Dadasaheb Phalke birth anniversary: The man who brought movie magic to India, captured in Harishchandrachi Factory

Harishchandrachi Factory is a biopic and as per the makers, it is completely based on facts, but its treatment isn’t sappy, the kind that we often associate with biopics. The film doesn’t paint Phalke, played by Nandu Madhav, as the hero who had a singular goal all his life but instead makes him relatable by suggesting that before he discovered motion pictures, he was changing his profession fortnightly. We don’t see any overdramatic scenes where he is reciting monologues about his passion for motion pictures and how this is a way to revolt against the British, instead we find him travelling to London where he befriends British filmmakers who teach him the art and science of filmmaking.

Phalke is shown as a Chaplin-like figure whose childlike, affable nature made him believe in the magic of the movies. The others around him, are much more calculative, sceptical, but Phalke is a believer, and in the 100 years since, we know that movies are only made by those who truly believe in them. Phalke’s wife Saraswati, played by Vibhavari Deshpande, is his partner in every sense of the word. She learns to use the cameras, to develop films so Phalke can have her full support, and to return the favour, Phalke learns to do all household chores.

The comedic tone of the film can be interpreted as how Phalke probably saw his venture. He was fascinated by motion pictures, and wanted to make this work but he was well aware that this isn’t life-altering, especially compared to the national struggle that the country was undergoing at the time, or even the global struggle that had the nations involved in the Great War.

In one of the funnier sequences of the film, we see Phalke instructing his actors to stay in character even when they are not working. This ends up with the man playing a sage practicing meditation, and all the men cast as women growing their hair out and walking around in sarees. For years, the roles of women on screen, and on stage were often played by men as the profession was looked down upon. Phalke tried to break the myth, but had to cast lean-looking men for female roles.

Harishchandrachi Factory was highly applauded when it released and it is truly astonishing that not many films have been made in honour of the man who saw the potential of movies becoming an industry in India but to remember the man, the highest honour in Indian cinema is named after the visionary. Harishchandrachi Factory won a National Award for the Best Film in Marathi and was India’s entry to the Oscars.