Beyond the fact that India’s highest cinematic state honour is named after him, comparatively few Indians, especially outside Maharashtra, know anything about Dadasaheb Phalke. Almost a century after Phalke made India’s first feature film, Raja Harishchandra, another Maharashtrian, Paresh Mokashi, has made a delightful feature—not a biopic, he is quick to clarify—demystifying at least part of Dhundiraj Govind Phalke’s multi-faceted personality.
The 95-minute film, Harishchandrachi Factory, captures the years 1911, when Phalke saw a film for the first time, to 1913, when his film was released. “A biography by Bapu Vatave first interested me and I followed it up with considerable research for this film, including going through archival material at FTII, other biographies.” He also accessed the 20 minutes of footage that has survived from the original 45-minute film made by Phalke. Mokashi was sure he did not want for his film—black and white, sepia, flashbacks and what he did—simple storytelling, natural performances, still frame treatment, as was the practice in Phalke’s time.
Phalke was a printer, a photographer, a draftsman, an assistant to Raja Ravi Varma and just before cinema overtook him, a magician who operated under the name of Professor Kelpha—a name arrived at by reversing the syllables of his name in Marathi. Mokashi says Phalke was “witty, liberal, short tempered and a rare person who could come up with ideas of tackling problems without becoming emotional or serious”. The film is a humorous and delightful look bringing out the social mores of the period, the prevalent fears and superstitions—when Dadar was described as an unlivable, jungle —like area and photographs were rumoured to suck out souls from their subjects. The ridicule failed to move Phalke and he embarked on a journey to London to learn filmmaking. He was supported by wife Saraswati, who backed him almost unquestioningly except for agreeing to appear in front of the camera and his children Babarai, Mahadev and later Mandakini. The latter part of the film depicts challenges of shooting the film—from being arrested on suspicion of being a gang in disguise to finding a woman cast member and even the struggle to find audiences.
As a debut filmmaker making a film on another debut filmmaker, Mokashi has another interesting parallel with Phalke. Like his predecessor, he too mortgaged his house to raise funds to make the film, which was not a big deal, he says. “Now Paprika Media and UTV are with us and will support us,” says Mokashi, who had planned to start canvassing for the film, also India’s entry for the Oscar’s, in New York before he was denied visa. Undetered, the film, which has already been doing rounds of the festival circuit, will also be participating in a few U.S. festivals ahead of the Oscars. The film is also headed for BAFTA and the Golden Globe awards. In India, the film is being dubbed in Hindi and will be released in January.
