FILM DIRECTOR

Dadasaheb Phalke

1870 - 1944

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Dhundiraj Govind Phalke (Pronunciation: [d̪ʱuɳɖiɾaːd͡ʒ pʰaːɭke]; 30 April 1870 – 16 February 1944), popularly known as Dadasaheb Phalke, was an Indian producer, director and screenwriter, widely regarded as "the Father of Indian cinema". Phalke’s debut film, Raja Harishchandra (1913), was the first Indian motion picture and is recognised as India's first full-length mythological feature film. The movie’s success marked the beginning of Indian cinema and inspired the growth of the film industry in the country. Over his career spanning nearly two decades, Phalke made 94 feature-length films and 27 short films between 1913 and 1937. Read more on Wikipedia

His biography is available in 35 different languages on Wikipedia. Dadasaheb Phalke is the 763rd most popular film director (down from 541st in 2024), the 516th most popular biography from India (down from 346th in 2019) and the 7th most popular Indian Film Director.

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Among FILM DIRECTORS

Among film directors, Dadasaheb Phalke ranks 763 out of 2,041. Before him are Jean-Pierre Mocky, František Vláčil, Allan Dwan, Sergio Martino, Paul Greengrass, and Bruno Mattei. After him are Gareth Edwards, Pupi Avati, Tomoyuki Tanaka, Konrad Wolf, Wolfgang Becker, and Emil Loteanu.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1870, Dadasaheb Phalke ranks 109. Before him are Peter Struve, Evgeny Paton, Albert Sechehaye, Helmer Hanssen, Magnus Enckell, and Albert Meyer. After him are Henri Jaspar, Safvet-beg Bašagić, John Isaac Briquet, Max Berg, Louis Bachelier, and Emil Młynarski. Among people deceased in 1944, Dadasaheb Phalke ranks 218. Before him are Aino Ackté, Oszkár Gerde, Anna Kolesárová, Maurice Paléologue, Dénes Berinkey, and Trafford Leigh-Mallory. After him are Harry Langdon, Erich Marcks, Ker-Xavier Roussel, Ralph H. Fowler, Prince Gustav of Denmark, and Prafulla Chandra Ray.

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Others Deceased in 1944

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In India

Among people born in India, Dadasaheb Phalke ranks 516 out of 1,861. Before him are John Frost (1912), Soumya Swaminathan (1959), Ram Manohar Lohia (1910), Guru Har Krishan (1656), Pankaj Kapur (1954), and M. S. Subbulakshmi (1916). After him are C. N. Annadurai (1909), Margaret Murray (1863), Lalu Prasad Yadav (1948), Kumaragupta I (400), Fatima Jinnah (1893), and Asin (1985).

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Among FILM DIRECTORS In India

Among film directors born in India, Dadasaheb Phalke ranks 7. Before him are Satyajit Ray (1921), Mahesh Bhatt (1948), M. Night Shyamalan (1970), Michael Radford (1946), Lindsay Anderson (1923), and B. R. Chopra (1914). After him are Shyam Benegal (1934), Dara Singh (1928), Khwaja Ahmad Abbas (1914), S. Shankar (1963), Guru Dutt (1925), and Ismail Merchant (1936).

Indian born Film Directors

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