Dhundiraj Govind Phalke 1971 India Stamp

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

Raja Ravi Varma 1971 India Stamp

169th Birth Anniversary of Raja Ravi Varma

The artist who brought about a momentous change in the art of India was born on 29th April 1848. Today is the 168th birth anniversary of Raja Ravi Varma, one of the greatest painter and artist of late 19th Century India. 

Born in a small village of southern Kerala, Raja Ravi Varma belonged to a family of scholars, poets and artists. The art of painting ran through is veins. Being a famous painter of Tanjore, his uncle saw a spark of art in this young boy and decided to train him. Here is how India acquired such a fabulous painter. 

His works are held to be among the best examples of the fusion of European techniques with a purely Indian sensibility. He was the first artist to cast the Indian Gods and mythological characters in natural earthy surroundings using a European realism. 

He is particularly noted for his paintings depicting episodes from the story of Dushyanta and Shakuntala, and Nala and Damayanti, from the Mahabharata. Many of his fabulous paintings are housed at Laxmi Vilas Palace, Vadodara. 

This excellent artist received many honours in his life. A couple of years before his death, Viceroy Lord Curzon, on behalf of the British King Emperor, bestowed upon Varma the Kaisar-i-Hind Gold Medal. The Government of Kerala has instituted an award called "Raja Ravi Varma Puraskaram" awarded to those who show excellence in the field of art and culture. 

Most of his oil paintings are based on Hindu epic stories and characters. In 1873 he won the First Prize at the Madras Painting Exhibition. He became a world famous Indian painter after winning in 1873 Vienna Exhibition.

Raja Ravi Varma breathed his last of diabetes on October 2, 1906, in his Kilimanoor Palace (Attingal Kerala) 

Department of Posts released a commemorative postage stamp as a tribute, on his 123th birthday anniversary.

The stamp depicts his portrait with his one of the famous paintings of “Damayanti and Swan” - a scene from the story of “Nala - Damayanti”. 

Today and for ever the rich heritage of the fragrance of his paintings continues to charm and influence the art of India. 

Issued Date : 29-04-1971
Denomination : 20 Paise

Deenabandhu C. F. Andrews 1971 India stamp

Deenabandhu Charles Freer Andrews was A Christian missionary, educator and social reformer in India, he became a close friend of Mahatma Gandhi and identified with the cause of India's independence. He was instrumental in convincing Gandhi to return to India from South Africa, where Gandhi had been a leading light in the Indian civil rights struggle.

Charles Freer Andrews was born on 12 February 1871 at 14 Brunel Terrace,  Newcastle  upon Tyne,  Northumberland, United Kingdom; his father was the "Angel" (bishop) of the Catholic Apostolic Church in Birmingham. The family had suffered financial misfortune because of the duplicity of a friend, and had to work hard to make ends meet.

Andrews was a pupil at King Edward's School, Birmingham, and afterwards read Classics  at Pembroke College,  Cambridge.  During this period he moved away from his family's church and was accepted for ordination in the Church of England.

In 1896 Andrews became a deacon, and took over the Pembroke College Mission in south London. A year later he was made priest, and became Vice-Principal of Westcott House Theological  college in Cambridge.

Andrews came to India as a missionary in 1904 and began teaching at St. Stephen’s College, Delhi. Shocked by the racism that he found in British India, Andrews sought out friendships with Indians and immersed himself in the study of Hindu and Buddhist traditions and literature. Through his acquaintance with Gopal Krishna Gokhale, a social reformer and nationalist,

Andrews became aware of the maltreatment and exploitation suffered by Indian indentured labourers throughout the British Empire. In 1914 Andrews traveled to South Africa at Gokhale’s urging to participate in the campaign for Indian rights there. In Durban Andrews met Mahatma Gandhiand was impressed by his nonviolent resistance movement; the two remained close friends afterward.

When he returned to India, Andrews left his teaching position at St. Stephens and settled at the experimental school at Shantiniketan  founded by the poet and philosopher Rabindranath Tagore, whom Andrews had met in London in 1912. Tagore’s calls for social  justice and his ideas about the synthesis of Eastern and Western culture strongly shaped Andrews’s spiritual and political views.

Andrews spent the rest of his career campaigning for Indian independence and Indian workers’ rights. He visited Fiji, Kenya, and Sri Lanka to report on the treatment of Indian labourers, and he often acted as an intermediary between the British administration and Indian communities in British colonies. He became the president of the All-India Trade Union Congress in 1925. In his later years Andrews was a leading member of the India Conciliation Group, which lobbied British politicians and members of the press for Indian independence.

Gandhi reasoned with Andrews that it was probably best for sympathetic Britons like himself to leave the freedom struggle to Indians. So from 1935 onwards Andrews began to spend more time in Britain, teaching young people all over the country about Christ’s call to radical discipleship. Gandhi's affectionate nickname for Andrews was Christ’s Faithful Apostle, based on the initials of his name, "C.F.A". He was widely known as Gandhi's closest friend and was perhaps the only major figure to address Gandhi by his first name, Mohan.

Charlie Andrews lost  his  breath on 5 April 1940, during a visit to Calcutta, and is buried in the 'Christian Burial ground' of Lower Circular Road cemetery, Calcutta.

Department  of  Posts issued Commemorative postage stamps on ( Missionary )- Birth Centenary of Charles Freer Andrews

Issued  Date 12. 02. 1971
Denomination : 20 Paise