Dadasaheb Phalke 41 Views

Maker of India’s first feature film in 1913, Dadasaheb Phalke was born on April 30, 1870 at Nashik. An artist by profession, he was educated at Sir J J School of Art and at MS University at Baroda. His creative interests drove him to take up photography, block making and printing and finally, to filmmaking.

A chance visit to see a film, in fact two, gave him the idea of making a film based on Indian mythology. He travelled abroad and self trained himself in London on the art and technology of filmmaking. After his return to India he made Raja Harishchandra and Mohini Bhamasur, which many consider his best work. Phalke went on to make a total of 95 feature films and 27 short films in his career.

He is considered the father of Indian cinema and in 1969.The Government of India honoured him by instituting the Dadasaheb Phalke Award for lifetime achievement in Indian cinema. It is considered the highest award in the country for cinema.

Dadasaheb was also a social reformist. He challenged society by inviting ladies from the elite class to act in films and his business was managed by his wife. His life as a filmmaker was full of struggle as he kept changing business partners and film companies.

His final challenge came from the introduction of sound in cinema as “talkies” overtook silent movies that were made by him. He was too late to reengineer himself to the new technology. His last film, Gangavataran, was however the only talkie he made.

He passed away in 1944 at the age of 73.