Author Topic: India's first silent movie (Read 1899 times)

AmRind③r · « **on:** June 10, 2012, 10:42:04 AM »

Raja Harishchandra
1. Release Date: 21 April 1913(premiere)
2. Director: Dhundiraj Govind Phalke
3. Writer: Dhundiraj Govind Phalke, Ranchhodbai Udayram
4. Producer: Dhundiraj Govind Phalke
5. Cinematographer: Trymbak B. Telang

Raja Harishchandra Cast Actors
1. Bhalachandra D. Phalke
2. Dattatreya Kshirsagar
3. D.D. Dabke – Raja Harishchandra
4. Ganpat G. Shinde
5. G.V. Sane – Vishwamitra
6. Vishnu Hari Aundhkar

Actresses
1. Anna Salunke
2. P.G. Sane – Taramati

In the movie even the female characters were played by males. 500 crew members worked for the movie . The film had an all-male cast; no woman was available for playing female leads, so the men played all the roles. The film reel was 3700 feet long.

The film was first shown in public on 3 May 1913 at Mumbai’s Coronation Cinema, Narayan Choyal, Girgaon, where crowds thronged the roads outside the hall, as it marked the beginning of the Indian film industry. The film was so successful that Dada Saheb had to make more prints to show the film in rural areas as well. The film was a grand success and soon established Phalke as a producer and paved the way for the Indian film industry. Dada Saheb’s wife cooked food alone, without any help, for the whole cast and crew, which were more than 500 people. She also washed the clothes and costumes, helped in the posters and production of the film, and co-operated with the cast, satisfying them with food and water.

After the success of movie, stamps were introduced as a token of tribute to the great work of Dadasaheb Phalke.

http://youtu.be/yCdIqJ5qEH0