Prabhakar

From PhalkeFactory

Prabhakar remembers- from Bapu Watve's Dadasaheb Phalke, published by the National Book Trust.

---

1929 Prabhakar swims two kilometers, from the first ghat to the last. Here he finds an Englishwoman drowning, and manages to save her.

1935 - 36

Flaherty advertises for a hero for his ‘Elephant Boy’.

Prabhakar applies.

Anglo-Indian girls who had almost monopolized the female lead roles in silent films are unable to cope with the spoken word.

Playback singing is introduced.

‘Chandidas’, ‘Puran Bhagat’, and ‘Devdas’ are superhits.

The RCA sound system is imported for the first time.

The king of Kolhapur invites Phalke to make ‘Gangavataran’.


1938

Prabhakar and Neelkanth plan to make ‘Tarzan’ with Prabhakar in the lead role since he is a body-builder and a swimmer.

But Dada dissuades them.

1942

Neelkanth dreams that he is a pilot, driving a car.

There is a shortage of raw film and equipment due to the war.

There are government orders restricting the length of a film to 11000 feet.

On 16th February, at about 5 in the morning, Dada is found in a sort of diabetic coma on the banks of the holy Godavari River at Nasik.

He is suffering from senile amnesia, which makes him skip the present and recent past, and allows him to remember only his early life vividly.

He takes a bath and performs his daily worship regularly, even though his health is poor.

Saraswati has suffered a paralytic stroke and is confined.

Dada used to sign the school register simply as ‘DG Phalke, Artist’.

Dada receives a telegram announcing that Prabhakar is missing in action.

The family turns on the radio to hear the names of the dead being announced.


also look up 1944