Product Code Database
Lanka Dahan () is a 1917 silent film directed by Dadasaheb Phalke. Phalke also wrote the film based on an episode of the Hindu epic Ramayana, credited to Valmiki. The film was Phalke's second feature film after the 1913 Raja Harishchandra, which was the first Indian full-length feature film. Phalke also directed various short films in between.
Anna Salunke, who had previously played the role of Rani Taramati in Phalke's Raja Harishchandra played two roles in this film. As women were prohibited from taking part in commercial performing arts, men also played the female characters. Salunke played the male character of Rama as well as the female character of his wife Sita. He is thus credited with playing the first double role in Indian cinema.
Hanuman flies to the island of Lanka and finds Sita there. He informs her that he is a great devotee of Rama and that Rama would soon be coming to take her back. To prove his identity, he gives her Rama's ring. On his return journey he is arrested by the soldiers of Ravana. When produced in court Ravana orders Hanuman's tail to be set on fire. Hanuman then breaks his bondage and flies away. With his tail on fire he sets the whole city of Lanka ablaze. After setting fire to the whole town, Hanuman leaps away from the island and extinguishes the fire in the Indian Ocean.
The film was well received by the masses. According to film historian Amrit Gangar, coins from ticket counters were collected in gunny bags and transported on bullock carts to the producer’s office. There were long queues at Majestic cinema in Mumbai where people would fight for tickets and toss coins at the ticket counter because the film was mostly houseful.
|
|
