Baburao Painter

Baburao Painter was an Indian filmmaker and artist who was a pioneer of Indian cinema. He was born in a family of artists in Kolhapur, Maharashtra, on 3 June 1890. He learned painting, sculpting, and mechanical engineering from his father, who was a blacksmith and carpenter. He also taught himself to paint and sculpt in the academic art school style. He and his cousin Anandrao Painter became the leading painters of stage backdrops for theatre groups in western India. They also developed an interest in film making after watching Dadasaheb Phalke's Raja Harishchandra (1913). Baburao Painter assisted Phalke in his film projects and later founded the Maharashtra Film Company in 1919. He directed his first feature film, Sairandhri (1920), which was an episode from the Mahabharata. The film was heavily censored by the British government and was later re-released with some changes. Baburao Painter was known for his innovative vision and technical skills in film making. He experimented with different genres, such as historical, mythological, social, and fantasy. He also introduced many new techniques, such as night scenes, artificial lighting, flashbacks, and slow motion. He was also a master of art direction, costume design, and poster design. He made more than a dozen films, such as Bhagwata Bhakta Damaji (1922), Vatsalaharan (1923), Shri Krishna Avatar (1924), Baji Prabhu Deshpande (1929), and Rukmini Swayamvar (1946). Some of his films won medals at the Wembley Exhibition in London. He also acted in some of his films, such as Sinhagad (1923) and Gad Aala Pan Sinha Gela (1930). He suffered a serious injury from a horse fall while playing the role of Shivaji in the latter film, which impaired his speech for life. He retired from film making in 1946 and devoted himself to painting and sculpting. He made a huge statue of Mahatma Gandhi, which is installed in Kolhapur. He also painted many portraits, landscapes, and scenes from Indian mythology and history. He died on 16 January 1954 in Kolhapur, leaving behind a rich legacy and an immense contribution to Indian cinema and art.