Rangbhoomi (2013) Kamal Swaroop

Rangbhoomi follows the filmmaker as he attempts to trace Dadasaheb Phalke’s life in Varanasi, where Phalke withdrew, disillusioned with the world of cinema, and decided to take up theatre. During his life there, Phalke wrote a semi-autobiographical play titled Rangbhoomi, which forms the core of this film. Dhundiraj Govinda Phalke, popularly known as Dadasaheb Phalke (30 April 1870 – 16 February 1944) was an Indian producer-director-screenwriter, known as the Father of Indian Cinema. Starting with his debut film, Raja Harishchandra in 1913, now known as India’s first full-length feature, he made 95 movies and 26 short films in his career spanning 19 years, till 1937, including his most notes works: Mohini Bhasmasur (1913), Satyavan Savitri (1914), Lanka Dahan (1917), Shri Krishna Janma (1918) and Kaliya Mardan (1919). In 1920, after a dispute with his partners he resigned from his company Hindustan Films and shifted to the holy city of Benaras and renounced the world of cinema. At Benaras he wrote a semi-autobiographical play Rangbhoomi. This film is an invocation from that text.