Dadasaheb Phalke to Modern Epics: History of Indian Mythological Films

In Short

Indian mythological films history starts with Dadasaheb Phalke's silent Raja Harishchandra, which premiered on 21 April 1913. His Lanka Dahan (1917) became an early box-office hit. Sound brought devotional musicals in the 1930s, and N.T. Rama Rao later led the Telugu epics. Low-budget hits like Jai Santoshi Maa (1975) paved the way for today's VFX-heavy epics.

Key Takeaways

• Mythology was Indian cinema's first genre, starting with Raja Harishchandra in 1913.
• Low-budget devotional films have often out-earned costly star-led epics relative to cost.
• Early silent films cast men as queens and goddesses, including actor Anna Salunke.
• Animation is now a serious theatrical format, led by Mahavatar Narsimha (2025).
• Epics, folk-deity stories and folklore horror are separate traditions worth telling apart.

Mythological films are a recent Bollywood trend built on VFX budgets. That's the common belief, and it's wrong. Mythology was the first genre Indian cinema ever made. The country's first full-length feature, released in 1913, told a story from the Puranas. Every era since has returned to the same gods, kings and epics. Each era used new technology and a new business model.

This guide follows that story date by date. It moves from Phalke's silent studio in Bombay to the ₹4,000-crore Ramayana project of 2026.

Indian Mythological Films History Began With Phalke's Silent Experiments

Indian mythological films history is the record of Indian cinema retelling the Ramayana, Mahabharata and Puranas on screen, and it began in 1913 with Dadasaheb Phalke's silent feature Raja Harishchandra, about a Puranic king known for his honesty. Over the next two decades, Phalke and his rivals filmed epic stories using male actors in female roles and simple trick photography.

Phalke's first decade of work set the pattern. Between 1913 and 1919, his films included Raja Harishchandra (1913), Mohini Bhasmasur (1913), Lanka Dahan (1917), Shri Krishna Janma (1918) and Kaliya Mardan (1919), all drawn from Hindu myth.

Raja Harishchandra and its two release dates

Raja Harishchandra is Dadasaheb Phalke's 1913 silent film about an honest Puranic king, and its release carries two dates. Raja Harishchandra premiered in Bombay on 21 April 1913, while Britannica dates its public release to May 1913 (Britannica, 2025). For date-based study, the safest approach is to note both dates and call the release "spring 1913."

Raja Harishchandra was silent. Its intertitles appeared in English, Marathi and Hindi (Wikipedia). Phalke's choice of three intertitle languages tells you something about his goal. Phalke wanted audiences across language lines, not just audiences in Bombay.

Phalke was born on 30 April 1870. He died on 16 February 1944. The Government of India set up the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 1969, and the Dadasaheb Phalke Award remains the country's highest film honour. Each of these dates makes a useful anchor if you follow Indian cinema through a daily history archive.

Lanka Dahan and the first double role

Phalke's Lanka Dahan (1917) took an episode from the Ramayana. It's often called India's first box-office hit (Il Cinema Ritrovato). Anna Salunke played both Rama and Sita in it. That made him the first actor in Indian cinema to play a double role (Wikipedia).

Phalke kept working the same seam. Shri Krishna Janma (1918) and Kaliya Mardan (1919) followed. In Kaliya Mardan, his young daughter Mandakini played the child Krishna.

Men in women's roles, and the women who broke in

Early silent sets had a practical problem. Few women would act on screen, because the work carried a social stigma. So men played queens and goddesses. Salunke had already played Queen Taramati in Raja Harishchandra before his double role in Lanka Dahan.

That changed quickly. Phalke's Mohini Bhasmasur (1913) cast Durgabai Kamat and her daughter Kamlabai Gokhale. They are widely cited as the first women to act in Indian films. Their story fits into the wider record of milestones in Indian women's history.

Sound Turned Myths Into Devotional Musicals

The devotional musical is the form Indian mythological cinema took after sound arrived in 1931: Puranic tales and saint biographies told through songs that drew devotional audiences. Regional studios in Pune, Madras and Hyderabad made these films in Marathi, Tamil and Telugu, and the early talkie decades peaked with N.T. Rama Rao's Telugu epics in the 1950s.

