{"id":5601,"date":"2020-05-03T15:47:09","date_gmt":"2020-05-03T10:17:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/?p=5601"},"modified":"2020-05-03T19:49:12","modified_gmt":"2020-05-03T14:19:12","slug":"should-phalke-150-be-forgotten","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/should-phalke-150-be-forgotten\/","title":{"rendered":"Should Phalke, 150, Be Forgotten?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Raja<\/a>

A scene from Raja Harishchandra<\/em> (1913)<\/p><\/div>\n

The date: May 3, 1913<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The dateline: Coronation Cinema, Girgaon, Bombay.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The event: Commercial release of a silent film, Raja Harishchandra<\/em>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Was that the first Indian movie, or should Pundalik<\/em> seen a year before be bestowed that honour, or does the crown rightly belong to Marjina Abdalla<\/em> filmed by Hiralal Sen in 1907 but lost to fire? The debate is still raging but half a century ago the Government of India had recognised the maker of Raja Harishchandra<\/em> as the Father of Indian Cinema. That is why the onset of Phalke’s Birth Centenary in 1969 occasioned not only the issue of a 20-paisa postal stamp but also the initiation of the Dadasaheb Phalke Award for Lifetime Achievement. More importantly, on the 100th<\/sup> year of film’s screening, May 3 was finalised as the day the National Film Awards would be given out every\u00a0year.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Exclusive sketch of Dada Saheb Phalke by Subrata Gangopadhyay for this essay<\/p><\/div>\n

Yet this year, no one is even asking whether the practice would be honoured or abandoned. Like every other year, the Directorate of Film Festivals (DFF) had invited submissions in January, the entries were in by February, the five primary panels were constituted, each boasting three members to watch films from East, West, North, South and Central zones. Even the members who were to be in the second half of the two-tier jury were gearing up to start the three-week marathon involving 350 films from March 20. But by then Coronavirus Demon had bared its fangs. The limelight had shifted away from Siri Fort auditoriums and the entire exercise was shelved. Indefinitely, as it turns out.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately this year the NFA – read, No Film Award – is a double failure. For April 30 happened to be the 150th<\/sup> Birth Anniversary of Dhundiraj Govind Phalke (born in 1870) – the man who staked his all to make not only Raja Harishchandra<\/em> but also Mohini Bhasmasur<\/em> (1913), Satyavan Savitri<\/em> (1914), Lanka Dahan<\/em> (1917), Shri Krishna Janma<\/em> (1918), Kaliya Mardana<\/em> (1919). All these features were in the silent era, as also the umpteen shorts that decorate the career that wound up with the only Talkie in his filmography: Gangavataran<\/em> (1937), the Rs 250,000 film that released in Bombay’s Royal Opera House.<\/p>\n