Child artists have been as important as actors and actresses in any Bollywood film. There have been many Bollywood movies whose story revolves around child artists. For years, we have been watching children performing brilliantly on screen and then going on to succeed in the film industry in their adult lives as well. But, have you ever wondered who was the first child artist of Bollywood? The first director to start this trend was none other than Dadasaheb Phalke, who had to go through a lot of trouble to find a child artist for his first film, after which he arrived at a unique decision.
Bollywood's first child artist was none other than Dadasaheb Phalke's elder son Bhalchandra Phalke himself. Dadasaheb Phalke, an Indian producer-director-screenwriter, known as "the Father of Indian cinema", made his debut film, 'Raja Harishchandra', in 1913, which is now known as India's first full-length feature film.
When Dadasaheb Phalke was casting for this film, he could not find a single child artist as no parent was ready to send their child to play the kid character in the mute movie. In such a case, Dadasaheb Phalke's elder son Bhalchandra, who was 7 at the time, was assigned to play the role of Rohidas, son of Harishchandra and Taramati.
The filming was completed in six months and 27 days and premiered at the Olympia Theatre, Bombay (now Mumbai), in April 1913. The film was a super hit and laid the foundation for the film industry in India. The Government of India recognises 'Raja Harischandra' as the first Indian feature film.
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