>Kailash29792 at 12:19, 4 July 2021

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{{distinguish|text=Lanka Dahan, 1952 film}}
{{Use Indian English|date=December 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2015}}
{{Infobox film
| name = Lanka Dahan
| image = Lanka Dahan 1917 film (1).jpg
| image_size =
| border =
| alt =
| caption = Enranged [[Hanuman]], played by Shinde.
| director = [[Dhundiraj Govind Phalke]]
| producer = Dhundiraj Govind Phalke
| writer = Dhundiraj Govind Phalke
| screenplay =
| story =
| based_on = {{based on|''[[Ramayana]]''|[[Valmiki]]}}
| narrator =
| starring = Anna Salunke<br/>Ganpat G. Shinde
| music =
| cinematography = [[Trymbak B. Telang]]
| editing =
| studio =
| distributor =
| released = 1917
| runtime =
| country = India
| language = [[Silent Film]]<br/>[[Marathi language|Marathi]] [[intertitle]]s
| budget =
| gross =
}}

'''''Lanka Dahan''''' ({{lang-en|Lanka Aflame}}) is a 1917 [[India]]n 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.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fZf8wmVdpaIC&q=lanka+dahan+1917&pg=PA375 |title=Screening Culture, Viewing Politics: An Ethnography of Television, Womanhood, and Nation in Postcolonial India |publisher=[[Duke University Press]] |year=1999 |author= Mankekar, Purnima |isbn=0822323907 |page=375 |accessdate=4 October 2012}}</ref>

[[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]].<ref name=Salunke>{{cite web |url=http://www.dadasahebphalkeacademy.org.in/100years |title=Dadasaheb Phalke - Father of Indian Cinema |publisher=Dadasaheb Phalke Academy |accessdate=4 October 2012 |archive-url=https://archive.is/20121218165926/http://www.dadasahebphalkeacademy.org.in/100years |archive-date=18 December 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref> He is thus credited with playing the first [[double role]] in Indian cinema.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TdM2Ben3alIC&q=lanka+dahan+1917&pg=PA224 |title=Wanted Cultured Ladies Only!: Female Stardom and Cinema in India, 1930s-1950s |publisher=[[University of Illinois Press]] |year=2009 |isbn= 978-0252076282 |author=Majumdar, Neepa |page=224 |accessdate=4 October 2012}}</ref>

==Plot==
{{Main|Sundara Kanda}}
[[Rama]], the prince of [[Ayodhya]], is exiled to the forests for a term of fourteen years. He is joined by his wife [[Sita]] and brother [[Laxman]]. [[Ravana]], the demon king, who also wanted to wed Sita, decides to take revenge and abducts her from the forest. While on the search for his wife, Rama meets [[Hanuman]]. Hanuman is a great devotee of Rama and promises to find Sita.

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.

==Cast==
[[File:Salunke in Lanka Dahan (1917 film).JPG|thumb|200px|Salunkhe in the role of [[Sita]]. Inset shows Hanuman giving the ring.]]
* [[Anna Salunke]] as [[Rama]] and [[Sita]]
* Ganpat G. Shinde as [[Hanuman]]
* D.D. Dabke<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m3oLA1ThOBYC&q=salunke&pg=PA517 |title=Encyclopedia of Religion and Film |author=Eric Michael Mazur |isbn=978-0313330728 |publisher=[[ABC-CLIO]] |year=2011 |page=517 |accessdate=4 October 2012}}</ref>
* Mandakini Phalke

==Reception==
As the film was based on a Hindu mythological theme it was well received by the audiences. When the film was screened in [[Mumbai]] (then Bombay), viewers used to take their shoes off when [[Rama]], the Hindu god, appeared on screen.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DWdPpKmnC6kC&q=lanka+dahan+1917&pg=PA380 |title=Global Icons: Apertures to the Popular |page=92 |author=Ghosh, Bishnupriya |publisher= Duke University Press |year= 2011 |isbn=978-0822350163 |accessdate=4 October 2012}}</ref> Trick photography and special effects used in the film delighted the audiences.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Jw-2w-SpuZMC&q=lanka+dahan+1917&pg=PA97 |title=Visions of Empire and Other Imaginings: Cinema, Ireland and India 1910-1962 |author=Woods, Jeannine |publisher= Peter Lang |year=2011 |isbn= 978-3039119745 |page=97 |accessdate=4 October 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ISFBJarYX7YC&q=lanka+dahan+1917&pg=PA172 |title=Students' Britannica India, Volumes 1-5 |author= Ramchandani, Indu |editor=Hoiberg, Dale |publisher=[[Popular Prakashan]] |year= 2000 |isbn= 0852297602 |page=172 |accessdate=4 October 2012}}</ref>

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|Bombay]] where people would fight for tickets and toss coins at the ticket counter because the film was mostly houseful.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.mid-day.com/articles/b-town-rewind-the-tale-of-the-first-bollywood-crore/15162064 |title=B-Town Rewind: The tale of the first Bollywood crore |newspaper=[[Mid-Day]] |author=Unny, Divya |accessdate=2 July 2014 |date=16 March 2014}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{commons category|Lanka Dahan (1917 film)}}
*{{IMDb title|id=0142523}}
{{Dadasaheb Phalke}}
{{Ramayana films}}

[[Category:1917 films]]
[[Category:Indian silent films]]
[[Category:Indian films]]
[[Category:Films based on the Ramayana]]
[[Category:Indian black-and-white films]]
[[Category:Films directed by Dadasaheb Phalke]]

Lanka Dahan - Revision history

>Kailash29792 at 12:19, 4 July 2021