Explorer project by

Ira Shirdhankar

Dada Saheb Phalke

Mr. Phalke was born on April 30, 1870 in Trymbakeshwar , a small village near Nashik district, India.

His dad Dajishastri Phalke was a college Professor of Sanskrit language.

Dadasaheb Phalke inherited the best habits from his family.

He had studied the Ramayan, Mahabharat, Veda, Shastra, Epics in his childhood.

He developed passion for creative art at young age.

His first interest was still photography.

The Father of Indian Cinema

Elementary education- Nashik.College- J.J. School of Arts in Bombay.University- Kalabhavan in Baroda.Due to Phalke’s interest and talent in

photography, his professor Mr. Gajjar was impressed.

Mr. Gajjar made Phalke in charge of the Kalabhavan’s photography studio.

Education

Kalabhavan

He was working and living in Mumbai.Phalke made a living as a portrait

photographer and scene painter for drama companies.

He also worked as a draughtsman and photographer for the Government of India's Archaeological Department.

Phalke opened his own business, 'Phalke Engraving and Painting Works‘.

He received appreciation for his half-tone engraving from British Printer.

Workplaces

Phalke lost his business . He lost his photography business because back then people

used to think that camera would suck the life out of you when a picture is taken.

Because of the differences between him and his business partners he lost his other business.

This was an life changing event for him.During this period he was watching lot of movies.He was not only watching them but he started to study

them.

Motivation

An ExplorerDadasaheb Phalke is

the first filmmaker in India.

He is an explorer of Indian cinema.

He has earned many titles.

After watching a silent film, 'The Life of Christ' in 1910 Phalke decided to start film-making.

He learned about the motion camera, projector, film.

He read many books about it.He traveled to England to get equipments like

camera, film, and other things to make a movie.

He learned and practiced the process.

The exploration begins…

In this adventure his family was helping and supportive.

His wife Saraswati Phalke was an active partner.

They learned each others work in case of emergencies.

She looked after the technical aspects of film-making and he learned to cook.

His sons Dabake, Balachandra were the lead roles in his movie.

Family

Family

This wasn’t an easy journey for Mr. Phalke. There were many obstacles.

Vision problem caused by watching movies, reading books and working with the films.

He had to sell his wife’s jewelry and household items to get money for film materials and supplies.

His neighbors and friends thought that he is crazy.

He borrowed money from his friends when he traveled to England.

Difficulties

Back then movie making process was not so popular . Acting was not a prestigious job in the society.

He held many auditions for musicians, singers, and actors from drama companies for his film.

It was very hard to find actors especially female actors.

He went through lot of efforts to get female actresses. Sometimes males actors played the female roles.

Difficulties …

Films

Past

Motion Cameras

Present

After returning to India, he set up a studio in his own house.

The whole crew was living, working, being fed in Phalke’s house.

First he made a short film Roptyanchi Wadh (growth of a sapling).

He taught his wife how to use the camera, develop the film roll and also cutting and editing.

Now his focus was on making longer films.

Experiments

Sapling

First silent movie, Raja Harishchandra was released on 3rd May 1913 at Coronation Theatre in Mumbai.

This was India’s first movie which was about 40 minutes long.

This movie became very popular and had many houseful shows.

The story for his movie was chosen by his interest in Indian mythology.

Raja Harishchandra

He took the movie to England and it was liked by the foreign audience equally.

British film production house offered him handsome money to make movies in England.

He politely refused their offers.He had a big vision to start the movie making

industry in his own country.

England

Phalke wanted to make a change.He was a great thinker and a startup

entrepreneur.He did not pursue to make movies in England

because he wanted to establish the movie industry in India.

Because of his decision, today India has one of the largest movie industries in the world.

An entrepreneur!

More movies were made in India since then.Other people started making movies, which

created employment opportunities for people in India.

The “Dadasaheb Phalke Award” is India's highest award in cinema given by the Indian Government.

Now Indian movies are popular all over the world.

A New Understanding

Phalke made many movies. Listed below are his popular ones.Raja Hrishchandra(1913)Mohini Bhasmasur (1913)Savitri Satyavan (1914)Shri Krishna Janma (1918)Kaliya Mardan (1919)Setu Bandhan (1932)Gangavantaran (1937)

More Movies By Him

Phalke and His Camera

This is my exploration of making a movie to understand the process. I have had many difficulties and also lot of fun doing it.

Lights, Camera, Action!

Tenali Rama Movie.wmv A short film by Ira for school project

Tenali Rama tricks the thives

I made this movie to get an experience of making a movie.

To learn the tasks involved in the process.My tasks involved:

Find a story Write a screenplay Find actors Find equipments like camera, location, costumes,

accessories, props, shooting dates Arranging the rehearsal Shooting the movie Editing the movie

My movie making

Phalke made his movies on Indian mythological stories which he had studied since his childhood.

I chose the story “Tenali Rama Tricks The thieves” which is a folk tale and found it interesting.

My difficulties were: Video taping Finding actors Shooting day Memorizing the script

Continued…

1870 1885 1910 1912 1912 1913 1944

Born School Motivation

England

Sapling Released movie

Died

Timeline

Dada Saheb Phalke

Thanks for watching!

The End