Google Doodle honours Dadasaheb Phalke; celebrates 148th birth anniversary of legendary filmmaker

It was just a week ago that the Bollywood biggies descended to Andrews Auditorium in Mumbai. From Shahid Kapoor to Deepika Padukone to Rajkumar Rao, the who's who from the industry were felicitated with the coveted Dadasaheb Phalke Excellence Award 2018.

While the B-town is honoured to bag the coveted title for their remarkable contribution to the industry, Monday's Google Doodle celebrates the 148th birth anniversary of legendary filmmaker Dadasaheb Phalke.

The Doodle was created by guest artiste Aleesha Nandhra. It shows a young Dadasaheb in action as he went about directing the first few gems in the history of Indian cinema.

Born as Dhundiraj Govind Phalke in Maharashtra's Trimbak, the prodigy is known as the Father of Indian Cinema and excelled in filmmaking, producing and screenwriting during his tenure. In his career spanning over 19 years, Phalke gifted 95 movies and 27 short films to the Indian film industry.

Raja Harishchandra, recognised as India's first full-length feature film, is the debut work of Phalke. Mohini Bhasmasur, Satyavan Savitri and Kaliya Mardan are some other instances of his memorable work.

Read | Dadasaheb Phalke Excellence Awards 2018: From Shahid Kapoor to Hina Khan, meet the big winners

Alice Guy's silent film, The Life of Christ (1910) motivated him to bring Indian culture to the silver screen. He travelled to London to learn filmmaking from Cecil Hepworth and made his directorial debut in 1913

Apart from filmmaking, Phalke had a lot of interest in arts and studied photography, lithography, architecture, engineering, and magic.

In 1969, the Government of India paid homage to this visionary filmmaker by introducing an award in his name. Dadasaheb Phalke Award, which is one of the prestigious awards in Indian cinema, recognises lifetime contributions of film personalities in the industry.

Actress Devika Rani was the first recipient of this award. Other noted personalities including Raj Kapoor, Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle, Yash Chopra, Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen and Shyam Benegal also clinched the coveted title for their respective discipline.

Read | Google Doodle honours Chipko Movement, celebrates 45th anniversary

In 2018, Vinod Khanna and Sridevi were honoured with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, posthumouslyHowever, Dadasaheb breathed his last in Nashik on February 16, 1944. His death was a great loss in the arena of filmmaking.