General Management
Soon after, he had the opportunity to work with the Archeological Survey of India as a draftsman. However, restless with his job and its constraints, he turned to the business of printing. He specialized in lithography and oleograph, and worked for painter Raja Ravi Varma. Phalke later started his own printing press, made his first trip abroad to Germany, to learn about the latest technology and machinery.
Shailesh Bhandare Abhijat Dhawal NMiMS - Hyderabad Father of Indian Cinema- Dadasaheb Phalke Management Guru
Happiness is not dependent on external circumstances; rather, it is to be found in the simpler joys of life, and most of all in the ever new bliss of deep meditation....Be happy by clinging to the simple, true, and lasting souljoys. They come by deep thinking, introspection, spiritual inspiration. Dhundiraj Govind Phalke, popularly known as Dadasaheb Phalke (30 April 1870 – 16 February 1944) was an Indian producer-director-screenwriter, known as the father of Indian cinema. Starting with his debut film,Raja Harishchandra in 1913, now known as India's first fulllength feature, he made 95 movies and 26 short films in his career spanning 19 years, till 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, for lifetime contribution to cinema, was instituted in his honor, by the Government of India in 1969, and is the most prestigious and coveted award in Indian cinema. Early life and education Dhundiraj Govind Phalke was born on 30 April 1870 in Maharashtrian Deshastha Brahmin family at Tryambakeshwar, 30 km from Nasik, Maharashtra, India, where his father was an accomplished Sanskrit scholar. He joined Sir J. J. School of Art, Mumbai in 1885. After passing from J.J. School in 1890, Phalke went to the Kala Bhavan in Baroda, where he studied sculpture, engineering, drawing, painting and photography. Early career He began his career as a small town photographer in Godhra but had to leave business after the death of his first wife and child in an outbreak of the bubonic plague. He soon met the German magician Carl Hertz, one of the 40 magicians employed by the Lumiere Brothers.
Following a dispute with his partners about the running of the press, he gave up printing and turned his attention to moving pictures, after watching a silent film, The Life of Christ and envisioning Indian gods on the screen. Phalke made his first film, Raja Harishchandra, in 1912; it was first shown publicly on 3 May 1913 at Mumbai's Coronation Cinema, effectively marking the beginning of the Indian film industry. Phalke proved successful in his new art and proceeded to make several silent films, shorts, documentary feature, educational, comic, tapping all the potential of this new medium. Film, having proved its financial viability, soon attracted businessmen who favored money over aesthetics. Hindustan Fi lms Phalke formed a film company, Hindustan Films in partnership with five businessmen from Mumbai, in the hope that by having the financial aspect of his profession handled by experts in the field, he would be free to pursue the creative aspect. He set up a model studio and trained technicians, actors but, very soon, he ran into insurmountable problems with his partners. In 1920, Phalke resigned from Hindustan Films, made his first announcement of retirement from cinema, and he wrote Rangbhoomi, an acclaimed play. Lacking his extremely imaginative genius, Hindustan Films ran into deep financial loss, and he was finally persuaded to return. However, Phalke felt constrained by the business and, after directing a few films for the company, he withdrew. Sound film The times changed and Phalke fell victim to the emerging technology of sound film. Unable to cope with the talkies, the man who had fathered the Indian film industry became obsolete. His last silent movie Setubandhan was released in 1932 and later released with dubbing. During 1936-38, he produced his last film Gangavataran (1937), before retiring to Nashik, where he died on 16 February 1944.
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iNM - Magazine Vol. 4