Meet Baburao Painter: A man of many talents

Baburao Painter (1890-1954) was the king of all genres—be it oil painting, sculpture-making, wood-carving, set design or movie making. Always ingenious, Painter assembled a film camera using materials and parts sourced from Bombay’s flea markets in 1918. This was the first ‘made in India’ filmmaking camera in India. 

Baburao was also the first Indian filmmaker to cast women in his films—Gulab Bai and Anasuya Bai (aka Kamala Devi and Sushila Devi)—at a time when men played the role of women in theatre and early silent-era films like ‘Raja Harishchandra’. You can learn a lot more about him in the video below. Indian Express has more on his cinematic genius.