Anna Salunkhe

Gender: Male
Date of birth: 23 Jan 1895
Age: 0

Anna Hari Salunke. .. ////// >>>> Salunke – The first Indian Actress Roal ...//////// >>>> Salunke in 'Lanka Dhan' (1917) Anna Hari in raja Harischandra. (And yes, that would be first bath on screen by an Indian actress) The story goes like this: Around 1913, Dadasaheb Phalke was planning to make his magnum opus – a mythological feature film titled ‘Raja Harishchandra’. But before he could start, he needed to find a young woman who could take on the role of female lead. This proved to be the tricky part. Back then no woman, even the prostitutes and the dancing girls that he approached, was willing to sell his soul to the devil. Facing the camera was akin to laying bare at a public square. Dadasaheb Phalke’s grand plans for cinema were stalled. Then one night while dining at a restaurant, some say while sipping a cup of tea there, Phalke found his heroine, an impressive womanly beauty, working the kitchen as a lowly help. Dadasaheb Phalke made an offer that was promptly accepted, and in this manner on a monthly salary of Rs.10 (or according to some, Rs. 15 with Rs. 10 being the salary of the cook's assistant) Phalke's film got an actress and India got its first heroine, a man named Salunke who ruled the silver screen for almost a decade spanning the entire era of Phalke’s mythological dramas. Riding on the success of these films and the slow rising public approval for the new medium of cinema, a celluloid Star, arguable India’s first, was born – Anna Salunke. It is interesting to note that till recently it was common for a man to do the role of woman in local nautankis, religious dramas. Another interesting feature of these dramas was that often a single person would have to play multiple roles, a trend quite common in (one can say still) popular in Indian films at one time. In ‘Raja Harishchandra’ Salunke played the female role of Taramati as well as the male roles of Bhalchand and Dattaraj. It seems Salunke was quite apt at playing multiple roles, and Phalke quite content with a small crew of actors. In Phalke’s Lanka Dahan (The Burning of Lanka, 1917) Salunke played Sita as well as Ram, a feat that can’t be replicated in modern times without having the film falling under comic genre instead of mythological. But back then these mytho-drama films starring Salunke were setting box office and public imagination ablaze. However, when public appetite for mytho-dramas was full and after they developed a taste for socio-dramas that were now being made, and maybe because of arrival of real women on screen (Phalke's Mohini Bhasmasur from 1913 had mother-daughter duo Durgabai Gokhale and Kamlabai Gokhale), Salunke, in a story of first fall from stardom in India, slowly faded from public memory. This was the story of androgynous beginning of the Indian Heroine - the rise of a man as a woman through a spell induced by devil’s magic eye. , also known as A. Salunke and Annasaheb Saluke, was an Indian actor who performed female roles in early Indian cinema and also a cinematographer. He is credited as the first person to perform as a heroine in Indian cinema when he played the role of Rani Chandramati of King Harishchandra in Dada Saheb Phalke’s first full-length film, Raja Harishchandra (1913). In 1917, Salunke became the first to play a double role in Indian cinema, by playing the roles of both the hero as well as heroine in Lanka Dahan ///// >>>>> Career >>>>>>> Salunke portrayed the heroine in Raja Harishchandra (1913), the first full-length Indian feature film. He played the role of Queen Taramati, the consort of king Harishchandra, whose tale is told in Hindu mythology. Salunke worked as a cook or waiter[3] in a restaurant on Grant Road, Mumbai, frequented by Dhundiraj Govind Phalke (Dadasaheb Phalke), the director and producer of the film. Phalke could not find a woman who agreed to act in the film; even prostitutes and dancing girls refused. Phalke saw Salunke, who had an effeminate figure and slender hands, and convinced him to play a female role. While Salunke was working for a monthly salary of 10 rupees, Phalke offered him 15 and Salunke agreed. Salunke also acted in Phalke's Lanka Dahan (1917), played in the Hindu epic Ramayana. Salunke played the first double role in Indian cinema,[5][6] by playing both the male role of the hero Rama and the female role of his wife Sita, the heroine.[6] However, Salunke had developed a more muscular physique, by then and the audience could see his biceps even as he played the goddess Sita. Salunke also acted in Satyanarayan (1922) directed by V.S. Nirantar and Phalke's Buddha Dev (1923). He was also the cinematographer on both films. Later, Salunke abandoned his acting career and fully concentrated on cinematography. Besides Nirantar and Phalke, he worked with G.V. Sane (who acted with Salunke in Raja Harishchandra) and Ganpat G. Shinde (co-starred with Salunke in Lanka Dahan) as directors. Last of his films as cinematographer were in 1931. ////////// >>>>> Films >>>>> Salunke, during his film career spanning 18 years from 1913 to 1931, acted in various films including five in the female role, most of them were on Hindu mythological themes. He was also a cinematographer in a few films. //////// >>>> Selected filmography >>>> In female roles Raja Harishchandra (1913) Satyavadi Raja Harishchandra (1917) as Taramati Lanka Dahan (1922) in a double role as Seeta and also as Rama Satyanarayan (1922) Buddha Dev (1923), his last movie as an actress In several roles Ahiravan Mahiravan Vadh (1922) Haritalika (1922) Pandav Vanavas (1922) Satyanarayan (1922) Shishupala Vadh (1922) Wandering Soul (1923) Buddha Dev (1923) Gora Kumbhar (1923) Guru Dronacharya (1923) Jarasandha Vadha (1923) Kanya Vikraya (1923) Jayadratha Vadh (1924) Kanya Vikraya (1924) Ram Ravan Yuddha (1924) Shivajichi Agryahun Sutaka (1924) Sundopasund (1924) Anant Vrat (1925) Kakashebanchya Dolyat Jhanjhanit Anjan (1925) Satyabhama (1925) Simantak Mani (1925) Datta Janma (1925) Bhakta Pralhad (1926) Bhim Sanjeevan (1926) Keechaka Vadh (1926) Sant Eknath (1926) Bhakta Sudama (1927) Draupadi Vastraharan (1927) Hanuman Janma (1927) Madalasa (1927) Vasantsena (1929) Khuda Parasta (1930) Amir Khan (1931)