Dadasaheb Phalke

Dadasaheb Phalke Biography

Dadasaheb Phalke, director, producer and screenwriter is regarded as the father of Indian cinema. Dhundiraj Govind Phalke is his real name. In his name, Dadasaheb Phalke Award was instituted by the government of India in 1969 and it’s given to those artists of Indian film industry for lifetime contribution to Indian cinema. It is regarded as the highest official recognition for film personalities from Indian cinema. Dadasaheb began his career with Raja Harishchandra in 1913 - India's first full-length feature film. In the career spanning to about two decades, he directed 95 movies and 26 short films of which Mohini Bhasmasur (1913), Satyavan Savitri (1914), Lanka Dahan (1917), Shri Krishna Janma (1918) and Kaliya Mardan (1919) were his notable works.  

Dadasaheb was born on 30 April 1870 in Tryambakeshwar, Maharastra as the son of a noted scholar. He joined Sir J. J. School of Art, Mumbai in 1885. Then he studied sculpture, engineering, drawing, painting and photography from Kala Bhavan in Baroda. He began his career as a small town photographer in Godhra. But he left the place when his first wife and child died due to outbreak of the bubonic plague. After a series of work, he has also assisted painter Raja Ravi Varma. Then he started his own press and travelled Germany to get acquainted with the latest technology. Due to disputes he had to give up his printing press too.

After watching a silent film, The Life of Christ, his attention turned towards movies and he made the first silent cinema of India - Raja Harishchandra in 1913. It marked the beginning of the Indian film industry. Later he made several silent films, short films, documentary feature and educational features. Phalke formed a film company, Hindustan Films in partnership with 5 persons in Mumbai. He set up a model studio and trained technicians as well. Yet due to personal conflicts with partners, he resigned and made his first announcement of retirement from cinema. Later he returned back to the same company during its bad time, yet withdrew from it forever. His last silent movie Setubandhan was released in 1932 and later released with dubbing. His last film was Gangavataran (1937) where he did the role as a producer.  

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Updated: October 24, 2013