Anna Salunke

Anna Salunke

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Category: Cinema

Anna Salunke Profile

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Anna Salunke Biography

Anna Salunke was a male actor who regularly performed female roles in the silent era of Indian cinema. He is credited to play the first ever heroine role onscreen in Indian cinema. When first Indian feature film was made by Dadasaheb Phalke in 1913, he was forced to cast male actors for female roles as well. The historic movie, Raja Harischandra was released in 1913 and Anna, despite being male, played the heroine Rani Taramati, wife of King Harishchandra in the silent movie. In those days acting was regarded taboo in Indian society and actresses were compared to prostitutes. For the same reason females never came forward to act in plays and movies, and males used to enact female characters as well.

 

Anna Salunke is also credited to play the first double role in Indian cinema. He created history by playing both the role of hero and heroine in the mythological movie - Lanka Dahan released in 1917. Actually Anna was a cook who worked in restaurants. He also worked as a waiter in a restaurant on Grant Road, Mumbai. He accepted to play the lead role of Raja Harischandra, when even prostitutes and dancers rejected to play the female part. Dadasaheb Phalke has to convince him a lot to accept the female role. He was also paid rupees 15 for the role, which was higher than his wages got from the restaurant.

 

Later Anna Salunke was associated with Indian cinema for 18 years from 1913 to 1931, mostly portraying female mythological characters. He also choreographed a few movies and was a regular actor of Phalke’s movies. Buddha Dev in 1923 was his last movie as an actress, when more female artists joined movies. He was also known by the names - A. Salunke and Annasaheb Saluke.

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Updated: June 27, 2014

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