The First Screenings
1896–1913Moving-picture screenings reached Bombay in 1896. In 1913 Dadasaheb Phalke released Raja Harishchandra, widely described as India’s first indigenous feature-length film. That milestone belongs in a wider history of early exhibitors, technicians and short films.
Before the feature
A film could travel from one venue to another, with audiences discovering a new way to see movement on a screen. Screenings spread beyond Bombay to other cities; a film culture was forming before one landmark feature gave it a familiar date.
The camera and projector were machines, but the performances, sets, costumes, exhibition and publicity were collective work. A single “father of cinema” story can obscure the many people who made an industry possible.
Phalke’s milestone
Raja Harishchandra was a silent mythological feature. Its 1913 release became a useful marker for a century of Indian cinema, while earlier moving images and shorter productions remain part of the story.
Early prints are fragile evidence. Later surviving material must not be casually presented as an untouched original print.