are those in the original Lumière catalogue.³⁶

For his first exhibitions at Watson's Hotel, on 7 and 9 July, Sestier advertised the following films:^6,10

Entry of Cinematographe	Entrée du cinématographe (250) [Empire Theatre, Leicester Square, London]
Arrival of a Train	Arrivée d’un train en gare (8) or Arrivée du train à Perrache (127)
The Sea Bath	Baignade en mer (11)
A Demolition	Démolition d'un mur (40)
Leaving the Factory	Sortie d'usine (91, 2nd version (or 1st version))
Ladies and Soldiers on Wheels	?

On the next two nights, 10 and 11 July, an "ENTIRE CHANGE OF PROGRAMME" was listed:^11,12

Baby's Dinner	Repas de bébé (88)
Rejoicing in the Market place, Paris	? Paris: La foule sur la place de l'Opéra (167)
The Street Dance of London	Danseuses des rues (249) or Nègres dansant dans la rue (252)
The Diver	Scaphandrier (92)
Turning the Soup-plate by Trewey	Assiettes tournantes (1)
A Match at Cards	Partie d'écarté (73)

The first shows that were to be held at the Novelty Theatre were to have 12 films, which were possibly all those listed above.

Another "entire change of programme" was advertised for 16 July.³⁷ Other titles mentioned in The Bombay Gazette articles on the cinématographe are:

Old Harbour at Marseilles	Vieux port (137)
A Match at Trick Track	Partie de tric-trac (74) [a form of backgammon]
Burning the Rubbish	Mauvaises herbes (64)
Watering the Garden	Arroseur et arrosé (99)
A Foggy Day in London	? [Filmed near Holborn Viaduct, London] (not catalogued)
The Serpent	Serpent (90)
London Girl Dancers	Danseuses des rues (249)
The Photographer	Photographe (118)
Champs Elysees, Paris	Champs-Elysées (151 or 152)
Cyclists and Equestrians, Hyde Park	?
Sea and Rocks	Gros temps en mer (52)
The Cologne Express	Arrivée de l'express (226) [at Cologne]
Parade of the Guard	Garde montante au palais de Buckingham (257) [It is in fact Saint James's Palace]
Practical Joke	? Un prêté pour un rendu (120)
Transformation Hats	Chapeaux à transformation (105)
Babies' Quarrels	Querelle enfantine (82)
The Vaulting Lesson	Voltige (194)
The Robber Clown	?
The Landing Stage	? Débarquement (37)

There is no indication that Sestier received more films from Lyon prior to about 3 months after his arrival in Australia (on 16 September 1896) so further titles shown at his early exhibitions there that were quite probably also shown in Bombay include:

French Cuirassiers	[Cuirassiers à cheval] (189) or Cuirassiers: en fourrageurs (charge) (184)
96th Regiment, French Infantry	96e de ligne en marche (191)
Battle of roses	Bataille de fleurs à Nice (not catalogued)
Boxing contest	Boxeurs (16)
Boat leaving port	Barque sortant du port (9)
Unter den Linden, Berlin	Sous les tilleuls (218) [at Berlin]

What films did Sestier shoot in India?

There is no mention in The Bombay Gazette newspaper of the hope to take a film, or the intention or plan to take one, let alone a report of actual filming in or around Bombay. (One would assume that as this was something that had never been done before, it would merit reporting – had anyone known.) Nor is there a newspaper clipping noting such an event in Sestier's scrapbook of cuttings from his time in Bombay.³⁸ There is also no mention of a film taken in India in any newspaper advertisement or report of Sestier's exhibitions in Australia. And today, no film that could have been shot by him in India is known to exist.³⁹

But on 24 September 1896, by which date Sestier was in Sydney, he received a cablegram from the Lumières (in reply to one he sent on 21 September) that read "Impossible empecher Négatif ouvert Douane Soignez Emballage Lumière"⁴⁰ ("Can't be prevented. Negative opened [by] Customs. Take care with packaging. Lumière"). It thus appears that he had sent at least one film from India back to Lyon for processing but that it had been inappropriately handled by Customs agents and, presumably, was thus rendered of no use.⁴¹

