Harishchandrachi Factory

I love movies about the movies, and this one is a standout.

Often I've thought about the dawn of cinema - that first heady round, the rush of making a picture that moved. Here's an appropriately joyful - and funny! - glimpse of that moment in India, home of the world's biggest movie business, the story of the making of India's first full-length film.

It starts when the man known as Dadasaheb Phalke sees a film for the first time -- British, short, Jesus dying and rising from dead, in a no-frills sort of way -- and gets the idea of making a movie like this for Indians, about Indian culture. It ends with the completion and recognition of the full-length Rajah Harishchandra, an historical film of a virtuous long-ago king. (The present film's title means "Harishchandra's Factory": in India in about 1913, if you've got a job on a film, what do you tell your neighbors who've never seen one? Phalke's advice -- say you work at a "factory" -- the foreign word will impress them and keep them out of your hair.)

The character of Phalke, as played with warmth and charm by Nandu Madhav, would be optimistic "to a fault," except that his persistence is so right, even when he goes to London alone and unannounced to get the advice and equipment he needs. He is in some ways the preoccupied technician/professor type, and in a pitch-perfect decision, director/writer Paresh Mokashi gives us a larger world that meets his somewhat blinkered but brilliant obsession with more or less unfailing appreciation and support. Local appreciation may be slower in coming, but of course we know that it did.

The story, all very solidly researched, is carried more by our itch to see his film get made and shown than by any manufactured tension about too many bad things happening. And by our anticipation of the next comic moment - expect special delight once casting problems arise where no woman will go near the camera, and mustache-retention problems arise when compromise casting for ladies' roles is accomplished.

The husband-wife partnership shines, Vishawai Deshpande's lovely and grounded Mrs P learns to develop film, and whatever is in her heart lets her survive furniture sales and big risks without resorting to nagging. Especially elegant, the matter-of-fact cooperation between Phalke and British film guys, who "get" him more or less right away, the way artists worldwide have pretty much always loved each other and their work in fellowship, irrespective of national tensions and problems.

Finally - production values are high, this looks as beautiful as it should and - for any worried western viewer - this is not a musical!! it's a "regular movie."

Last year marked the hundredth year of the Indian film industry. In these hundred years, Indian films, emerging from the Bollywood and is several sister (regional/local) "woods", have taken the masses as well as the classes on several memorable and entertaining journeys into the dreamworld. In his debut feature, writer-director, Paresh Mokashi traces the roots, nay, seeds of this thriving industry and presents the making of the very first Indian film.

Harishchandrachi Factory is the story how Dhundiraj Govind Phalke, the pioneer regarded as the Father of Indian Cinema, happened to get this idea of making movies and how he toiled to realise this dream of making of the very first Indian full length, Black & White, silent, feature film - Raja Harishchandra.

The story begins in 1911 where, after the failure of his printing business, Phalke is playing a magician/jester performing in his Mumbai chawl to make ends meet. When he happens to visit a tent theatre playing a movie - The Life of Christ, his imagination and curiosity are instantly kindled and he introduces his family to this magical experience of moving images, besides making multiple trips himself to understand the science behind that magic. His curiosity grows into an obstinate obsession as he follows his dream unflinchingly despite a brief bout of failing eyesight, he sets out to London to learn and understand this new age medium such that he could present the stories of the Indian mythology through it. On his return to India after learning the requisite skills and acquiring a motion picture camera, he embarks on his pioneering mission to make India's very first feature length silent movie - Raja Harishchandra. The rest of the movie narrates the eventful journey and the many hurdles that he faces on his ambitious mission.

Presenting a biopic as a feature film is a challenging task as the director has to strike a fine balance in presenting the facts within a matrix of an engaging drama (as in the case of Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra's Bhaag Milkha Bhaag which found critical acclaim and commercial success). A singular focus on factual content would reduce the film to a drab documentary while too much focus on the drama could result in a clouded, less-than perfect image of the individual. Debutante writer-director Paresh Mokashi rises to this daunting challenge by helming this meta-movie with a very nimble hand and suffuses it with healthy doses of delectable humour. Mokashi shuns melodrama and mines humour in the most unlikely situations - be it Phalke's problems in funding his venture resulting in his selling domestic assets or his search for a heroine among prostitutes (since no family woman was ready to work before camera).

