Anna Salunke

Anna Hari Salunke was the first female actor of Indian cinema, or better to say the first man to play a woman in early Indian cinema. Salunke played the role of Rani Taramati in Dada Saheb Phalke’s first feature-length film Raja Harishchandra (1913). Phalke was looking for a female actor for his film, and since working in films was considered taboo, the prostitutes and dancers refused to work for him.

Even his wife also denied playing the role as she was already working on other parts of the film like editing. The quest for a heroine finally came to a halt when Phalke met Salunke in the restaurant inn Grant road Mumbai, where he used to work as a cook. Phalke used to visit the restaurant and chose Salunke for the role as he had an effeminate physique and slender hands. Salunke agreed to work for Phalke as he was offered a salary of Rs 15 a month over the Rs 10 salary he was earning at the restaurant.

The cinematic journey of Salunke’s life took him to be the first person to play a double role in Indian cinema as he played both Ram and Sita in Phalke’s Lanka Dahan (1917). Salunke developed an interest in cinematography later on and worked in about 32 films as a cinematographer. Salunke’s acting career went on for five films in which he played female roles, that were Raja Harishchandra (1913), Satyavadi Raja Harishchandra (1917) as Rani Taramati, Lanka Dahan (1922) as Ram as well as Sita, Satyanarayan (1922) and Budhha Dev (1923). Budhha Dev was his last film as an actress.

Apart from Phalke, Salunke worked with V S Nirantar as an actor in Satyanarayan, G. V. Sane, and Ganpat G Shinde as a cinematographer. After abandoning his career as an actor, he worked as a cinematographer till 1931. He even shot Phalke’s Bhakta Prahalad (1926). In 1931, when the sound was started being used in films, Indian Cinema underwent a drastic change, and people like Salunke were lost in the fast-changing scenario. Nobody knows what happened to Salunke after 1931, but he remains to be the first-ever actress of Indian Cinema.