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Published: 04 February 2026

Last Updated: 04 February 2026

Tracking shot is one in which the camera moves forward or backward. In the silent film called Jamai Babu (1931), I have discovered a few seconds in which the camera appears to move backwards very clearly. If you look on the right side you can see more and more of the buildings are seen. I don't believe this has been mentioned before anywhere.

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Tracking Shot

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Published: 03 February 2026

Last Updated: 03 February 2026

It turns out that he had acted as a teenager in a Punjabi film in 1940.

Details are from the book Illustrated History of Punjabi Cinema by BR Garg

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Published: 02 February 2026

Last Updated: 02 February 2026

Video camera movements are very complex but there are three basic ones. Pan is from left to right, tilt is from up to down, tracking is going forwards and backwards. All these movements are very common in modern Hindi films. Luckily we have the first silent movie at least part of it is available.

So I watched the film Raja Harishchandra (1913). To my surprise quite early in the film I found a panning movement. The camera stand is stationary but the camera rotates to follow the movement of people. In the video you can see the coastline moving when the people are moving too.

I'm sure this is well known to film historians.

If not then I take the full credit for discovering this for the first time :)

Now You Know! 

Raja Harishchandra Panning

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