In Sestier's accounts book there is an entry⁴² dated 30 July which reads (in French) "Serpents (pose)", with an associated cost of 2 rupees; and later, in a summary in which he lists expenses associated solely with the cinématographe, we find "Charmeurs 2 Seances" ("Charmers 2 Sittings") (for 6 rupees).⁴³ These seem to indicate that he filmed snake charmers in action. There is also an entry in the summary section which is "fete Cocos Dep" ("Dep" for "Dépenses"?) (with a cost of 8 rupees):⁴³ in all probability this makes reference to the Coconut holiday, the Hindu festival of Narali Purnima, which took place in Bombay on Saturday, 22 August 1896.⁴⁴ A film of the crowds of people out and about in native dress, going to the seashore to attend to their devotions, and participating in the numerous entertainments, would have shown an aspect of Indian life most likely unknown to Europeans.

But was that all?! We know the weather was very bad most of the time the Sestiers were in Bombay (see below) but one would think Marius could have found other Oriental sights to record on film. (We do not know how many reels of film stock he had with him.) Even if an event occurred during which there was little or no rain, perhaps because of the cloud cover there was not enough light for successful filming. Considering the amount of free time he had (as is evident from the above table of cinématographe exhibitions) it is extraordinary that there is no mention of other films being shot over the period of 8 weeks that he was in India.

One event that would have been worthy of filming (if permitted) was the funeral of the late Sirdar Diler Jung, which took place on 2 July 1896, 2 days after the Sestiers arrived.⁴⁵ Sirdar Diler Jung, who died on 21 May at London, had been the owner of the Esplanade Hotel. In the afternoon an immense crowd attended the procession from the Prince's Dock through streets not far from the hotel to a mosque and then to the Victoria Terminus railway station.

Further comments

Sestier's exhibitions of the Lumière cinématographe were not the first time that photographic motion pictures were seen in India: Edison's kinetoscope had been put on display by the electrician Henry A. Grahame at 65 Esplanade Road, Bombay in early December 1895. And prior to this, if we are to believe Grahame's advertisements, a private display was given at Hyderabad to Lord and Lady Elgin (the Viceroy of India and his wife) and it is possible that even earlier public shows were also made. Grahame's exhibitions in Bombay appear to have lasted for only about three days – it is not apparent how many kinetoscopes he had on display, but considering that a single machine was set up to show only one film, and that changing the film would have been a time-consuming process, he would have needed several kinetoscopes to give value for money for the entry fee of one rupee. There appears to have been very little public interest in the device.⁴⁶

We don't know at which hotel the Sestiers stayed in Bombay – there are only mentions of the non-specific "hotel" in the accounts book. As the early cinématographe shows were at the Esplanade Hotel it would be reasonable to assume that this is where they stayed; or possibly at the Annexe to this hotel, about 600 m closer to Bombay Harbour to the east, and where the rates were reduced during the monsoon season.⁴⁷

Why did it take a week to start public exhibitions of the cinématographe? There is no advertisement for any show of whatever nature at either the Esplanade Hotel or the Novelty Theatre in the first week of July, though there were shows at the Tivoli Theatre on 2, 3, and 4 July, and possibly these might have been thought to attract the same audience as would otherwise have gone to watch "living pictures". And considering that on 7 July Sestier hired the Novelty Theatre for 3 nights, why was it a week later before he tried to show there?

On the day of the first screening The Times of India published an article⁴⁸ that is considerably confusing because it appears to be a translation of (parts of) a French piece that the writer has only partially understood and has thus had to make good use of a French-to-English dictionary. The original article may be "Le Cinématographe de MM. Lumière, de Lyon" in L'Écho des mines et de la métallurgie (Paris) of 15 March 1896, pp.344,345, or (more likely) another text which is the source for this.

