0 Dadasaheb Phalke Father of Indian Cinema

Dadasaheb Phalke is regarded as the Father of Indian Cinema. Phalke was a visionary gifted enough to foresee the awesome potential of the film medium almost a century ago. Phalke's film 'Raja Harishchandra' was not the first ever Indian film. Rather it was Ramchandra Gopal Torne who bagged the honor by making the film Pundalik in 1912. But Dadasaheb Phalke is the true pioneer of Indian cinema for he laid the basic building blocks of the industry with his creative zeal and persistent efforts.

Phalke's decision to join the film-making bandwagon was indeed a bold one, given that the global film industry spawned by the Lumiere Brothers was itself in a nascent stage. He was faced with staggering odds and cynics mocked at his efforts. But unfazed by this brutal skepticism, Dadasaheb Phalke went ahead and brought out his first film in 1913. He was a one-man army and donned many hats. Phalke was a cameraman, art-director, costume-designer, editor, processor, printer, developer, projectionist and distributor, all rolled into one.

Even the successful culmination of Dadasaheb Phalke's efforts could not shake off the stigma associated with the medium of films. People made derogatory remarks and most of his initial films were dogged by a dearth of acting talents. Nevertheless Phalke persisted with his efforts and often used his ingenuity to break stalemates. For example, with no female actors coming forward to enact the role of Taramati in Raja Harishchandra, Phalke chose a young man with delicate features to play the role.