Dadasaheb Phalke-The Father of Indian Cinema

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·                           Born on April 30, 1870 at Tryambakeshwar, Maharashtra, India into a Marathi Brahmin family. His father was a proficient Sanskrit scholar.

·                           He received his early education from Sir J. J. School of Art, Mumbai in 1885. In 1890, he completed his school education and then attended the Kala Bhavan in Baroda.

• ·                           From an early age, he was artistic in nature and displayed great interest in the creative arts. He pursued arts for completing his graduation and later took up various jobs such as that of a photographer and a draftsman. He also tried setting up his printing business but closed it down when problems arose with his partner. The turning point in his life came when he saw a silent film and was deeply moved by its poignancy. He decided to become a filmmaker and viewed it as his mission to present Indian mythological characters on the moving picture screen. His first full length Indian motion picture, ‘Raja Harishchandra’, the most important milestone in Indian cinematic history. His persistent faith and pioneering efforts laid the foundation of Indian cinema. He was a visionary who foresaw the potential of the film medium and also made people realize its cultural and financial worth.
  ·                           The movie Raja Harishchandra  was publicly shown on May 3, 1913 at Mumbai's Coronation Cinema. It was an unbelievable experience for public and he received much appreciation for his work The film was a huge success which encouraged many businessmen to produce more films He was aproached by an enterpreneurers to start a film company He agreed and  opened a film company ‘Hindustan Films’ in partnership with five businessmen from Bombay The company made many movies and short films. Some of his renowned works were ‘Mohini Bhasmasur’ (1913), ‘Savitri Satyavan’ (1914), ‘Lanka Dahan’ (1917), ‘Shri Krishna Janma’ (1918) and ‘Kaliya Mardan’ (1919).
  He was never interested in business side of the company he focused on the creative aspect of filmmaking which led to difference of opinions and he resigned from the company in 1920. Although after some time, he returned to the film company and directed some films, he never really understood or appreciated the profit aspect of filmmaking and eventually left the company again. His last silent movie was ‘Setubandhan’ (1932).
  In his 19 years of film making career, he made 95 movies and 26 short films. His other motion picture works include ‘Rajrishi Ambarish’ (1922), ‘Ram Maruti Yuddha’ (1923), ‘Guru Dronacharya’ (1923), ‘Ashwathama’ (1923), ‘Shivajichi Agryahun Sutaka’ (1924), ‘Satyabhama’ (1925), ‘Ram Rajya Vijay’ (1926), ‘Bhakta Pralhad’ (1926), ‘Hanuman Janma’ (1927), ‘Draupadi Vashtraharan’ (1927),‘Parshuram’ (1928), ‘Sant Mirabai’ (1929) and ‘Kabir Kamal’ (1930).
  In 1937, he directed his first sound film ‘Gangavataran’ which also proved to be the last film of his career. With the introduction of sound in cinema and the new diversified ways of filmmaking, his work lost admiration and eventually he took retirement from filmmaking.