The Buddha also is known as Siddhattha /Gotama was the founder of the world religion of Buddhism. A couple of centuries after his death he came to be known by the title Buddha, which means “Awakened One” or the "Enlightened One.
The life of Budha has been a subject of ou filmmakers since the beginning of cinema. The first known film about the life of Buddha was Buddhadev was made by Dada Saheb Phalke in 1923. Two years later, another important Buddha film was released, The Light of Asia, Himanshu Rai played the role of Budha. The film was a greater success in Europe than in India. Both these two films were Silent Films.
In 1957, Govt. of India released a documentary film on the life of Budha as part of the Buddha's 2500th birthday celebration. It was directed by Bimal Roy and the role of Budha played by Rajbans Khanna, who was the producer of the film also.
The next film Angulimal (1960) was not directly based on the life of Buddha, but on the life of a dacoit and killer who used to loot and kill innocent people and cut off their fingers and who made a garland of such fingers to wear around his neck, The film depicts an incident where the dreaded dacoit once met the Buddha when Buddha was passing by forest and goes ahead to kill him, but was corrected by the compassion of Buddha.
The fifth film about Buddha was a Japanese one, Shaka, produced by Kenji Misumi in 1961. It was shown in the USA in 1963 under the title Buddha. On February 13, 1964, a Korean film about the life of the Buddha had its premiere, Seokgamoni,
In 1997 the Indian producer G.A. Sheshagiri Rao made a Buddha film. This one is also the longest movie about Buddha, as it consists of five DVDs with approximately 180 minutes film each.
In 2008 a film called Tathagat Buddha was released. Originally it was made in Telugu but later dubbed in Hindi and other languages. Tathagatha Buddha was a hit at Box Office. There is one song sung by Kumar Sanu.
In 2013 the film "A Journey of Samyak Buddha" based on Babasaheb Ambedkar's book The Buddha and His Dhamma was released. The film was directed and produced by Pravin Damle. Abhishek Urade played the role of Buddha.
