Indian Cinema turns 113: How Dadasaheb Phalke invented film marketing and started the practice of press screenings in India
Cinema has been thriving as a popular form of art in India for more than 100 years. It also provides employment to lakhs of artistes and technicians in various fields. It was because of the painstaking hardwork and determination of Dhundiraj Govind Phalke aka Dadasaheb Phalke that feature films were born in India. It happened through the release of India’s first film Raja Harishchandra (which was silent) way back on May 3, 1913. Today, marks the 113 th anniversary of that film and Indian Cinema. As per National Award-winning author, filmmaker and veteran journalist Sanjit Narwekar’s detailed article for the English version of the Gujarati magazine Gee published in February 1999, Phalke once saw the British movie The Life Of Christ (1910) at the America India Picture Palace at Sandhurst Road in Mumbai (then Bombay). This was enough to inspire him to make a film on Lord Krishna on similar lines. This wasn’t the first time he saw a film but the impact was different this time around. ...