LEADERSHIP LESSONS TO LEARN

1. Dhundiraj Govind Phalke
(1870 – 1944)
DADA SAHEB
PHALKE
Film Media – Indian Cinema

2. The Father of Indian Cinema
 Mr. Phalke was born on April 30,
1870 in Trymbakeshwar , a small
village near Nashik district, India.
 His dad Dajishastri Phalke was a
college Professor of Sanskrit
language.
 Dadasaheb Phalke inherited the
best habits from his family.
 He had studied the Ramayan,
Mahabharat, Veda, Shastra, Epics
in his childhood.
 He developed passion for creative
art at young age.
 His first interest was still
photography.

3. Workplaces
 He was working and living in Mumbai.
 Phalke made a living as a portrait photographer and
scene painter for drama companies.
 He also worked as a draughtsman and photographer
for the Government of India's Archaeological
Department.
 Phalke opened his own business, 'Phalke Engraving
and Painting Works‘.
 He received appreciation for his half-tone engraving
from British Printer.

4. Motivation
 Phalke lost his business .
 He lost his photography business because back
then people used to think that camera would suck
the life out of you when a picture is taken.
 Because of the differences between him and his
business partners he lost his other business.
 This was an life changing event for him.
 During this period he was watching lot of movies.
 He was not only watching them but he started to study
them.

5. An Explorer
 Dadasaheb Phalke
is the first filmmaker
in India.
 He is an explorer of
Indian cinema.
 He has earned
many titles.

6. The exploration begins…
 After watching a silent film, 'The Life of Christ'
in 1910 Phalke decided to start film-making.
 He learned about the motion camera,
projector, film.
 He read many books about it.
 He traveled to England to get equipments like
camera, film, and other things to make a
movie.
 He learned and practiced the process.

7. Experiments
 After returning to India, he set up a studio in his
own house.
 The whole crew was living, working, being fed in
Phalke’s house.
 First he made a short film Roptyanchi Wadh
(growth of a sapling).
 He taught his wife how to use the camera,
develop the film roll and also cutting and editing.
 Now his focus was on making longer films.

8. An entrepreneur!
 Phalke wanted to make
a change.
 He was a great thinker
and a startup
entrepreneur.
 He did not pursue to
make movies in England
because he wanted to
establish the movie
industry in India.
 Because of his decision,
today India has one of
the largest movie

9. More Movies By Him
 Phalke made many movies.
Listed below are his popular
ones.
 Raja Hrishchandra(1913)
 Mohini Bhasmasur (1913)
 Savitri Satyavan (1914)
 Shri Krishna Janma (1918)
 Kaliya Mardan (1919)
 Setu Bandhan (1932)
 Gangavantaran (1937)

10. Difficulties
1. Resilience : He started his Photography studio however because
of the rumor “camera sucks the very life out of a person” makes
him to shutoff his business.
2. Decision Making: He mastered the printing skills by visiting
Germany and started the printing press. He has a good investors
in the Printing business however he was firm on his choice of self
satisfaction.
3. Adaptability : He accidently watched the film “The Life of Christ”
and which make him wonder. It was a time when Indian people
were scared to watch the live pictures and feel as if like it is real.
The movie makes him so crazy that he lost his vision just by
continuously watching it day and night.
4. Entrepreneurism: To get the knowledge, he has to convince the
British owner of the film studio in India.

11. Difficulties
5. Motivation/Communication: Family and friends of him reported as
mad/Crazy man. Family was even scared that he might get arrested by
British rulers because of this unusual attempt. He has to convince his
family to support him in what he is visualizing.
6. Planning: He has to raise the funds by selling his household items &
insurance policy papers.
7. Entrepreneurism: He has to struggle for investors to arrange his visit to
London. He has a big competition of Live musical dramas at that time and
it was a challenge to attract people for the “Dumb Pictures”
8. Communication: When he visited London, he has to convince the British
Film Makers to share knowledge.
9. Delegating: He has to train his wife to handle the camera and editing to
make him concentrate on other activities of film making. His wife was his
active partner for managing studio and technical job.

12. Difficulties
10. Organizing :
a) He has to advertise his first short film to right people to get the
investors.
b) Getting artist for film was also a big challenge.
c) He has to compromise on male artists performing the female roles.
d) He has to take care of his entire team as a father. He have to be
some times strict to make them achieve what he wants to do.
e) He has to name his business as a “Factory” as it makes his and his
team members life easy in society.
11. Monitoring: When the film was launched he got very few audience and
this makes his investors worry. Hence adapted innovative advertising
techniques. And it was turned into success.
12. Decision Making:
 British Film makers offered him good business , however he had
politely denied it ,as he has a long term vision of establishing film
industry in India.

13. Leadership Qualities
Quality Style Skills

14. Tactical,
Specialist
Structured,
Deliverer
Strategic,
Thinker
Collaboration
Builder
Altruistic Champion
Behavioral Role
Model
Inspiring
Visionary
Resilient Deliverer
Proactive Engager
Empathic Supporter
Empowering Coach
Charismatic
Networker
Leadership Model

15. His spark created an industry that makes more than 900
films in about 20 languages every year and employs over 3
million people. It is the largest film industry in the world.
The Dadasaheb Phalke Award for
lifetime contribution to Cinema, was
instituted in his honour, by Govt. of
India in 1969, and is the most
prestigious and coveted award in
Indian Cinema
Achievement

16. Suggestions
 On the basis of resilience he could not have
closed his business but would rather
continued it.
 For advertisement , they had “a lucky ticket
wins nine-yard sari for that he could have
done some innovations such as :
 Announcement in market
 Street plays
 Better advertisement for sponsors
 If he continued his earlier business it would
have given him some financial help.

17. Movie - Harishchandrachi Factory
'Harishchandrachi Factory' India's entry for Oscars
[PTI, Sep 20, 2009, 02.18pm IST]
MUMBAI: Marathi film " Harishchandrachi Factory", by theatre-veteran Paresh
Mokashi has been selected as India's official entry to this year's Oscars in the
Foreign Film Category.
The two-hour-long film depicts the struggle of Dadasaheb Phalke, the father of
Indian cinema, to make 'Raja Harishchandra' in 1913, India's first feature film.

18. Trailer - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPvvMbXLfpA&feature=related
This candid Marathi movie is a must watch and not to be
missed
“Movie - Harishchandrachi Factory”