Harishchandrachi Factory Movie Review
I must have watched this film 4-5 times but still like to watch again and again. This film depicts making of India’s first full-length film Raja Harishchandra by Dadasaheb Phalke. A real appreciation to all actors and actresses. A must-see beauty of Marathi films with amazing sense of humor. Dadasaheb Phalke (Nandu Madhav) a jobless is playing magician with his younger son goes to watch an English movie called “The life of Christ”. He is totally mesmerized by the motion pictures and then there is no stopping for him until he tries to get behind into the screening room to solve the mystery of these moving images. There he goes all the way to London to learn the art of creating cinema by selling all his belongings. The passion of learning was so much that don’t disturb me even if someone dies was his instructions to all people before leaving.
After coming back to India, Dadasaheb Phalke starts gathering money for making his first film based on the mythological king–Raja Harishchandra–a popular play of that period. It was a time when getting actors to act for a film was an uphill task let alone finding the technicians for the task. But Phalke was adamant and despite getting no support from people including his wife, he decided to go ahead with an all male cast that would include men dressed as women for female characters.
The journey to a location, recruitment of extras and the whole slapdash way in which people figure out how to make a movie are cause for further enjoyment. Every detail of the film is presented beautifully including the emotional scenes where Phalke loses his eyesight, his son is hurt during shooting of film or leaving his pregnant wife to England and more with a tinge of humor and holds on to the movie till the end. Phalke’s wife Vibhawari Deshpande is perfectly fitted in Mrs. Phalke’s role and gives us the picture of “jodis made in heaven” as she co-operates and supports her husband in each step of his progress so does his kids. The movie finally ends with grand opening of Raja Harishchandra which is hit amongst Indians and Britishers with shows running houseful.
The best part is Paresh Mokashi who produced this movie has spent years in theaters and this is his debut movie, so you have a man discovering cinema making a film about the first man ever to make a film in India. I hope you enjoy this one. I am rating Harishchandrachi Factory 8 out of 10 for its overall inspirational and entertaining value.
Reviewed by: Vibha Thakare
About Vibha:
I am simple happy go lucky kind of person. IT engineer by profession, travelling, hiking, trekking and trying different cuisines has always been my hobby until I came to the US. After settling here I had lots of time to explore new things and one of them was watching movies. After coming here I started watching lots of movies from different languages to different genre and found that how colors of real world actually feel real when you watch them on a screen. Since then there was no stopping at all. I wish I get to see each every movie in and around the world.