After severing his ties with Indian Kinema Arts, Dhirendranath Gangopadhyay alias DG set up the British Dominion Films. The studio’s address was a garden house on 40 (currently 16) Dumdum Road. The house existed even a few years back but has now made way for a highrise.From his past experience, DG had decided right at the beginning that he would make a limited company and raise funds by selling its shares. This resulted in him starting a simultaneous search for a company director as well as technicians for the studio. Kallol magazine group’s Dineshranjan Das came in as a prospective writer-director. His sister, Tarubala Sen, became a director of the company. She offered Rs 2,000. The funding actually came from her husband, advocate SK Sen. And then there was the Prince of Gauripur. Back then, everyone knew him as a man of refined tastes. DG took another Rs 2,000 from him. He was made a director of the company and promised acting assignments too. Needless to say, this prince was none other than Pramathesh Barua. Ramchandra Dev, the king of Puri, also provided funding and became a director. An enthusiastic youngster — Debaki Kumar Bose — was spotted while selling the shares in Burdwan. Seeing his interest in writing, Bose was taken over as a prospective writer. A newspaper advertisement prompted Krishnagopal to come down from Lucknow and join its camera department.The studio was inaugurated on May 21, 1929, by Jatindramohan Sengupta. DG himself directed the first film. Kamonar Agun or Flames of Flesh had a stellar cast of Dineshranjan Das, Debaki Kumar Bose, Hem Gupta (Dinen Gupta’s father), Premlata Devi (DG’s wife) and Sabita Devi. Bose made his directorial debut with Panchashar. It offered Pramathesh Barua his first full-fledged acting assignment. It was here that Nabadwip Halder made his acting debut with Charitrahin. Cinematographer Dibyendu Ghosh’s father, Satish Ghosh, director Sukumar Dasgupta, Bani Kumar, Kanailal Ghoshal — all of them made their debut at the British Film Dominion Company.With the advent of talkies, DG understood that his silent film studio would not be able to continue for long. Though the British Dominion Film Company shut down, Barua, DG and Bose soon came together. Their new address was Barua Studio.