Raja Harishchandra : First Indian Film

Raja Harishchandra  was screened on April 21, 1913 at the Olympia Theatre in Mumbai for a select audience—it means the Indian feature films have entered their 100th year in April 2012. Dada Saheb Phalke was the first-Indian to make a feature film. Though Pundalik  was released a year earlier i.e. on 18th May, 1912 at The Coronation theatre, still the honour of being the first feature film goes to Raja Harishchandra  because Pundalik was photographed from a play. There is no evidence of an independent script and shot division at different places. There is also no evidence of editing.It too was an Indian film project, but its makers employed British cinematographers. As Phalke himself put it, Raja Harishchandra was fully ‘swadeshi’. It was later released commercially on May 3, 1913.

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