People argue that Shree Pundalik was the first motion film in India. But logically it was just recording of a play, not a film. Raja Harishchandra made by Dada Saheb Phalke was the first Indian film made with proper cast, crew and shooting. Made in 1913, influenced by Raja Ravi Verma’s school of art, Raja Harishchandra was a story of a king who is adored by generations for his kindness and righteousness.
Raja Harishchandra saw the advent of filmmaking in India. Today, India is the biggest contributor of global cinema as far as numbers go. We are ahead of any country, even USA. A couple of million people are directly or indirectly involved in Indian film industry – from pre-production to torrents – and a large sections survive on films for their livelihood.
For a long time, we saw religious movies doing good business. A trend that lasted till ‘70s. It contributed to our cultural heritage and improved bonding among different communities. Whenever a Muslim actor played a Hindu God on screen, the differences reduced. Apart from creating communal harmony, such movies successfully archived folklore in visual media. For a nation with such diverse cultural heritage, films were a blessing indeed.
Trivia: First actress of Indian films who played the role of Raja Harishchandra’s wife Taramati was a man. A cook by profession, Salunke was discovered when Phalke failed to find a suitable woman. Salunke later worked in many films including Lanka Dahan made in 1917 in which he played a double role, perhaps the most complex one, of Ram and Sita.
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