Dadasaheb Phalke- Father of Indian Cinema

Dadasaheb Phalke was born on 30^th April 1870. Initially he was working as a photographer in a small town called ‘Godhra’. He was not very happy. Further, his wife died in an epidemic- pledge. Due to death of his wife he was extremely upset and he left ‘Godhra’.

 

For sometime he worked for famous painter Raja Ravi Verma. The painter had great influence on Dadasaheb Phalke. His imagination grew. After working with him sometime, he left the job to start his own printing press. He had joined partners to start this printing company. He was a perfectionist. He went to journey to learn the latest technology in printing. When he came back he was able to upgrade the quality of the printing job. However his partners was not very happy with him. The attitude of the partners was more business oriented while he was motivated by his strong imagination. His desire to pursue greater success in the job of printing also came in way of business result. Eventually he resigned from the press.

 

He had met German Magician, Carl Heartz while in journey. Carl was one of the 40 employees (All magicians) employed by Limier Brothers. He got interested in making film. Debut film Raja Harishchandra in 1913. This film is known as the first full length Indian movie.

 

He devoted himself towards learning and mastering the art of film making. The lessons he had learned from the great Indian painter Raja Ravi Verma were very helpful in his pursuit of film making. The imaginative scenes he could create where exemplary. These contributed to his great success.

 

He was pursuing film making with all his might. Financial problems did not allowed him to do what he wanted in the field of cinema. He came to Mumbai and formed a company with five businessman. The company was named ‘Hindustan Films’ but the partnership did not last long. Finally he had to resign. He decided to retire from films in 1920. There after he wrote a play very acclaimed by called ‘Rangbhoomi’.

 

The Government of India recognized his contribution to the film industry. In the year 1969 the Government instituted the highest film award in his honor it is called “Dadasaheb Phalke Award”.

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