Josef Wirsching

Josef Wirsching Biography

Josef Wirsching was an Indian cinematographer of German origin. He is known for his magnificent work in Bollywood in the early talkies, and been a part of many iconic Hindi films in association with director Kamal Amrohi. He did the cinematography work of Amrohi’s masterpiece movies such as Mahal (1949), Dil Apna Aur Preet Parayi (1960) and Pakeezah (1972). He died in 1967 when Pakeezah was still in production stage, later completed by Jal Mistry. Dil Apna Aur Preet Parayi was a production venture of Amrohi starring his wife Meena Kumari and directed by Kishore Sahu, while the rest two blockbusters were directed by Amrohi himself.

Josef Wirsching was born on 22 March 1903 in Munich, Germany. He married Charlotte Mϋllberger in Germany in 1929. A son was born to them in Mumbai in 1939, where Josef was settled with his family during British rule. In 1923 he joined ‘Emelka Film Studios’ as an assistant cameraman & laboratory assistant. Later he was promoted to film cameraman. The studio is now known by the name, ‘Bavaria Films’. In the 1920s he moved camera for a series of silent films, mostly English productions.

He became a part of history of Indian cinema, when he joined ‘Bombay Talkies’ in Bombay as a director of Photography in 1935. He has been a part of the movies - Achut Kanya and Janmabhoomi, which created new benchmarks for Indian filmmaking. In 1939 during World War II, he was interned for the period by British, as he was a German. He returned to Bombay Talkies in 1947 when he got released. Ziddi, Mahal, Sangram etc are some of his early films after this break.

He joined ‘AMA Limited’ in their documentary & ad-film division in 1954 just before the famous Bombay Talkies closed down. He joined ‘Mahal Films / Kamal Pictures’ as director of Photography in 1959 and worked for a few movies till his death. He suffered a massive heart attack on 11 June 1967.

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Updated: June 28, 2018