We are all aware that ‘Raja Harischandra’ was India’s first full length feature film made in 1913, by the pioneer of Indian cinema late Dadasaheb Phalke. But, many people are not aware of the struggle this dynamic and adventurous film maker had undergone, during the making of this film and creating a history . Well-known Marathi Theatre personality Paresh Mokashi made up his mind to make a film in the name of ‘Harischandrachi Factory’ in marathi and he completed his film in January 2009. Since then, before its official release, the film has won the attention of media, by winning many

‘Harischandrachi Factory’ has been made on the backdrop of British rule in India during the period 1911-1913, when Lokmanya Tilak was the leader of India’s freedom struggle, with stalwarts like Nehru, Gandhi and Ambedkar yet to rise on the social-political scene. Those were the days when people were even scared of facing a camera and with few foreign films screened at Tent Theatres and big Hotels, where only few elite and forward thinking Indians watching them. Paresh Mokashi as a writer-director focused his attention on the dynamism of Dadasaheb Phalke, who along with his team worked hard to invite the attention of general people to this new media besides working on his film’s project.

Even after the film became a hit, the film maker had offers from London to make films for them, but he turned down those offers to first persuade Indians to watch such films. He wanted to popularize cinema in India that was made by an Indian and watched by Indians. His dreams came true soon and today we see the success of Bollywood. Indeed, there cannot be a better tribute to the pioneer of Indian cinema, by making such a sensible film, to convey a message to the world as to how, with limited resources an Indian could succeed in making of a full length feature film.

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