Sestier engaged two interpreters, one named Pochou, who was paid by the week, including for dates after Sestier finished his shows; the other named Colonello, who is only mentioned twice, just after the start of screenings and just after the shows finished.⁴⁹ Pochou may have been employed to explain the subjects seen in the films, or to help with the Sestiers' daily activities. Salvadore Colonello, whose father ran the Italian Stores in Bombay, is recorded as having been able to understand French,⁵⁰ so is probably the person mentioned in Sestier's accounts. He is almost certainly the S. Colonello who opened a cinema show at Bombay a couple of years after the Sestiers were there,⁵¹ and a decade or so later was a co-proprietor of the Excelsior Cinematograph Co.⁵²

The Sestiers were in India during the monsoon, and the weather for most of their time there was very wet.⁵³ In spite of this after a month of showing films The Bombay Gazette thought they were still doing good business⁵⁴ – even though on 22 July (3 shows) and 25 July (one show, all at Watson's Hotel), and 1 August (one show at the Novelty Theatre), "rien" (nothing) was recorded for the receipts.⁵⁵ Sestier even noted a couple of significant (to him) weather events: "pluie" (rain) on 17 July, and "cyclone" on the 28th, though neither prevented attendances at the screenings on those dates. But the cyclonic weather prevailed for several days and may well have been the reason for the zero receipts recorded for 25 July and the blank entries (not even "rien" is noted) for the 27th and 29th.⁵⁵ 7·45 inches (189 mm) of rain fell between 6 pm on 28 July and 6 pm on the 29th:⁵⁶ this wouldn't have given people confidence to go out on the latter night.

The details of the 'box office' receipts as written up by Sestier in his accounts book require further consideration. The two pages that contain the record of the takings for the first 2½ weeks⁵⁷ look as though they were written at one sitting, rather than each amount being noted on or soon after the respective day. The same is true for the record of expenses, and for further pages. Presumably temporary records (and memory) were used to fill in the book. The "Debut a Watson" [sic] is given the date 8 July, when it was in fact on 7 July (according to The Advocate of India⁸). There is no record of receipts for the 3 shows at Watson's Hotel on 13 July, nor (as noted above) for those at the Novelty Theatre on the 27th and 29th. A leaf has been removed from the book at one point, though there is no gap in the sequence of entries. These irregularities don't inspire confidence in the accuracy of the recorded details.

The running totals on each page of receipts are correct, as is the final total of 3362 rupees, but there are small errors in the additions of the expenses with a total of 5723¼ Rs. So at the end of his exhibition time in Bombay Sestier had run up expenses 70 % above his earnings! At the end of the accounts a summary⁵⁸ of expenses and receipts for both India and Australia is given, with the Indian expenses broken down into major components: hire of venues; advertising and personnel; electricity costs; hotel charges; and sundries. Values are also converted from rupees and British pounds to French francs. What is extraordinary is the cost for advertising and personnel, 1771 Rs, almost a third of the total and more than half of the earnings. Electricity also appears to be have been expensive: 1186 Rs, being 1126 Rs to "Crawford" (and this after a discount of 64 Rs was given), plus a mere 60 rupees for electricity at Watson's Hotel. If "Crawford" was responsible for the electricity at the Novelty Theatre then it is very curious why the cost was so high in comparison with that for the hotel.

The figures for the Watson's Hotel shows indicate the total numbers of paying customers on the respective nights, because there was only one ticket price (of 1 rupee); but the Novelty Theatre totals give little idea of audience numbers because there were 3 or 4 different ticket prices at each session. From the table above it can be seen that Fridays were the best-paying days. Also note the considerable increase in takings in the last 2 weeks; Sestier may have moved on too soon, especially considering that the monsoon was about to finish.

So why did he stop his exhibitions when he did? To start with, the four-weekly Messageries Maritimes steamer that would take him and his wife towards Australia was scheduled to leave Bombay late in August (though there is nothing to indicate that they had to be on this ship). But this departure date was a week and a half after the last cinémato­graphe show. At some time after 15 August he noted in his accounts book: "Exploit. Bombay arrètée par suite du retrait de la Locomobile par le Port Trust"⁵⁹ which can be translated as: "Exploitation [of the cinématographe] in Bombay stopped following the withdrawal of the locomobile by the [Bombay] Port Trust". A locomobile is a (steam) powered mobile machine or, alternatively, a steam engine that can be moved about to provide power where needed. There is no other mention of a locomobile or the Bombay Port Trust anywhere in Sestier's books, so it is not known how this machine and this organisation were connected with his shows. The Bombay Port Trust held meetings each Tuesday (though possibly there were occasional exceptions) and these were usually reported on in The Bombay Gazette. No report has been found of a meeting on Tuesday, 11 August 1896 so it is not known if one took place; but Sestier's last show was first advertised in The Bombay Gazette on 13 August, so possibly he received the news about the locomobile on the 12th.

