Coronation Cinematograph and Variety Hall was a hall in the Girgaon area of south Mumbai, India, used for variety entertainment shows, dramas and to screen movies. [1]
The first full-length Indian feature film, Raja Harischandra , was screened here, thus heralding the birth of the Indian film industry. [2]
Coronation cinema, built in 1912 was located at Narayan chawl [3] at the junctions of Sandhurst road and Khetwadi road [4] [5] in the Girgaum area of Mumbai. [6] It was one of the so-called "Sandhurst road cinemas" of the 1910-1917 Bombay cinema era, during which this area hosted a number of cinema houses including Coronation, the American-India, the Olympia and the New Alhambra. [7] The theatre was managed by Narayan Govind Chitre, [8] a friend of the film maker Dadasaheb Torne. [9]
Further information : Raja Harischandra (Movie)
On 3 May 1913 Raja Harishchandra (राजा हरिश्चंद्र), a silent Indian film directed and produced by Dadasaheb Phalke, was screened at Coronation cinema. The film was based on the legend of King Harishchandra, recounted in Ramayana and Mahabharata and was the first Indigenous Indian film.
Coronation cinema was also used for other variety entertainment shows such as dances (by Miss Irene Delmar), comical sketches like "The McClements", jugglery shows by Alexandroff, [10] other Indian movies like Pundlik [11] (made by Dadasaheb Torne) [12] and dramas (A dead man's child).
The theatre is no longer in existence. The area housed Majestic cinema for a few decades, which was replaced by an office complex. [13]
The Dadasaheb Phalke Award is India's highest award in the field of cinema. It is presented annually at the National Film Awards ceremony by the Directorate of Film Festivals, an organisation set up by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. The recipient is honoured for their "great and outstanding contribution to the growth and development of Indian cinema" and is selected by a committee consisting of eminent personalities from the Indian film industry. The award comprises a Swarna Kamal medallion, a shawl, and a cash prize of ₹1,000,000 (US$12,000).
Prithviraj Kapoor was an Indian actor who is also considered to be one of the founding figures of Hindi cinema. He was associated with IPTA as one of its founding members and established the Prithvi Theatres in 1944 as a travelling theatre company based in Bombay.
Dhundiraj Govind Phalke, popularly known as Dadasaheb Phalke, was an Indian producer-director-screenwriter, known as "the Father of Indian cinema".
Raja Harishchandra is a 1913 Indian silent film directed and produced by Dadasaheb Phalke. It is often considered the first full-length Indian feature film. Raja Harishchandra features Dattatraya Damodar Dabke, Anna Salunke, Bhalchandra Phalke. and Gajanan Vasudev Sane. It is based on the legend of Harishchandra, with Dabke portraying the title character. The film, being silent, had English, Marathi, and Hindi-language intertitles.
Ramchandra Gopal Torne, also known as Dadasaheb Torne, was an Indian director and producer, best known for making the first feature film in India, Shree Pundalik. This historic record is well established by an advertisement in The Times of India published on 25 May 1912. Several leading reference books on cinema including The Guinness Book of Movie Facts & Feats, A Pictorial History of Indian Cinema and Marathi Cinema : In Restrospect amply substantiate this milestone achievement of the pioneer Indian feature-filmmaker.
Marathi Cinema, also known as Marathi film industry, is the segment of Indian cinema, dedicated to the production of motion pictures in the Marathi language widely spoken in the state of Maharashtra. It is based in Mumbai. It is the oldest film industry of India and one of the leaders in filmmaking in the Indian film industry.
D. D. Dabke or Dattatraya Damodar Dabke was an actor in the first ever Indian full length silent film Raja Harishchandra, directed by Dadasaheb Phalke in 1913. He co-starred with Anna Salunke. He acted in three more movies Satyavadi Raja Harishchandra (1917), Lanka Dahan (1917), Shri Krishna Janma (1918) and later became a cinematographer, as well as a director. He directed the 1924 remake of Raja Harishchandra
Harishchandrachi Factory is a 2009 Indian Marathi-language biographical film written and directed by Paresh Mokashi. It is about Dadasaheb Phalke, who made the first Indian feature film Raja Harishchandra (1913), and starring Nandu Madhav as him and Vibhavari Deshpande as his wife Saraswati. Harishchandrachi Factory focuses on the struggle Phalke faced during its production.