Three regional talkies show how quickly the shift happened: Kalidas (1931) in Tamil, Ayodhyecha Raja (1932) in Marathi from Prabhat Film Company, and Bhakta Prahlada (1932) in Telugu.

The first talkies spoke in regional languages

Alam Ara (1931) was India's first talkie, but it was a fantasy, not a myth. Mythology arrived on sound almost at once in other languages:

• Kalidas (1931): an early Tamil talkie, built around the classical poet's legend.
• Ayodhyecha Raja (1932): Prabhat Film Company's first Marathi talkie, directed by V. Shantaram. It retold Phalke's own Harishchandra story.
• Bhakta Prahlada (1932): an early Telugu talkie about the boy devotee of Vishnu.

Phalke himself made only one talkie. Gangavataran (1937) was his last film. The silent pioneer had trouble adapting to the new business of sound.

Prabhat and the saint film

The saint film became a close cousin of the mythological. Prabhat's Sant Tukaram (1936) told the life of the 17th-century Marathi poet-saint. It was screened at the Venice Film Festival in 1937. That made it one of the first Indian films shown at a major international festival, a story covered in our guide to Indian cinema on the global stage.

Saint films had one big advantage over pure myth. Their heroes were historical people, so the stories felt rooted in real places. Audiences could visit Dehu or Pandharpur after the show.

NTR and the Telugu golden age

The Telugu golden age of mythological cinema is the 1950s-era run of Telugu epics built around actor N.T. Rama Rao (NTR). N.T. Rama Rao is widely credited with first playing Krishna in Mayabazar (1957), a Telugu and Tamil Mahabharata story from Vijaya Productions (IMDb; The South First). Many Indian film histories skip this South Indian tradition.

N.T. Rama Rao went on to play most of the major roles from the Ramayana and Mahabharata, including Krishna, Rama and Duryodhana. For Telugu viewers, NTR's face became the face of the gods. Later, NTR's screen image as a god fed directly into his public life.

Low Budgets Have Repeatedly Beaten Big Ones

The strongest pattern in Indian mythological films history is simple. Small films with sincere devotion have often earned far more than their cost, while expensive star vehicles have struggled. This holds from Jai Santoshi Maa in 1975 to Mahavatar Narsimha in 2025. Television proved the same point at a far larger scale.

Jai Santoshi Maa, 1975

Jai Santoshi Maa is a low-budget 1975 film about Santoshi Maa, a goddess few Indians had heard of, that broke box-office records and grossed about ₹5 crore (Wikipedia). Jai Santoshi Maa came out in 1975, the same year as Sholay, and turned a little-known goddess into a figure of worship for audiences across north India.

The way people watched Jai Santoshi Maa matters as much as the money. Audiences brought offerings to theatres as if the theatres were temples (Wikipedia). Some viewers removed their footwear before entering. Jai Santoshi Maa didn't just tell a myth. The film spread worship of Santoshi Maa across north India.

The television interlude: Ramayan, 1987 and 2020

Ramanand Sagar's Ramayan began on Doordarshan on 25 January 1987. Sagar Arts produced it, and B.R. Chopra's Mahabharat followed in 1988. Both moved mythology from the cinema hall into the living room.

The rerun broke records three decades later. During the COVID lockdown, Doordarshan re-aired Ramayan. It drew 7.7 crore viewers on 16 April 2020. Its first weekend back drew 17 crore viewers (Deccan Herald / NewsBytes, 2020).

Budget against return, across eras

Here's how the numbers compare. Figures are reported estimates, not audited accounts.

One caution belongs here. Small-budget wins are easy to remember, and small-budget flops are easy to forget. Nobody tracks the dozens of cheap devotional films that vanished. Still, the pattern across eras is hard to ignore.

