Blog Posts by Sayoni Sinha

A still from Paresh Mokashi's 'Harishchandrachi Factory'

Phalke’s own history serves as an exciting backdrop in terms of understanding the man who is the founder of Indian Cinema

The man who laid the foundation of Indian cinema had died a dejected man and was probably the first Indian to taste success and failure in the show business. Phalke’s films, as was the norm during that time, were based on mythological characters and were instant successes. The audience, who till now, were only privy to the foreign films that would be screened in the theatres. “No much is known about Phalke’s early life and I , like most people, was oblivious to his eccentricities, “ says Paresh Mokashi, the director of the acclaimed Marathi film Harishchandrachi Factory. “While researching about his first film, I came across interesting trivia about him and go to know the man who was a sucker for adventure.”

At the age of 15, Phalke left his home at Tryambkeshwar near Nashik and travelled all the way to Bombay to enroll himself in J J School of Arts. After that,

Read More »from Decoding Dadasaheb Phalke

'The Life of Christ' captivated Phalke so much that he gave up everything at the age of 40 to make the film

On April 21, 1913, the editors of selective newspapers along with some imminent personalities of Bombay queued up at the now defunct Olympia Theatre to witness a phenomenon, which eventually marked the birth of Indian Cinema. The 40-minute long film was called Raja Harishchandra and the plot was based on a mythological character. Not having witnessed anything of this sort earlier, the film was a success when it was opened to the public on May 3, 1913 heralding the era of silent films in Indian Cinema.

Passion of the Christ
But this wasn’t a mean feat to accomplish but so captivated was Dhundiraj Govind Phalke (Dadasaheb Phalke) with the silent film, The Life of Christ, in 1910 that he decided to give up his career as a printing press owner and travel to London to learn and procure film making equipments. In the 1917 issue of Navayug, Phalke writes, “While witnessing Christ on

Read More »from Raja Harishchandra’s French connection

Saif will be seen playing a Russian mafia lord, Boris the Zombie Hunter. Here's more

Saif Ali Khan’s new look in his upcoming film 'Go Goa Gone' has raised many eyebrows. Saif will be seen playing a Russian mafia lord, Boris the Zombie Hunter in Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK’s next film, Go Goa Gone. The actor, who is known to not experiment with his hairstyle, has an all- blond avatar and an inked bod. Saif Ali Khan’s look for the zombie film was decided after much deliberation.

A source close to producers says, “As Saif is playing a Russian mafia lord in the film, his look was very important. A lot of looks were tried. Different hairstyles with different hair colours were tested before he and directors decided to go for the blonde backcombed mafia look. Apart from beefing up for the role, he was required to learn a new language and get his body tattooed.”

Source further added, “Saif is a thorough professional and he didn’t let his apprehensions come in the way. Off-screen Saif doesn't Read More »from How Saif got his ‘Go Goa Gone’ look