{"id":340,"date":"2014-05-18T10:30:00","date_gmt":"2014-05-18T10:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mapsofindia.com\/on-this-day\/18-may-1912-shree-pundalik-the-first-indian-film-was-released\/"},"modified":"2014-05-18T10:30:00","modified_gmt":"2014-05-18T10:30:00","slug":"18-may-1912-shree-pundalik-the-first-indian-film-was-released","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mapsofindia.com\/on-this-day\/18-may-1912-shree-pundalik-the-first-indian-film-was-released","title":{"rendered":"18 May 1912: Shree Pundalik, the first Indian film, was released"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cHalf of the Mumbai population has seen [<\/span><\/span>Shree Pundalik<\/em><\/span><\/span>], the remaining half should also see it.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

~ quoted from an advertisement of <\/span><\/span><\/span>Shree Pundalik,<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em><\/em>in the second week of the film\u2019s release<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In the era when theatres showed live plays and foreign films, a man decided to show an Indian film for the first time. This visionary was Ramchandra Gopal Torne, better known by contemporaries as Dadasaheb Torne. He was responsible for making the very first movie in India. The film, named <\/span><\/span><\/span>Shree Pundalik<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em>, was released on 18 May 1912, which was approximately a year before Dadasaheb Phalke released his full-length film, <\/span><\/span><\/span>Raja Harishchandra<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em>. Despite controversy, as to which film should be considered as the first Indian film in history, Dadasaheb Torne\u2019s contribution is remembered with great respect and admiration.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Dadasaheb Torne<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Ramchandra Gopal Torne, born on 18 August 1890, was a Marathi boy from Malwan village, raised in a poor family. After dropping out of school at the age of 10 (or 11), Torne travelled to Mumbai to make a living for himself. He learnt the skills for repairing instruments and installing electrical devices, while working at the Cotton Green Electrical Company.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Torne was an avid fan of plays organised by the theatre company called <\/span><\/span><\/span>Shripad<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em>. Torne was also in awe of foreign films that were shown in the Mumbai theatres. His love for both these entertainment domains gave him the idea of making a movie in India. He was just 21 or 22 years old when he convinced his friend Nanasaheb Chitre to finance, in order to procure raw film reels and a movie camera from a British company. Although, no one knew how to use the new machine. The British camera company offered to send a man for operating the camera. This British man, named Johnson, became the first cinematographer for a movie made in India.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Making of Shree Pundalik<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Shree Pundalik<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em><\/em>was a much loved Marathi play about a Hindu saint. It was written by Ramrao Kirtikar. Dadasaheb Torne\u2019s initial idea was to record the play using the imported camera. He along with Chitre and Kirtikar wrote a \u2018shooting script.\u2019 There was although no dialogue, and the film was without sound (silent film). The play was then staged in Grant Road in Bombay, and directed by Torne. The film was shot by Johnson. The earlier recording was non-stop and from a fixed platform. Torne was quite unsatisfied after seeing the recorded \u2018film\u2019. He decided to shoot the play in parts and join them later. This may be called as the beginning of \u2018film editing\u2019 in India.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

After the film shooting was complete, Torne sent the negatives or reels to London for processing into positives. The movie was 22 minutes long.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Shree Pundalik<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em><\/em>was released in the Coronation Cinematograph Theater in Girgaum, and it was showcased here for two weeks.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Controversy over the \u2018first Indian film\u2019 tag<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

According to official records, <\/span><\/span><\/span>Raja Harishchandra<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em>, released in May 1913 is considered as the first full-length feature film in India. This statement although was contested in the Bombay High Court by the Indian Motion Picture Producers Association\u2019s Director, Vikas Patil, and Torne\u2019s surviving family members in April 2013. Patil had collected newspaper cuttings of all the news pieces regarding <\/span><\/span><\/span>Shree Pundalik<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em><\/em>at the time of its release. He also produced the film\u2019s review published in the newspaper. This controversy although still continues.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

One of the most prominent defense arguments was given by the director of National Film Archives of India, Prashant Patharbe, who mentioned that a full length feature film is supposed to be at least 40 minutes long, and should include \u201celements like casting, location, story and costumes.\u201d According to him a play \u201cshot with a still camera\u201d did not qualify as a feature film. Moreover, the facts that a foreign national was involved, along with processing of the negatives in London could not be unnoticed when considering a movie to be given a \u201cfirst Indian feature film\u201d tag.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

No matter the arguments and counter arguments, the fact remains that Dadasaheb Torne\u2019s tiny step towards \u201crecording a play\u201d slowly but steadily opened new paths towards a new genre of entertainment in India.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Also on this day:<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

1933 \u2013 H D Deve Gowda, the 11th Prime Minister of India, was born<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

1974 \u2013 India for the first time conducts nuclear testing under the covert project named <\/span><\/span><\/span>Smiling Buddha<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cHalf of the Mumbai population has seen [Shree Pundalik], the remaining half should also see it.\u201d ~ quoted from an advertisement of Shree Pundalik,in the second week of the film\u2019s release In the era when theatres showed live plays and foreign films, a man decided to show an Indian film for the first time. This visionary was Ramchandra Gopal Torne,… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-340","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-history"],"yoast_head":"\n18 May 1912: Shree Pundalik, the first Indian film, was released -<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"- 18 May 1912: Shree Pundalik, the first Indian film, was released\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mapsofindia.com\/on-this-day\/18-may-1912-shree-pundalik-the-first-indian-film-was-released\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"18 May 1912: Shree Pundalik, the first Indian film, was released -\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"- 18 May 1912: Shree Pundalik, the first Indian film, was released\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.mapsofindia.com\/on-this-day\/18-may-1912-shree-pundalik-the-first-indian-film-was-released\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"What Happened on This Day in History - 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