The Indian Animation Industry encompasses traditional 2D animation, 3D animation and visual effects for feature films. In 1956, Disney Studios animator Clair Weeks, who had worked on Bambi, was invited to Films Division of India in Mumbai to establish and train the country's first animation studio as part of the American technical co-operation mission. He trained a core group of Indian animators, whose first production was a film called The Banyan Deer (1957). Veteran animator Ram Mohan started his career at Films Division's Cartoon Unit.
Harishchandra is an Indian king mentioned in ancient Hindu religious texts.
The 1st National Film Awards, presented by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India to felicitate the best of Indian Cinema released in the year 1953. Ceremony took place at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi on 10 October 1954 and awards were given by then President of India, Rajendra Prasad.
Paresh Mokashi is an Indian filmmaker, producer, actor and Theatre director-producer; working predominantly in Marathi cinema and Marathi theatre. He started working as a backstage worker for theatre and did few minor roles for plays as well as films. Mokashi made his directorial debut for theatre with the Marathi play, Sangeet Debuchya Mulee in 1999. He continued to work for theatre and made his directorial debut for cinema with the 2009 Marathi feature film, Harishchandrachi Factory. The film depicts the making of India's first full-length feature film, Raja Harishchandra (1913), made by Dadasaheb Phalke. The film was acclaimed critically and won several awards. It was also selected as India's official entry to 82nd Academy Awards in the Best Foreign Language Film category.
Shree Pundalik, which was released on 18 May 1912 at the Coronation Cinematograph, Girgaum, Mumbai, is sometimes considered the first feature-length Indian film by a minority. The government of India and most scholarly sources consider Raja Harishchandra to be the first Indian feature film, and detractors argue Pundalik was only a photographic recording of a popular play. It was produced and directed by Dadasaheb Torne.
Durgabai Kamat was a Marathi actress, who was the first actress in Indian cinema.
Satyavadi Raja Harishchandra is a 1917 silent black and white Indian short film directed and produced by Dhundiraj Govind Phalke. The film is a shorter version of the first Indian feature film, Raja Harishchandra (1913), also directed and produced by Phalke. The intertitles used in the film were in Marathi language as the film was a silent film. The film is based on the mythological story of a Hindu King Harishchandra, the 36th king of the Solar Dynasty, who donated his entire kingdom and sold himself and his family to keep the promise given to the sage Vishvamitra in the dream.
Lanka Dahan is a 1917 Indian silent film directed by Dadasaheb Phalke. Phalke also wrote the film based on an episode of the Hindu epic Ramayana, credited to Valmiki. The film was Phalke's second feature film after the 1913 Raja Harishchandra, which was the first Indian full-length feature film. Phalke also directed various short films in between.
Mohini Bhasmasur is a 1913 Indian mythological film directed by Dadasaheb Phalke and starring Kamlabai Gokhale and Durgabai Kamat. It is India's and Phalke's second full-length feature film. Mohini Bhasmasur is the first Indian film to have a female actor. In Raja Harischandra, India's and Phalke's first film, the role of the female was played by Anna Salunke, a male.
Anna Hari Salunke, also known as A. Salunke and Annasaheb Saluke, was an Indian actor who performed female roles in very early Indian cinema and also a cinematographer. He is the first person to perform as a heroine in Indian cinema when he played the role of Queen Taramati in Dada Saheb Phalke's first full-length film, Raja Harishchandra (1913). In 1917, Salunke became the first to play a double role in Indian cinema, by playing the roles of both the hero and heroine in Lanka Dahan.
The history of animation in India can be traced to the early 20th century. Precursors to modern animation such as shadow puppets and slide shows entertained audiences before the advent of the cinema. Pioneers such as Dadasaheb Phalke, Gunamoy Banerjee, K.S. Gupte and G.K. Ghokle kept the tradition of animation alive during the first half of the 20th century. Such individuals were usually self-taught and were inspired by foreign cartoons.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)