1890-1895

Phalke explains his photographs of the gas balloon to his students. He has joined Kala Bhuvan as a teacher. He lectures:

'Photograpy depends upon two basic operations- the formation of an image on a flat surface by an optical device, and a chemical method of sentizing that surface to light so that the image can be captured permanantly.

The first requirement was met by camera obscura, known since the 16th century and used by artists as an aid to sketching.'

'Wedgewood was the first one to make a light-sensitive material when, in about 1800, hetreated white leather and paper with silver salt. He used this technique to make prints of leaves and transparent paintings.'

'The first permanant image produced directly by light was made by Nicepherone Niepce in 1823 on a bitumen-coated pewter plate exposed for eight hours.'

'In 1839, Daguerre demonstrated the Daguerrotype in which silver surface on a copper plate was sensitized with iodine vapour.'

'Now Daguerre, when he took over Niepce's invention, was running the Panorama Theatre animated by light shows and movements in the Place du ..........'

'The camera obsucra had generated at one and the same time painting, photography and the diorama'

'We know the original relationship between theatre and the cult of the dead. The first actors separated themselves from the community by playing the role of the dead, a figuration of the motionless and made-up faces with which we see the dead.'

Phalke's teaching fascinates the students but they don't trust him.

'Why is he still painting backdrops? When he can photograph a swan, why paint it?" they wonder.

'There are some mythological birds that don't exist and need to be conjured up.."

Phalke is painting a backdrop and the students are contemptuous of him. He is painting a bird, the messenger between Nala and Damayanti.

A young Muslim student on the other hand paints sparrows feeding, like in a dream, from a beggar carrying a big loaf of bread on his head.

"Birds need not be messengars", he says. "They also need to eat".

Phalke is hurt and made insecure by his young students.

Then he receives a letter that one of his backdrops has won the first prize in a competition in Ahmedabad.

He goes home at night and tells the story of Nala Damayanti to his wife. She does not believe in the swan as messenger.

'What about the postcards you never answered?", she asks. "Who taught you to write?"

"God", he replies.

"Then if we leave this house, I'll make you a home anywhere..."

The long shrill whistle of a train..

It is the same area in Ratlam where the tribals have protested to Phalke in their friendly voices, "Babu, don't imprison us in your box".

From the train, Phalke sees a bridegroom running away with his bride, the others chasing him, like some ritual.

The transient train frees the groom from the territory of the bride.

Phalke thinks to himself, "This is the motion I must remember and photograph in my box. But the hours, they move, and I am frozen.."

Tribal bandits kidnap Phalke and take him to their hideout where they ask him to photograph them.

When they ask him where he is bound, he says that he is on his way to the Raja of Panchmahal.

"We are from this kingdom" they say. "And we are rebels".

'The crack on your lens would make no sense unless we hang ourselves from the trees. Go to the Raja. He may know much of music, but he knows nothing about hunting".

Phalke finishes taking their photographs.

In the dark room, he begins to develop them.

He shows the pictures to the Maharaja. The king is full of admiration, but also filled with misgiving by the pictures of the hunted.

The Maharaja persuades Phalke that rather than indulging in tribal politics, he should concentrate on decorating printouts for his book on musical notations.

Meanwhile Phalke receives a letter from his wife. She is very unhappy at his home in Baroda. She urges him once more to set up a seperate home.

Phalke goes to Judge Walwalkar, who suggests that he set up a printing press in Godhra at the home of his Muslim friend.

The Judge agrees to give him ten thousand rupees to begin the new business in Godhra.