BharatNotes What is Indian Cinema (Dadasaheb Phalke)?
Dhundiraj Govind Phalke (30 April 1870 - 16 February 1944), universally known as Dadasaheb Phalke, is honoured as the "Father of Indian Cinema". A photographer, printer and lithographer from Trimbak in the Bombay Presidency, he was inspired by an imported film on the life of Christ to create a wholly Indian motion picture. The result was Raja Harishchandra (1913), recognised by the Government of India as the first full-length Indian feature film.
Raja Harishchandra and the silent era
Raja Harishchandra, a silent mythological drama based on the legend of the truthful king Harishchandra, premiered at Bombay's Olympia Theatre on 21 April 1913 and had its public theatrical release on 3 May 1913. Because women were reluctant to act, male performers played the female roles. Phalke went on to make a large body of work between 1913 and 1937 - by most accounts around 95 feature-length films and over two dozen short films (sources vary between 94-95 features and 26-27 shorts) - drawn largely from Hindu mythology, including Lanka Dahan (1917), Shri Krishna Janma (1918) and Kaliya Mardan (1919).
The Dadasaheb Phalke Award
| Feature | Detail |
|---|---|
| Instituted | 1969, by the Government of India |
| First recipient | Devika Rani (at the 17th National Film Awards, 1969) |
| Administered by | Directorate of Film Festivals, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting |
| Components | Swarna Kamal (Golden Lotus) medallion, shawl, cash prize and certificate |
| When given | Annually, at the National Film Awards |
The award is India's highest recognition in the field of cinema, conferred for lifetime contribution to the growth and development of Indian film.
Significance
Phalke's pioneering work seeded an industry that is today among the world's largest by number of films produced. His mythologicals helped popularise cinema across a linguistically diverse country and demonstrated that Indian stories could be told through an entirely indigenous medium. Cinema subsequently became a powerful instrument of social reform, nationalism and cultural identity - a thread that runs through the freedom movement and post-Independence nation-building.
UPSC angle
For Prelims, the high-value facts are: the first Indian feature film (Raja Harishchandra, 1913), the title "Father of Indian Cinema", the year the Phalke Award was instituted (1969) and its first recipient (Devika Rani). For Mains GS1, cinema features under "Indian culture - art forms" and as a lens on modern social reform and soft power. A common confusion to avoid: Raja Harishchandra (1913) is the first full-length feature film, distinct from earlier short films of the era; some historians cite Dadasaheb Torne's Shree Pundalik (1912), but the Government of India recognises Phalke's film as the first Indian feature. This is a foundation concept - no direct PYQ - but it underpins questions on the art-and-culture topic family.
