Dhundiraj Govind Phalke, famously known as Dadasaheb Phalke, was a renowned Indian filmmaker and screenwriter, popularly dubbed as the ‘Father of Indian Cinema’.
He was 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.
He learnt about sculpture, engineering, drawing, painting and photography in Kala Bhavan.
He started his career as a photographer in Godhra but left it after the demise of his wife and child. Later, he worked as a draftsman for the Archeological Survey of India for a brief period of time.
Then he opted for the business of printing and started his own printing press. He traveled to Germany to inquire about the latest technology and machinery for his press.Alongside, he also worked for the Raja Ravi Varma, the famous painter of Indian mythological gods and goddesses, and learnt more about art.
After watching a silent movie ‘The Life of Christ’, he was immensely inspired and envisioned Indian gods on the screen. This event became a turning point of his career and marked the beginning of the dream of cinema-making in India.
After watching the silent film, he borrowed some money and made the first motion picture of Indian cinema titled ‘Raja Harishchandra’, in 1912. The movie 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.
After the success of his first film, he 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).
Soon silent films developed into a potential medium and also proved their financial viability. Therefore entrepreneurs approached him and he opened a film company ‘Hindustan Films’ in partnership with five businessmen from Mumbai.
The primary agenda of the businessmen was to gain profits while he solely 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 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.
In his 19 years of film making career, he made 95 movies and 26 short films.
He Breathed his last on February 16, 1944, in Nashik, Bombay, British India, at the age of 73.
In recognition of his lifetime contribution to the Indian cinema, the ‘Dadasaheb Phalke Award’ was instituted in 1969 by the India government.
Department of Posts paid tribute by releasing a commemorative postage stamp on the great chiematographer Birth centenary
Issued Date : 30.04.1971
Denomination : 20 Paise
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