Making Of Raja Harishchandra: When Dadasaheb Phalke Cast A Man As A Woman!

The Father Of Indian Cinema gave us our first feature film in 1913 on May 3, a day then Bombay can never forget. We were not born at the time but can well imagine the sweltering summer heat which did not prevent the curious minds from buying tickets at the Coronation Theatre in Girgaon to catch the first public show of India’s first feature film, "Raja Harishchandra".  The film was approximately 50-minute long and that  too a silent film which came with a film length of 3700ft (in four reels) and Marathi title cards. It was directed by Dhundiraj Govind Phalke, known today as Dadasaheb Phalke.

The film is based on the well-known mythology of a king who refuses to lie or deviate from his principles even when faced with the most extreme adversities, engineered to test his character by the sage Vishwamitra. The film actually shows unbeatable spirit of Dadasaheb. What makes the film so fascinating besides being the first feature is the story... actually the stories behind its mking. The filmmaker went through great pains to give you cinema. 

Phalke had worn many hats before, be it that of a photographer, a printer, a make-up artist and even that of a magician! It the silent film The Life of Christ he saw in 1902, which made him quit his printing press job. He actualy managed to convince financiers to fund a trip to London where he would learn the art of movie-making. He made a short film, ‘Birth of a Pea Plant’, that used stop-motion photography to capture the plant’s progress, just to convince them. He went to London in 1912, where apart from training, he bought a Williamson camera, a printing machine, a perforator and raw film.

When he came to India, would you believe? The man pledged his life insurance policies and sold his wife’s jewellery to raise money for the film! Not just that, he did cast Dattatraya Damodar Dabke, a Marathi stage actor, to play the lead role of Raja Harishchandra, but when it came to a search for a woman to play a role, he had a rather tough time. Basically at that time acting was not considered a respectable profession so women volunteering for a feature film which they had never seen does not exist, the question does not arise. He even tried his hand at casting sex workers - and failed. So guess who... well you may now already know who essayed Harishchandra’s wife, Taramati... it was a male actor, Anna Salunke, who worked as a cook in a restaurant!

He cast his own son, Bhalchandra D Phalke as Lohitashwa, Harishchandra’s son. To shoot the film, Dadasaheb Phalke set up a studio in now Mumbai’s Dadar, where he shot a part of Raja Harishchandra. The film's outdoor scenes were shot in a village near Pune. It took around seven months and 21 days to complete the film, during which his wife looked after all the needs of the cast and crew.

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The film originally premiered on 21 April in 1913 at the Olympia Theatre, Grant Road for the press and an invited audience. Later, the film was also screened in London in 1914.

How Did The Filmmaaker Promote The Project?

He stated that it is a "performance with 57,000 photographs. A picture two miles long. All for only three annas.” He also had a dance performance by two European girls for the first few days. I hope you are reading between the lines? The man worked really hard to get this movie together.  The film was a hit at the box office. It ran for around 23 days! Then began the journey of Indian cinema. 

On his 149th birth anniversary lets take a quick look at some facts about this first Indian film that Dadasaheb gave his everything to and some bonus facts you did not know about the Fathe Of Indian Cinema:

• The film was only four reels long. 
• Dadasaheb Phalke set up a studio at Dadar Main Road in Mumbai. He created the sets for the film inspired by Raja Ravi Verma's paintings on Hindu mythology
• Although Raja Harishchandra takes the credit of being the first Indian film, Dadasaheb Torne's film Shree Pundalik was released on 18 May 1912 in Bombay, a year before. However, Shree Pundalik was a recording of a play with a fixed camera and the film's production was done in London, plus it had a British camera-person. This kind of takes away the 'Indian' tag from Shree Pundalik.
• Dadasaheb Phalke cast Durgabai Kamat and her daughter, Kamlabai Kamat, in his second movie Mohini Bhasmasur, which released in November 1913. Dadsaheb basically challenged the mindset of the Indian society that restricted women from performing on stage and screen. Thus began a new era in the world of Indian Cinema. 
• Dadasaheb's son D. Phalke who played the role of Rohtash, Harishchandra's son, in Raja Harishchandra became the first on- screen Indian child artist.