Depictions of Gautama Buddha in film

History

The first known film about the life of Buddha was Buddhadev (English title: Lord Buddha) which was produced by the well-known Indian filmer Dadasaheb Phalke

Dadasaheb Phalke

Dhundiraj Govind Phalke, popularly known as Dadasaheb Phalke was an Indian producer-director-screenwriter, known as the father of Indian cinema...

(1870–1944) in 1923.
Two years later, another important Buddha film was released, The Light of Asia (Hindi title: Prem Sanyas). This movie was made by the German filmmaker Franz Osten

Franz Osten

Franz Osten was a German filmmaker who along with Niranjan Pal was among the first retainers of Bombay Talkies. Osten partnered with Pal on a number of India's earliest blockbuster films like Achhut Kanya and Jeevan Naiya.-Early life:He was born as Franz Ostermayr in Munich on 23 December 1876...

(1875–1956). Himansu Rai (1892–1940) played the Buddha. Its title suggests that the script was based on the book The Light of Asia composed by the British poet Sir Edwin Arnold

Edwin Arnold

Sir Edwin Arnold CSI CIE was an English poet and journalist, who is most known for his work, The Light of Asia.-Biography:...

, which was issued by the Theosophical Society

Theosophical Society

The Theosophical Society is an organization formed in 1875 to advance the spiritual principles and search for Truth known as Theosophy. The original organization, after splits and realignments has several successors...

in 1891, but, in fact, its contents deviate deliberately from Arnold's book. The film was a greater success in Europe than in India. It gives a somewhat romantic picture of the life of Buddha.
Buddhadev as well as The Light of Asia were silent film

Silent film

A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...

s.

On March 20, 1952, a Japanese feature film representing the life of Buddha had its premiere, Dedication of the Great Buddha
Dedication of the Great Buddha
is a 1952 Japanese film directed by Teinosuke Kinugasa. It was entered into the 1953 Cannes Film Festival.-Cast:* Shinobu Araki - Ryôben* Kôtarô Bandô* Kazuo Hasegawa - Kunihito Tateto* Sumiko Hidaka - Morime Ômiya* Tatsuya Ishiguro* Ryosuke Kagawa...

. Director Teinosuke Kinugasa

Teinosuke Kinugasa

-External links:* *...

(1896–1982) directed the picture under the Japanese film company Daiei Eiga. It was nominated for the 1953 Cannes Film Festival

1953 Cannes Film Festival

-Jury:*Jean Cocteau *Louis Chauvet *Titina De Filippo *Guy Desson *Philippe Erlanger *Renée Faure *Jacques-Pierre Frogerais *Abel Gance *André Lang...

.

Another film about Buddha was a documentary film

Documentary film

Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...

entitled Gotama the Buddha. It was released by the government of India in 1957 as part of the Buddha's 2500th birthday celebration. Rajbans Khanna acted as director and Bimal Roy as producer. It got an honourable mention on the filmfestival of Cannes in 1957 because of its beauty and high morality. It is a black-and-white film consisting of beautiful images of natural environments, archeological sites

Archaeological site

An archaeological site is a place in which evidence of past activity is preserved , and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology and represents a part of the archaeological record.Beyond this, the definition and geographical extent of a 'site' can vary widely,...

, reliefs and paintings, ancient ones from Ajanta

Ajanta

The Ajanta Caves in Aurangabad district of Maharashtra, India are 29 rock-cut cave monuments which date from the 2nd century BCE. The caves include paintings and sculptures considered to be masterpieces of both Buddhist religious art as well as frescos which are reminiscent of the Sigiriya...

as well as modern ones accompanied by a voice over

Voice-over

Voice-over is a production technique where a voice which is not part of the narrative is used in a radio, television production, filmmaking, theatre, or other presentations...

relating the history of Buddha.

There was a film Angulimal in 1960 that was not directly on the life of Buddha, but was on the life of a dacoit and killer who used to loot and kill innocent people and cut their finger and made a garland of such fingers to wear in his neck, thus he got the name Angulimal

Angulimala

Daku Angulimala is an important early figure in Buddhism, particularly within the Theravada suttas...

(Angluli: finger, mala: garland). The film depicts the incident that such dreaded dacoit once meets Buddha when Buddha was passing to a forest and goes ahead to kill him, but was corrected by the compassion of Buddha.

The fifth film about Buddha was a Japanese one, Shaka, produced by Kenji Misumi in 1961. It was shown in the USA in 1963 under the title Buddha. On February 13, 1964 a Korean film about the life of the Buddha had its premiere, Seokgamoni, the Korean translation of the Sanskrit Shakyamuni, which in Mahayana Buddhism

Mahayana

Mahāyāna is one of the two main existing branches of Buddhism and a term for classification of Buddhist philosophies and practice...

is the term for the historical Buddha.

In 1997 the Indian producer G.A. Sheshagiri Rao made a Buddha film. It was simply entitled Buddha. This one did not roll in cinemas, but it was only sold on dvd. This one is also the longest movie about Buddha, as it consists of five dvds with approximately 180 minutes film each.

In 2008, K. Raja Sekhar produced another Buddha film entitled Tathagata Buddha. The original film was in Telugu, but later it was dubbed in Hindi. This film relates Buddha's life story until its end, his parinirvana. The film is available on DVD.