Was there no alternative source for a locomobile or whatever function it provided? And whether he considered the option, or whether it was even available, of resuming exhibitions at Watson's Hotel is also not known, but obviously this didn't occur. So the imminent ship departure, lack of a locomobile, and the fact that the cinématographe exhibitions were costing more than they were earning would all have contributed to the decision to quit. And no doubt he and his wife were thoroughly fed up with monsoon weather (even though it was about to break) and simply wanted to get away from it.

Who was the "well-known Bombay resident" mentioned in the first Bombay Gazette review of Sestier's exhibitions?⁹ In all likelihood it was Arthur Francis Soundy.⁶⁰ At the time the Sestiers were in Bombay Soundy was head of Soundy & Company, music dealers and piano importers, as well as proprietor of the Bombay Skating Rink. He was interested in and promoted various entertainments and amusements – e.g. skating, fireworks, wrestling matches – so it is reasonable to assume that he took an interest in the advent of the cinématographe. He may well also have been instrumental in obtaining the use of the Novelty Theatre for exhibitions there: the 15 July issues of The Bombay Gazette and The Advocate of India¹⁸ specifically mention his explaining the opening night problems at that venue. And the seating plans for the shows at the Novelty Theatre were advertised as being available at Soundy & Co.'s premises. There is an item in Sestier's accounts book recording an expenses payment to Soundy, dated 17 August, shortly after the Bombay exhibitions finished.⁶¹

Who were the people who would be expected to go to see the cinématographe? How did the price of 1 rupee relate to that of other amuse­ments and to commodity prices? Who could afford to pay this for entertainment? From 27 July the advertisements for Sestier's exhibitions included the line: "NOTICE.—Reserved Boxes for PURDAH LADIES and their Families.", so, whatever the sources and content of the films, non-European people in Bombay were also encouraged to attend. As noted above sandwich boards with text in Gujarati and Marathi were paraded in the streets to advertise the cinématographe shows.

What of the two venues in Bombay where Sestier showed the cinématographe? Watson's Esplanade Hotel was situated on Esplanade Road (now Mahatma Gandhi Road); the building still stands in a much dilapidated state, and long ago ceased to be a hotel. It is not known where in the hotel Sestier showed his films: the largest room referred to in newspaper articles describing the hotel was its dining room, though this couldn't have been used in the evenings; there are also early mentions of a ballroom, though whether this was still in existence following major modifications in 1888 is not knowm. But two contemporary accounts^9,14 state that the room was small and not suited to showing life-size motion images.

The Novelty Theatre (in its first incarnation) was opened on Saturday, 21 May 1887 on a site to the west of the Victoria Terminus (of the Great Indian Peninsula Railway). However, in 1891, when new Municipal Offices were being constructed on an adjacent plot of land, the Novelty was considered to be too great a fire risk to the new buildings and it was ordered that it be removed; so the theatre was dismantled and re-erected about 300 m to the south on a site on Hornby Road. This location is about 1100 m north of the Esplanade Hotel and closer to the native residential area of Bombay. The reconstructed theatre was opened on Saturday, 3 October 1891 and although much the same building some improvements were made; but as it was still made of wood it no doubt continued to be a fire risk! It was not until Tuesday, 16 November 1909 that a stone building also called the Novelty Theatre was opened on the same site on Hornby Road. The first (wooden) theatres had about 1400 seats in various sections – far more than were used at Sestier's exhibitions.

Research on the first motion pictures in India is far from complete. In particular other newspapers need to be studied in detail: The Times of India and The Advocate of India both have articles about the exhibitions of the cinématographe, and papers from other parts of India may also mention them. Indian languages newspapers such as Kaiser-i-Hind and Gujerati from Bombay and elsewhere also likely have reports on Sestier's shows. There may be relevant information in Government records; and business and private documents with useful historical material might exist.