Bhagwan Das Varma

Bhagwan Das Varma (1907-1962) was a Bollywood film producer and director. He was one of six brothers that were founders/partners of Varma Films, a company predominantly involved with the production and distribution of Hindi language films. After the Varma Films banner was retired in the mid-1950s, Bhagwan Das continued his film production and distribution activities with two affiliated companies: Varma Pictures and V. P. Productions.

During his 11-year career span, starting from its inception with the release of the film Suhaag Raat in 1948, to the release of his last film, Main Nashe Mein Hoon in 1959, Bhagwas Das Varma directed 3 films: Aurat (1953), Pooja (1954) and Baghi Sipahi (1958). A sample of the careers of 3129 movie directors shows that about 63% directors made only one movie, and only about 7% directors made 3 or more movies. A more recent but smaller sample of the careers of 193 movie directors shows that about 34% directors make only one movie and only about 14% made 3 or more movies. With Bhagwan Das’s career including 3 movies as a director, the above comparison benchmarks are indicators of the notability of Bhagwan Das arising from his prolific directional proclivity.