Back in Time is ED’s newspaper-like column that reports the past as though it had happened just yesterday. It allows the reader to relive it several years later, on the date it occurred.
3rd May, 1913: The first ever Indian feature film, Raja Harishchandra, has been released. It is regarded as the first full-length film made in the country and it premiered at the Coronation Cinema in Bombay. It is a silent film which has been directed and produced by Dadasaheb Phalke. The movie has intertitles in English, Marathi, and Hindi.
The film follows the life of Raja Harishchandra, a king who ruled a long time ago and was famous for his honesty and integrity. The audience can expect to see the king struggling to uphold his values and beliefs in the face of dire adversity as he faces trials and tribulations one after the other.
Male actors took on the feminine roles because there weren’t any women available to play them. Dattatraya Damodar Dabke, Anna Salunke, Bhalchandra Phalke, and Gajanan Vasudev Sane all appear in Raja Harishchandra.
Phalke says that a pivotal moment in his career came when he by chance saw the silent film The Life of Christ (1910). Phalke was profoundly impacted by the movie and made it his goal to bring everything Indian onto the big screen. Last year, he traveled to London to study filmmaking with British pioneer Cecil Hepworth and now he has his own film in his repertoire.
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Post Scriptum
The film was a commercial success and made a leeway for the Indian film industry. It created a market for Indian films as people were willing to pay to see them. The shows were houseful for a week.
It popularised Indian myth and culture and piqued the interest of the Indian audience in this genre. It also created many new professions such as actors, technicians, and filmmakers to name a few.
The film was the inception of the Indian film industry and the industry has come a long way since then.
The Dadasaheb Phalke Award, given yearly by the president of India for lifetime achievement in Indian cinema, was established by the Indian government in 1969 to honor Phalke’s contribution to Indian cinema.
Image Credits: Google Images
Feature image designed by Saudamini Seth
Sources: The Times of India, Telangana Today, Filmfare
Find the blogger: Pragya Damani
This post is tagged under: back in time, feature film, first feature film, Dadasaheb Phalke, Raja Harishchandra
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