Harishchandra’s Factory
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A still from Harishchandrachi Factory.
Everybody laughed. Everybody enjoyed the roller coaster ride. Harishchandra’s Factory was a great comedy. We had seen nearly fifty films during the Film Appreciation course, but the audiences were never as ecstatic as they were while watching this Marathi film. Paresh Mokashi came out of the FTII theater as a clear winner. Harishchandra’s Factory had united the people; Mokashi had united us.
Harishchandra’s Factory is a story about the father of Indian cinema, Dadasaheb Phalke, and how he made cinema accessible to the people starting with Raja Harishchandra (1912), the first Indian feature film. “The screenplay was ready in 2005,” said Paresh, who produced the film himself after he couldn’t find any backer for this film. “The shooting started only in April last year and lasted about two and a half months,” he said.
“Dadasaheb Phalke had to mortgage his property to make a film about Raja Harishchandra, Paresh had to sell his property to make a film about Phalke,” Nandu Madhav, who plays Phalke in this biopic, told us. “Because nobody did it,” Paresh said, “That’s why I was more inspired to do this film.” But his sacrifices haven’t gone to waste. The film has already won many accolades and various awards.
“Why comedy?” later I asked Paresh Mokashi.
“I believe serious and important work need not always come out in a serious way,” said Paresh, who has been associated with theater for the last twenty years. He said to be sad in poverty is obvious, but to be carefree at the times of crisis is rare. “Phalke was an eccentric, humorous person,” he said. “But we haven’t played it comically. The situations became funny most of the times.”
“We are planning a Diwali release,” Paresh said. I had written to him asking whether he would like to tell us more about the struggle behind Harishchandrachi Factory. “Yes, someday I will write about our struggle,” he said.
Visit the film’s website:
http://harishchandrachifactory.com
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
eagerly looking out for this movie…did u go for the film appreciation course in FTII…if yes please can you tell me how good or bad it is?
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Hopefully,it will get released at proper time,hopefully Hindi Films do not overshadow this film when it it released in diwali.
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Rasik, check this:
http://passionforcinema.com/a-break-from-work/
Cinemausher, yeah, let’s hope so.
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thnx a lot for the link…
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Salik thanks for this..would have liked to know more about the movie..your thoughts on it etc.
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EROS has taken up the film for distribution. Acc to them it is ‘gentry’ film, so will be released 1-2 shows per multiplex only. Nothing more.
I argued with my cousin, who works in programming for PVR, that it will be lapped up by the masses too, given the lighthanded approach to the subject and so many laugh-out-loud moments. She refuted by saying that, this movie will mostly appeal to cinephiles only. She is right maybe, but I still believe every person can relate to the wonder for the origin of cinema in India. May be I’m unable to think objectively, as I was so much struck with wonder by this origins story!
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@ Gaurang,
the film hasnt been taken up yet..
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One of the best movies I have seen in recent times…it was awe inspiring…
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added to my must watch movies…thx for the review…
i think all multiplex managers should be cinema crazy people…if these people can release Jashnnn…they should also release HFactory..its all about fairness…just put a note “true story of how first Indian movie was made” n it should create enough buzz…media atention that publicity is not required…
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Gaurang, let’s wait for the movie to come out in a big way. We’ll see whether the film is just for ‘them’ or all of us.
Anand, yes, they should give HF a fair chance–which, I feel, they certainly will.
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I have quite contradictory opinion abt H-Factory..i was ther in FTII screening…being a marathi manus I feel comedy has tuned out to be curse for mrathi cinema …. suject like H-F should hav been more serious.. not because I dont want to see comedy in maathi .. bt I feel most of the hilerious situations in H-F were situational …more of mundane marathi style ….i feel paresh didnt dared to b different ..more things like ..costumes were absolutely scrued up, no authenticity at al…phalke’s stuggle was effortless…bt yes i m not d director of H-F, it may be Phalke’s comic life that Paresh found more interesting…i congratulate Paresh for being first to put Phalke on screen…I m waiting for Paresh’s next movie
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being marathi bhashik, m really proud of this film
i enjoyed the film and was rilli ovrwhlmd.Dadasaheb Phalke’s madness reaches to the audiences!
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great concept ,there are very less film on golden or early age of indian cinema.
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Agree with you, Rish, I love movies about the early days of Indian cinema!!
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