The VFX Era Split Into Hits and Warnings

Since 2023, mythology has become the base for India's biggest film bets. Results have split sharply. Adipurush became a warning about poor effects and dialogue. Hanu-Man, Kalki 2898 AD and Mahavatar Narsimha showed what works. Ramayana: Part 1 (2026) has raised the budget ceiling to a scale Indian cinema has not seen before.

Adipurush and the cost of getting tone wrong

T-Series and director Om Raut released Adipurush in June 2023. It reportedly cost ₹550 crore and fell about ₹261 crore short of that (Koimoi, 2023). Viewers criticised its VFX. They also objected to dialogue that felt too casual for the characters.

The lesson is about tone, not just effects. Audiences forgive simple sets, as Jai Santoshi Maa proved. They're far less forgiving when sacred figures sound flippant.

Hanu-Man, Kalki and the animated turn

Three recent films showed different routes to success:

1. Hanu-Man (January 2024): Primeshow Entertainment framed Hanuman's powers as a superhero origin story. It cost about ₹40–50 crore and grossed ₹298–350 crore (Wikipedia; Koimoi, 2024).
2. Kalki 2898 AD (June 2024): It blended the Mahabharata with science fiction and grossed $125.9M worldwide (Box Office Mojo).
3. Mahavatar Narsimha (July 2025): This animated film cost about ₹40 crore and grossed about ₹327 crore. That makes it the highest-grossing Indian animated film (Outlook/Sacnilk, 2026).

Animation deserves more attention than it gets. Hombale Films and Kleem Productions have announced a seven-film Mahavatar Cinematic Universe running to 2037. Mahavatar Parshuram (2027) and Raghunandan (2029) come next (ANI; Hollywood Reporter India, 2025).

Ramayana: Part 1, November 2026

Nitesh Tiwari's Ramayana: Part 1 opened on 5 November 2026. Ranbir Kapoor plays Rama, Sai Pallavi plays Sita and Yash plays Ravana. The two parts together carry a reported budget above ₹4,000 crore ($445M). That's described as the most expensive Indian film project ever (The National, 2026). Yash, who also co-produces, says the figure covers both parts, VFX, global distribution and international marketing (The Week, 2026). Namit Malhotra's Prime Focus and DNEG handled the effects.

Early returns are large. The film opened with ₹64.85 crore net. Early trade reports put it at ₹1,028 crore worldwide gross after eight days, passing ₹1,100 crore by day nine (Sacnilk; IWMBuzz, Nov 2026). These numbers are still moving.

Critic Taran Adarsh called Ramayana a "huge brand" and said rival films were right to shift their release dates (Outlook, 2026). Trade analyst Atul Mohan noted that its US pre-sales of $2.5–3M matched what some big films earn in their entire run (Outlook, 2026).

Indian Mythological Films History Makes Sense Only in Dates

Indian mythological films history is easiest to learn as a dated sequence. Each milestone links to a specific day you can look up. Lining films up by date also shows a key distinction. Epic retellings, folk-deity stories and folklore horror are different traditions, even though they often get grouped together.

Epics, folk deities and folklore are not the same

These three labels get mixed up often. Here's a clearer split:

• Epic and Puranic films retell the Ramayana, Mahabharata or Puranas. Examples include Lanka Dahan, Mayabazar and Ramayana: Part 1.
• Folk-deity films centre on local gods and living rituals. Kantara draws on the Bhoota Kola tradition of coastal Karnataka. Jai Santoshi Maa also fits here more than with the epics.
• Folklore horror uses village legends with no scripture behind them. Maddock Films' Stree universe belongs in this group.

The distinction matters for students. A Bhoota Kola ritual is a living practice, while the Ramayana is a written epic with many versions. Treating them as one genre blurs real regional history, a theme our piece on record runs in regional cinema explores.

