Baburao Krishnarao Mestry, popularly known as Baburao Painter (3 June 1890 – 16 January 1954) was an Indian filmmaker and artist. He was a man of many talents with proficiency in painting, sculpture, film production, photography, and mechanical engineering.
Early life
Baburao was born in a simple family on 3 June 1890 in Kolhapur, Maharashtra. He had only studied till class four or five in a Marathi medium school. His father Krishnarao Mestry was a blacksmith and carpenter by profession, but he also excelled in painting, stone and marble sculpting along with ivory carving. Baburao inherited art from his father and learned the basics of the same from him. He also taught himself to paint and sculpt in academic art school style. In the company of his cousin brother Anandrao, he also became fascinated with oil painting, photography and film making.
Stage backdrop artist
Noted theatre artist Keshavrao Bhosale, the owner of Lalit Kaladarsh Natak Mandali (theater troupe), hailed from Kolhapur. In 1909, he invited the brothers to Mumbai to paint the stage backdrops for the plays. Between 1910 and 1916, they painted numerous backdrops for Sangeet Natak troupes like Kirloskar Natak Mandali, plays of Bal Gandharva and Gujarati Parsi theatres. The realistic stage setting and perspective-style curtains that they painted brought them immense popularity and they emerged as leading painters of stage backdrops in Western India. For their incredible work, they were addressed with the moniker painter and subsequently came to be known as Baburao Painter and Anandrao Painter.
Indigenous camera
While in Mumbai, the brothers became avid film goers after watching Raja Harishchandra (1913), directed by Dadasaheb Phalke. On their way back to Kolhapur, they decided to make a silent film. Anandrao started working on his own indigenous camera for film making. They had bought a movie projector from a Mumbai flea market and set up Shivaji Theatre, their own movie hall in Kolhapur, thinking that if they started running a cinema, they would raise money for film production. But that did not happen and the camera remained incomplete due to Anandrao's untimely demise in 1916.
Nonetheless, Baburao was determined to complete the camera. To remind him of his resolve, he kept his beard from the age of twenty three till the end of his life. Along with his disciple V. G. Damle, Baburao required two years to build the camera by doing many experiments on a lathe machine. He captured local scenes with the camera, like children jumping to swim in Rankala Lake and women washing clothes on the banks of the Panchganga River. As there was no laboratory in Kolhapur to wash the films strips, he also created the chemistry and printing machine. When he went to the theater and saw the clips, he was overjoyed to see Anandrao's dream of making an indigenous camera come true.
Film career
Maharashtra Film Company
Baburao founded the Maharashtra Film Company in 1918, which was set up on the site of today's Keshavrao Bhosale Natyagriha (previously the Palace Theatre). V. G. Damle, S. Fatehlal, writer Nanasaheb Sarpotdar and Baburao Pendharkar were with him at the time of establishment. Later, V. Shantaram also joined the company as an apprentice. Initially, Painter was short on funds to produce a movie. Shahu of Kolhapur had helped him by providing land for the studio, an electric generator and other related facilities. Whereas, Tanibai Kagalkar, a well known singer at the time, also helped him by offering Rs.1000 for film production.
Feature films
He chose the story of Seeta Swayamwar (Sita's wedding) for his first film as Hindu mythology was a popular theme that guaranteed viewership. But he could not find female artists to act in his film as women actors were looked down upon in conservative societies like that of Kolhapur. Without any compromise, he gave up the theme and moved on to the next film.
For his next venture, Baburao managed to convince Gulab Bai (a.k.a. Kamaladevi) and Anusuya Bai (a.k.a. Sushiladevi) to act in Sairandhri, making it the first Indian film to feature women artists. It was based on the mythological tale of Kichak Vadh (Slaying of Kichaka) and got censored for its graphic depiction of Bhima slaying Kichaka. The movie was released on 7 February 1920 at the Aryan theatre in Pune. When Bal Gangadhar Tilak saw the film, he was so impressed by Baburao's work that he honored him with the title Cinema Kesari and a gold medal. The commercial success and positive reviews that he received from critics for this film, motivated him to take on more ambitious projects.