He hits the bull's eye with his casting of his leads as well as the supporting cast. Nandhu Madhav nails the part of Phalke with oodles of charm, curiosity and a single-minded obsession to realise his dreams despite the multiple challenges of cynicism, superstitions and paucity of funds. Vibhavari Deshpande playing Saraswati Phalke shares a genial chemistry with him and is a perfect foil as the loving wife and pillar of strength enabling her husband to emerge as the pioneer.

The movie also boasts of solid technical team which includes Nitin Desai whose art design recreates the authentic feel of a bygone era while the score from Anand Modak conjures a rustic charm that permeates the entire movie, beginning with the opening credits. The cinematography by Amalendu Chaudhary is remarkable too as he has striven to capture most of the movie in the style of stationary camera position which was prevalent in the infancy of cinema.

Overall, Harishchandrachi Factory presents a very Indian story rich with its period feel, ethnic ethos, in a simple, feel-good narrative that is engaging and universally appealing. Harishchandrachi Factory was selected as India's official entry for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2009 and has also received several National and Regional awards.

Hi everyone,

as i have mentioned i love watching movies more than i love programming...so i have decided to write a kind of review of movies which i see....after 3-4 days finally today i got time to watch "Harishchandrachi Factory"... when i started it i was hoping to see a very serious kind of movie which will depict life "Dadasaheb Phalke-- Father of Indian Cinema"..but it turned out to be a very pleasant, gentle movie....

well the movie starts with a maverick man who has left his good printing business and is working as magician doing street shows....he happens to see a "motion picture"..well normally you wont give a damn about this word...but this movie will surely tell u what it really represents......after watching this cinema..he decides to do his own motion picture or "a drama on screen" as people first used to call motion pictures....

movie then goes through his efforts to make his dream real...the best thing about movie is not actually the story but the way it is presented on the screen.... there are few scenes which are truly remarkable ..specially where Phalke sells his cupboard to buy books and people started making a big deal out of it..as if someone has died... part where phalke is looking for women actors to portray Taramati and mustache saga....

Nandu Madhav has played character extremely well but one thing i couldn't stop noticing about his acting was..it kind of looked like Chalie Chaplin...i dnt know if its true...but u have to c it yourself.... another beautiful aspect of movie was how relation between phalke and his wife is handled...its shear pleasure watching the couple together....Vibhavari Deshpande who enacted Saraswati Phalke has done well job too....

Director Paresh Mokashi has done beautiful job in writing as well as directing... portraying a life a man in 97 min is really a tough job.... so in all a nice movie... and a nice tribute to the originator of Indian Cinema which currenlty is biggest film industry in the world....

I was one of the lucky persons to catch this movie in sept 09, well in advance of its release, in International Film Festval Nagpur, and even more delighted when it was selected for the Academy awards. Once again Marathi cinema has one more feather on its cap for this extraordinary piece of art. Its more of a tribute to Late Dadasaheb Phalke and a token of appreciation for initiating a movement that went on to create the second largest movie industry in the world. The movie begins with a simple scenario of a unemployed man who gets inspired from a British motion picture theater( in a tent). The movie showcases very truly how people used to look up to cinema in earlier days, paying ticket to watch blurry b&w moving images without audio. Not only it was difficult to think of making something like a motion picture but rather impossible as there were no sources to explore the possibility of such a thing. The approach of Dadasaheb Phalke towards making a motion picture and that too beginning from less than a scratch has been beautifully shown to the finest detail. What the catchy part of the movie is that you are taken into a pleasant trance mood right from the initial scene, maybe because of the humor tinge given to the film in almost every scene. Every scene, even the emotional ones does have a funny element of character attached to it to keep you laughing all the way. It must be the first drama film to have a tinge of humor attached to go for Oscars. Or maybe its selected at the first place as the film is based on the life of Father of Indian Cinema. But it doesn't take away any credit by the makers of this film for creating a masterpiece. Hope its in the top five at the academy awards and hope it wins it too.

Arishchandrachi Factory depicts the making of India's first full-length feature film by Dadasaheb Phalke. First of all, this film was a magnificent watch for me. The film showed so many things but in a very entertaining way and this is the major plus point of this film. The editing of this reminded me of old silent films like Chalie Chaplin. BGM is so beautiful.

Paresh Mokashi in his directorial debut did a wonderful job. Nandu Madhav as Phalke was just great & Vibhavari Deshpande as his supporting wife was perfect. If you're a true movie lover I'm sure there'll both tear & clap in the end. This was sent to the Oscars and in my opinion it should've won. This is a Must Watch for those love cinema or want to become filmmaker in future.

Available on Netflix.

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