It is known that Buddhists in countries like Sri Lanka and Burma abhor the very idea of any human being impersonating the Buddha in a film. After its release in 1925 The Light of Asia was banned in Sri Lanka and the Malay States (contemporary West Malaysia).

List of films on the life of Buddha

Date	English title	Original title	Country	Notes		1923	Lord Buddha	Buddhadev	India	Silent film by Dadasaheb Phalke Dadasaheb Phalke Dhundiraj Govind Phalke, popularly known as Dadasaheb Phalke was an Indian producer-director-screenwriter, known as the father of Indian cinema...	http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0252961/
1925	The Light of Asia	Prem Sanyas	India / Germany	Silent film by Franz Osten Franz Osten Franz Osten was a German filmmaker who along with Niranjan Pal was among the first retainers of Bombay Talkies. Osten partnered with Pal on a number of India's earliest blockbuster films like Achhut Kanya and Jeevan Naiya.-Early life:He was born as Franz Ostermayr in Munich on 23 December 1876...	http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0016240/
1952	Dedication of the Great Buddha Dedication of the Great Buddha is a 1952 Japanese film directed by Teinosuke Kinugasa. It was entered into the 1953 Cannes Film Festival.-Cast:* Shinobu Araki - Ryôben* Kôtarô Bandô* Kazuo Hasegawa - Kunihito Tateto* Sumiko Hidaka - Morime Ômiya* Tatsuya Ishiguro* Ryosuke Kagawa...		Japan	Film by Teinosuke Kinugasa Teinosuke Kinugasa -External links:* *...	http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0044528/
1957	Gotoma the Buddha Gotoma the Buddha Gotoma the Buddha is a 1956 Indian documentary film directed by Rajbans Khanna. It was entered into the 1957 Cannes Film Festival, where it won a Special Mention for Best Director and was nominated for the Golden Palm ....		India	Documentary produced by Bimal Roy Bimal Roy Bimal Roy was one of the most acclaimed Indian film directors of all time. He is particularly noted for his realistic and socialistic films like Do Bigha Zamin, Parineeta, Biraj Bahu, Madhumati, Sujata, and Bandini, making him an important director of Hindi cinema... . Director was Rajbans Khanna	http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0317595/
1960	Angulimal		India
1961	Buddha	Shaka	Japan	Film by Kenji Misumi	http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054706/
1964	Shakyamuni Buddha	Seokgamoni	South Korea	Film by Il-ho Jang	http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0353995/
1967	Gautama the Buddha		India	Rerelease of Bimal Roy's documentary	http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0169962/
1989	Buddha		India	Short documentary	http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096990/
1993	Little Buddha Little Buddha Little Buddha is a 1994 feature film by Italian director Bernardo Bertolucci, starring Bridget Fonda and Keanu Reeves. Made by Bertolucci's regular partner, British producer Jeremy Thomas, it marked the team's return to the East after The Last Emperor....		Italy / France / Liechtenstein / UK	Film by Bernardo Bertolucci Bernardo Bertolucci Bernardo Bertolucci is an Italian film director and screenwriter, whose films include The Conformist, Last Tango in Paris, 1900, The Last Emperor and The Dreamers... , where the life of Buddha is enacted as a story-within-a-story	http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107426/
1997	Buddha		India	Serial produced by G. Adi Sheshagiri Rao. Director was P.C. Reddy
2001	Life of Buddha	La Vie de Bouddha	India and France	Documentary produced by Martin Meissonnier Martin Meissonnier Martin Meissonnier is a French journalist, producer, director and composer. Formerly a journalist for Libération, he has made a specialty of discovering new types of music...
2004	The Legend of Buddha		India	2D animation film	http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0434147/
2007	Life of Buddha	Phra Phuttajao	Thailand	2D animation film produced by Wallapa Phimtong	The Life of Buddha The Life of Buddha The Buddha is a 2007 Thai animated feature film about the life of Gautama Buddha, based on the Tripitaka. The film was released on December 5, 2007, in celebration of Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej's 80th birthday.-Production:...
2008	Tathagata Buddha Gautama Buddha (film) Gautama Buddha - The Life and Times of Gautama Buddha is a multilingual feature film on the life and times of Buddha. The film was released in Telugu in 2007 and in other languages in 2008.- Introduction :...		India	Telugu film on DVD produced by K. Raja Sekhar
2011	Buddha		France	To be based on the book Old Path White Clouds by Thich Nhat Hanh	http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0439865/
2011	Buddha Buddha (manga) is a manga drawn by Osamu Tezuka and is Tezuka's unique interpretation of the life of Gautama Buddha, the founder of Buddhism. The critically acclaimed series is often referred to as a gritty, even sexual, portrayal of the Buddha's life. Buddha received the 2004, 2005 Eisner Award...	ブッダ	Japan	anime Anime is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons.... film based on the manga series Buddha (manga) is a manga drawn by Osamu Tezuka and is Tezuka's unique interpretation of the life of Gautama Buddha, the founder of Buddhism. The critically acclaimed series is often referred to as a gritty, even sexual, portrayal of the Buddha's life. Buddha received the 2004, 2005 Eisner Award... Buddha by Osamu Tezuka Osamu Tezuka was a Japanese cartoonist, manga artist, animator, producer, activist and medical doctor, although he never practiced medicine. Born in Osaka Prefecture, he is best known as the creator of Astro Boy, Kimba the White Lion and Black Jack...

History

List of films on the life of Buddha

See also