15-feet tall statue of Dadasaheb Phalke to come up in Mumbai

A grand statue in honour of Dadasaheb Phalke — the Father of Indian Cinema — is all set to come up in Bandra in Mumbai, the entertainment capital of the country - Jyothi Venkatesh

The statue would come up in a garden bang opposite Mehboob Studio, one of the biggest film and recording studios in Mumbai.

“We are here all because of that great man…it is high time we have a statue of Dadasaheb Phalke,” said BN Tiwari, the President of Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE) — which is the mother body of 32-plus crafts and associations of Indian cinema.

The statue would be 15-feet tall and have a three-foot base. “In all, it would be around 18-feet and would have a commemorative plaque and lighting facilities,” Tiwari told on Thursday.

The FWICE has taken the initiative along with Dadasaheb Phalke Icon Award Films Organization (DPIAF), Union Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying Parshottam Rupala and Mumbai North MP Gopal Shetty, among others.

Tiwari, FWICE Treasurer Gangeshwar Lal Srivastava, DPIAF founder Kalyanji Jana have set a December 2021 deadline for completion of the project coinciding with the celebration of 75 years of Independence.

Dhundiraj Govind Phalke, popularly known as Dadasaheb Phalke (30 April 1870 – 16 February 1944), was an Indian producer-director-screenwriter.

His debut film, Raja Harishchandra was the first Indian movie released in 1913 and is now known as India's first full-length feature film.

He made 95 feature-length films and 27 short films in his career, spanning 19 years, until 1937, including his most noted works: Mohini Bhasmasur (1913), Satyavan Savitri (1914), Lanka Dahan (1917), Shri Krishna Janma (1918) and Kaliya Mardan (1919). The Dadasaheb Phalke Award, conferred for lifetime contribution to cinema by the Government of India, is named in his honour.