A date card timeline

Use these as quick reference cards:

• 21 April 1913: Raja Harishchandra premieres in Bombay (public release May 1913).
• 1917: Lanka Dahan becomes an early box-office hit.
• 1936: Prabhat releases Sant Tukaram.
• 1937: Phalke's only talkie, Gangavataran, releases.
• 16 February 1944: Dadasaheb Phalke dies.
• March 1957: Mayabazar releases, with NTR as Krishna.
• 1969: The Dadasaheb Phalke Award is established.
• 1975: Jai Santoshi Maa breaks box-office records.
• 25 January 1987: Ramayan begins on Doordarshan.
• 16 April 2020: The Ramayan rerun draws 7.7 crore viewers.
• 12 January 2024: Hanu-Man releases.
• 5 November 2026: Ramayana: Part 1 releases.

Where date-based study falls short

Exact dates are harder to pin down for early films. Premieres, public releases and regional releases often differ by weeks. Raja Harishchandra is the best-known case. Many silent films also survive only in fragments, so release details come from ads and memoirs rather than prints. When two sources disagree, note both dates. A future guide to Dadasaheb Phalke Award winners by year will follow the same rule.

Related Reading

• Milestones in Indian Women's History: A Chronological Guide
• 1,000 Years of Indian Medical History: A Chronological Guide
• Economic Milestones in Indian History: From 1947 to Present
• What Are the Major Events in Indian History? (FAQ Archive)

FAQ

Q: What was the first Indian mythological film? Raja Harishchandra by Dadasaheb Phalke is widely treated as the first. It premiered in Bombay on 21 April 1913, with Britannica dating its public release to May 1913. It was also India's first full-length feature film.

Q: Why did men play female roles in early Indian films? Acting on screen carried a social stigma for women in the 1910s. Phalke cast Anna Salunke as Queen Taramati and later as Sita. Durgabai Kamat and Kamlabai Gokhale broke this barrier in Mohini Bhasmasur (1913).

Q: Which Indian mythological film made the most money relative to its budget? Among recent films, Mahavatar Narsimha (2025) grossed about ₹327 crore on a budget of about ₹40 crore. That's roughly 8x its cost (Outlook/Sacnilk, 2026). Hanu-Man (2024) shows a similar pattern.

Q: Is Kantara a mythological film? It's better described as a folk-deity film. Kantara draws on the Bhoota Kola ritual tradition of coastal Karnataka, not on the Ramayana or Mahabharata. Separating the two helps you study regional religious history more accurately.

Pick one date from this timeline today, such as 21 April 1913 or 25 January 1987. Look it up in the IndiaOnThisDay daily archive and note what else happened in India that same week. Keep a running list of dates in a notebook as you go. Seeing films beside the events around them turns a list of releases into real history.

Sources

1. Raja Harishchandra — Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2025. Supports: Phalke's Raja Harishchandra (1913) is generally treated as India's first full-length feature film, and Britannica gives its release date.
2. Anna Salunke — Wikipedia. Supports: Anna Salunke played both Rama and Sita in Lanka Dahan (1917), the first double role in Indian cinema.
3. Jai Santoshi Maa — Wikipedia. Supports: Jai Santoshi Maa came out in 1975 and grossed about ₹5 crore (₹50 million).
4. With 7.7cr viewers in one day, 'Ramayan' creates world record — NewsBytes, 2020. Supports: The lockdown rerun of Ramayan on Doordarshan drew 7.7 crore viewers on 16 April 2020.
5. From Lord Krishna to army officer: Roles that endeared NTR to the masses — The News Minute, 2023. Supports: N.T. Rama Rao first played Lord Krishna in Mayabazar (1957) and was often cast as Krishna and Rama.
6. Kalki 2898 AD — Box Office Mojo. Supports: Kalki 2898 AD (June 2024) grossed $125.9M worldwide.
7. Ramayana Budget, Cast Fee, VFX Details, Runtime - All You Need To Know — Outlook India, 2026. Supports: The two-part Ramayana has a reported ₹4,000 crore budget, described as India's most expensive film ever.
8. Ramayana Part One Box Office Collection Day 8: Ranbir Kapoor's Film Crosses ₹1000 Crore Worldwide — Outlook India, Nov 2026. Supports: Ramayana: Part 1 passed ₹1,000 crore worldwide gross after eight days.