Dadasaheb Phalke is regarded as the Father of Indian Cinema. Born as Dhundiraj Govind Phalke, at Trymbakeshwar near Nasik in 1870. Being son of a shashtri, Dajishastri Phalke, he was committed to be shastri and was trained for a career, as a Sanskrit scholar. Dadasaheb Phalke as he was to be later called, came to Bombay with his family, when his father joined Wilson College as a professor.

Having a keen interest in arts, Dadasaheb Phalke joined Sir J. J. School of Arts in 1885 for a course in Drawing and then continued with his art studies at Baroda's famous Kalabhavan. Initially he earned his living painting the scenes for various dramatic companies. Later he started on photography. In 1903 he joined the Archaeological Department as a photographer and this was where he was introduced to the magic of cinema

Thus, 'Raja Harishchandra' was made in 1913 under the banner of Phalke Film Co. In 1917 Phalke Film Co. was incorporated into the Hindustan Film Co.
Dadasaheb's 'Raja Harishchandra' is recognised as the first indigenously made 'story' film. It was released in Bombay in 1913, and was not only produced, directed, written and photographed by him, but also processed, printed and edited by him. Except for the imported camera, the processing outfit and the raw film, which were not made in India, everything was organised by him locally. He even distributed the film himself.

Thus, D.G. Phalke was the greatest pioneer of the Indian Cinema who established the basic norms of film-making in almost every department of this conglomerate art. He was his own scenarist, cameraman, art-director, costume-designer, editor, processor, printer, developer, projectionist and even distributor. This one man institution gave India its most fundamental traditions in film making and established the motion picture as a form of entertainment, a medium, an art, and an aspect and extension of Indian culture. In fact it was Dadasaheb Phalke who introduced the first 'heroine to Indian Cinema. Those were the times when there was a dearth of talented artistes willing to work in films. Even stage artistes shied away from the new medium, no woman, not eve a dancing girl, would agree to act in a film. So for the role of Taramati in Raja Harishchandra Phale had to go to a delicate looking young man. He selected Salunke to play Taramati, Salunke who was serving as a cook in a restaurant. Later Salunke played both Rama and Seeta in Lanka Dahan and became the most popular actor and actress of the period. The film was Phalke's biggest hit.

1969 was the birth centenary year of the Father of Indian Cinema. In a belifting commemoration of his contribution to Indian Cinema, a new National Award named Dadasaheb Phalke Award was introduced from that year. This Award is given annually for distinguishd contribution to the medium, its growth and promotion. The first recipient of this Award was Devika Rani Roerich. At the age of 74 on February 16th, 1944 Dadasaheb Phalke expired in Nasik.