Society Promoting Indian
Cinematic Entertainment
Cinematic Entertainment
| Realname | Dhundiraj Govind Phalke |
| 30.04.1870 * | |
| Place of Birth | Trymbakeshwar (Maharashtra) |
| 16.02.1944 † |
Dadasaheb Phalke is referred to as the father of Indian cinema. Though many newsreels and filmings of stage plays had been shot between 1896 and 1912, Phalke was the first one to make an independent feature film. Phalke was an educated man, who read Sanskrit and had studied architecture and painting. He longed to bring Indian mythology on to the screen and finally made his first feature film Raja Harishchandra.
Phalke also made trick films including Birth of a Pea Plant and documentaries. As early as 1917 he shot How Films Are Made to explain and demostrate the process of filmmaking to the public. Phalke experimented with camera and editing techniques and constantly enlargened his repertoire. He made over 70 films and was an allrounder, who worked on script, production, direction, shooting and editing of his films himself. His biggest successes where the mythologial films Lanka Dahan, Shri Krishna Janam and Kaliya Mardan.
In the 1920s film production in India increased enormously and very soon the father of Indian cinema was forgotten. Phalke made another movie called Setu Bandhan in 1931. But 1931 was the release of India's first talkie Alam Ara and silent movies were not successful anymore. Therefore Setu Bandhan was dubbed and released as a talkie in 1934. Dadasaheb Phalke's last movie Gangavataran was released in 1937, but the film did not appeal to the audience. Though today Dadasaheb Phalke is widely known as the founder of Indian cinema and the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke Award bears his name, he died a forgotten man in 1944.