It was at Baroda’s Kalabhavan that the Father of Indian Cinema, Dhundiraj Govind Phalke, also known as Dadasaheb Phalke, made history with his first full-length film ‘Raja Harishchandra’ in 1913. Phalke enrolled in Kalabhavan in 1891 after graduating from the J.J. School of Arts in Bombay.
The Principal of Kalabhavan, T.K. Gajjar, recognized Phalke’s talent early on and imparted the nuances of filmmaking and processing to him. It is said that Gajjar entrusted Phalke with the complete charge of Kalabhavan’s photography studio, where Phalke made full use of the institute’s library. Born in 1870 in Trimbakeshwar near Nashik, Maharashtra, Phalke initially came to Kalabhavan to study photography, mechanical drawing, painting, and printing, but his passion leaned towards filmmaking.
When Gajjar noticed Phalke’s inclination towards filmmaking, he imported movie cameras from Germany, marking the beginning of Phalke’s cinematic journey. According to veteran historian Makarand Mehta in his book ‘Gujarat na Ghadvaiya’, Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III appreciated Phalke’s talent and decided to provide him with full financial support for educational and accommodation expenses during his time in Baroda.
After completing his studies in Baroda, Phalke started his career as a photographer in Godhra. However, he had to leave the town after losing his wife and child to plague. He briefly worked with the Archaeological Survey of India as draftsmen but found it limiting. Phalke then established a printing press specializing in lithography and oleography, known as, Laxmi Art Printing Works, in Lonavala. This press collaborated closely with renowned painter Raja Ravi Varma. In 1909, he traveled to Germany to acquire state-of-the-art machinery for the three-color process.
From there, Phalke went on to produce 95 feature-length films and 27 short films in his career, spanning 19 years, until 1937, including his most noted works: Mohini Bhasmasur (1913), Satyavan Savitri (1914), Lanka Dahan (1917), Shri Krishna Janma (1918) and Kaliya Mardan (1919).
The Dadasaheb Phalke Award, bestowed by the Government of India for lifetime contribution to cinema, is named in honor of Dhundiraj Govind Phalke, popularly known as Dadasaheb Phalke, the Father of Indian Cinema.
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