Raja Harishchandra

I have just seen what remains of 'Raja Harishchandra' at London's National Film Theatre on the South Bank. Transferred to DVD from the print preserved in the National Film Archive of India - the picture quality of which is far superior to the awful print on YouTube - this presumably represents the definitive cut of this film presently available (except that this might not actually be the 1913 but the 1917 version; disputes exist on this point).

Apart from the fact that much of it is staged out of doors drenched in luxuriant Indian sunlight, it otherwise strongly recalls the films made ten years earlier by Georges Méliès. All of the action takes place in a series of tableaux staged far from the camera, there are occasional special effects to depict supernatural occurrences, and it's cast busily saunter back and forth across the screen as in Méliès.

The brisk pace of the action brings us to its running time, which I clocked in at just 16 minutes - rather less than the 40 minutes it reputedly originally ran; especially as it's bilingual English & Hindi titles also occupy quite a bit of its running time. Stills exist from the 1913 original of scenes not in the present version (which again might be the result of it actually being the 1917 remake) but had it been projected slower we would have nevertheless have seen a slightly longer, more stately film.

The king is with his wife while he teaches archery to his son. At the request of the citizens the King goes out on an hunting excursion. The sage Vishwamitra achieves the help of the three powers against their will. The king keeps pulling arrows and the sage is offended and the king calms himself and gives him a sword, receiving the blessing of the sage. The king and the queen leave for abroad and entrust their son to the wise man. Phalke, the father of Indian cinema, used some members of the family as actors. In the cast, male actors played female roles, as happened in Greek tragedy. The story comes from the Indian epic written in Sanskrit: "Mahabharata"

The movie was directed by the Father of Indian Cinema, Dadasaheb Phalke, real name Dhundiraj Govind Phalke, in 1913. It was the first full length motion picture. Though the first Indian film was a shot film "The flowers of Persia" by Hiralal Sen made in the year 1898. This movie is considered as a milestone that marked the beginning of Indian Cinema. An interesting fact about the movie is that even the female characters are played by males. A 40 minute long movie, talks about the life of "The King" Harishchandra and his legend of ideal life. He never backed out from his word and he never lied. For his word he donates his kingdom to Vishwamitra, the great Indian sage. To complete the "Dakshina" (given to sages in olden times), he even sells his wife and son. Pleased with his virtues, he is given back his kingdom by lord and his glory restored. Dadasahib got inspired to make this movie after watching "The life of Christ".

Like most national industries, India has a candidate for the status of first feature film - this 1913 hit, seen as the departure point of Hindi cinema and it's mythological cycle. Both time and culture separate outside viewers from it. Even so, it is disappointing as a piece of film history.

While hunting, King Harishchandra disturbs the sage who is upset, so to atone our hero gives him his kingdom. It looks like this will precipitate a tragic outcome but Shiva intervenes.

Photographer turned filmmaker Phalke took two years to get his first film made. The technique is basic - jump cut disposal of the three women deities that the sage has summoned is as adventurous as it gets.

The mime in the style of regional theater is broad and having boys play the female parts is disturbing now.

Only a portion of India's first feature-length film exists today, but that's enough to tell us that the development of Indian cinema was lagging some way behind Europe and the United States in 1913. What survives are mostly static long shots, and it's difficult to makeout what is going on - although that's to be expected when viewing a fragment of a much longer work.