This movie is easily one of the most under rated movies of the past year. being a Marathi movie this was never released into the mainstream. I was curious about this movie. Further more my knowledge of Marathi is limited. The fact i understand it is because its very similar to my Mother tongue, Konkani. So there is was without any chance of being able to watch it until fate decided to intervene it for me with English Subtitles.
On my plane ride back from Singapore to New Delhi , I got to watch this masterpiece based on the life of Dadasaheb Phalke, the Godfather of Cinema in India. Mainstream movies in India are largely made to cater to the multiplex going money splurging crowd, thus they end up being big budget, idiotic and a collosal waste of time. Harishchandrachi Factory was one of those rare good movies that emerge in India. For one thing, it was genuinely funny! Name any other movie let alone a biopic thats funny. Rare right? Yes i did watch it with English subtitles and it didnt reduce the fun for me. The characters were casted well, the sets decent enough to remind us of the 19th century.
It basically tells you the story of one man who against all odds decided to start making movies after he watched a screening. Painstakingly he invested time and money into this hobby to make it a reality. His friends and relatives thought he had gone insane and pitied his wife but she stood by him in his endeavours.
The Movie follows the life of Dadasaheb on his journey to create the first Indian Movie(B&W and full feature length), Raja Harishchandra. It also gives you an insight of the person he was, the time in which he lived, the mentality of the society. I totally enjoyed it! Brilliant acting!
If there is one Indian Movie that i would recommend to you it would be this one! Although getting your hands on this could be difficult.
Rating 9.5/10
Trivia: India’s official submission for Best Foreign Language Film Oscar consideration for the 82nd Oscars.
Watched this and yes, it was great!
Great review!
Yeah and its one of the few movies that i own