LIGHTS… CAMERA… ACTION!: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF DADASAHEB PHALKE

Imagine a time when people could ask the question, ‘What is a film?’ In 1913 a man stood yelling about a new show outside a Bombay theatre, ‘Fifty seven thousand photographs… two miles long… only three annas!’ Dadasaheb Phalke was selling a visual magic that no one had ever seen before. His film would instantly mesmerize people and within a generation lay the foundation of the film industry in Bombay. And today, within a century, we carry films in our pockets and watch them on the tiny screens of smart phones. This is the unforgettable legerdemain of moving and talking pictures. I still remember sitting in the dark at a puja pandal in Daryagunj in the 1970s, the audience around me whizzing with excitement. Then everyone fell silent at the whirr of the film projector, the screen turned bright and I was lost to the world. Trouble began with the second reel when Suchitra Sen and Uttam Kumar suddenly appeared before us, singing away but upside down. As the audience roared in protest there was tiny flash, then a puff of acrid smoke as the projector caught fire and the show was over. Film buffs never forget such scenes. A dreamer like Dadasaheb Phalke would have really enjoyed the show.