Harishchandrachi Factory

I don’t know how many of you even know about this movie forget about watching it , because same was my condition sometime back . The only thing I know about this movie was that it was India’s official entry to the Academy Award for year 2009.It was sometime back that one of my friend (who is also a Marathi)asked me to watch it and I completely dismissed it. There were two reason behind that, First, that I don’t trust the national selectors(considering their history of selections for Oscars)and secondly it was a Marathi film , which I hardly understand. The last regional movie I watched was Arundhathi(with subtitle) which was supposedly a horror flick and I think I was more engrossed with the subtitle rather than the movie itself :P

Harishchandrachi factory was an entirely different experience. The story is about Dada Saheb Phalke whom we remember because of the awards given every year for excellence in cinemas in his name. Little did I know that he is the pioneer of Indian Cinema. The movie show his struggle of directing India’s first motion picture “ Raja Harishchandra” in a time when people used to consider that taking a picture will suck the life out of people . It starts in year 1911 when Dada sahib leaves his business of printing press and start performing magic show as “ jaadogar Kelpha” . One day he see a motion picture on the life of Jesus Christ with his elder son and get so impressed that he decide to make a film . He went to London for learning film making and when he returns ,collects money from his friends and family to start with the shooting. The film ends with Phalke making India’s first motion picture and making way for Bollywood to be the world’s largest film industry .

The movie’s best part is portraying the hardship face by Dada Sahib in a light humorous way.The movie is named "Harishcandrachi factory " because the crew who used to work for the movie were not getting brides as they couldn't explain their to be in laws about the kind of work they do.So they say that they work in Harishchandra's factory and hence the name! Scenes like his family taking him to mental hospital after seeing his obsession for cinemas, his effort of finding the heroine of movie in red light area and finally settling in for the guys for doing the ladies role and his persuasion to the guy (who was playing the role of the heroine) to shave his moustache off as in those days a man shave off his moustaches only when his father dies will tickle your funny bone while taking off the graveness of the scene.The film also tells the story of Saraswati Phalke's unconditional love and support for her husband.

The movie is a must watch for all the lovers of Bollywood or cinema as such. It would be a tribute to the achievements of pioneer of Indian cinema