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Quaid Najmi

4 January 2025 at 3:26:24 pm

AI’s Maharaja smiles joyfully

All 30 grounded aircrafts now fly Mumbai : Air India’s Maharaja is all pleased as punch at 80. After years of huge costs and efforts, the last of the grounded 30 aircraft – inherited by the Tata Group during the privatization in Jan. 2022 – is now resurrected fully and took to the skies gracefully on Monday.   The aircraft is the gleaming VT-ALL, a Boeing 777-300ER, that was gathering grime since February 2020, and becomes the final among the two-and-half dozen aircraft that have been revved...

AI’s Maharaja smiles joyfully

All 30 grounded aircrafts now fly Mumbai : Air India’s Maharaja is all pleased as punch at 80. After years of huge costs and efforts, the last of the grounded 30 aircraft – inherited by the Tata Group during the privatization in Jan. 2022 – is now resurrected fully and took to the skies gracefully on Monday.   The aircraft is the gleaming VT-ALL, a Boeing 777-300ER, that was gathering grime since February 2020, and becomes the final among the two-and-half dozen aircraft that have been revved up and revived in the past few years, AI official sources said.   It marked a symbolic milestone for Air India itself - founded in 1932 by the legendary Bharat Ratna J. R. R. Tata - which once ruled the roost and was India’s pride in the global skies.   Once renowned for its royal service with the iconic Maharaja welcoming fliers on board, in 1953 it was taken over by the government of India. After years of piling losses, ageing aircraft, decline in operations and standards – almost like a Maharaja turning a pauper - it returned to the Tata Group four years ago.   This time it was not just the aircraft, the brand and the deflated Maharaja coming into the large-hearted Tata Group stables, but a formidable challenge to ensure that the airline could regain its old glory and glitter. Of the total around 190 aircraft in its fleet were 30 – or 15 pc – that had been grounded and neglected for years.   At that time, the late Ratan N. Tata had directed that all these valuable aircraft must be revived as far as possible and join the fleet. Accordingly, the VT-ALL, languishing at Nagpur for nearly five years, was ‘hospitalized’ at the Air India Engineering Service Ltd., its MRO facility in May 2025.   New Avatar Then started a thorough, painstaking nose-to-tail restoration of an unprecedented scale, in which over 3000 critical components were replaced, over 4,000 maintenance tasks executed, besides key structural upgrades like the longeron modification, engines, auxiliary power units, avionics, hydraulics, landing gears and almost every vital system was rebuilt or replaced.   After the repairs, the old aircraft was reborn, under the gaze of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation and technical assistance from Boeing, and the new ‘avatar’ jetliner emerged with the highest global safety standards.   The aircraft cleared all the rigorous checks, a successful test flight, earned the mandatory Airworthiness Review Certificate and then made its maiden commercial flight from Monday, March 16 – after a wait of six years.   Sturdy Fliers Created in 1946 to become an instant global icon, the Air India’s mascot Maharaja now sports a youthful and chic look, a welcome with folded hands, closed eyes, featuring a bejewelled turban, stylish jootis, and a textured kurta in Air India’s new colours. He is prominently visible at various touch-points in a flyer’s journey, such as First Class, exclusive lounges, and luxury products.   Today, he commands a mix fleet of around 190 narrow and wide-body Airbus and Boeing aircraft like : A319, A320, A320neo, A321, A321neo, A350-900 and B787-8, B787-9, B7770200LR, B-777-300ER. With the merger of Vistara and agreements signed for 10 A350 and 90 A320 aircraft, the Maharaja’s fleet is slated to soar to some 570 in the near future.

Phalke's kin unveil website on his death anniversary

Updated: Feb 18, 2025

Phalke

Mumbai: In a unique initiative, the descendants of the Father of Indian Cinema, Dhundiraj Govind Phalke – revered as ‘Dadasaheb Phalke’ – dedicated a first official website in his memory on his 81st death anniversary, on Sunday.


The heirs of the Phalke clan unveiled the website, ‘Dadasaheb Phalke International Awareness Mission’ (www.dpiam.org.in) at a function in Dadasaheb Phalke Chitranagari on Sunday, an excited grandson Chandrashekhar Pusalkar-Phalke and his wife Mrudula told The Perfect Voice.


Born in Trimbakeshwar (Nashik), Dadasaheb Phalke (April 30, 1870-Feb. 16, 1944) – his original surname of ‘Bhat’ – was educated in Mumbai and Baroda (now, in Gujarat).


A humble, unpretentious and multi-faceted personality, he went down in Indian history as the producer-director of the first feature film, “Raja Harishchandra” (released May 3, 1913), made after great personal sacrifices.


Interestingly his ancestors, the Bhats, were engaged in supplying cut banana leaves to the Peshwas, and the vocation was traditionally known as ‘Phalke’, hence that occupational surname stuck, and later became historical.


As the country, then under colonial rule, remained in awe of the maiden silent film, Dadasaheb Phalke made two more films, “Mohini Bhasmasur” (1913) and “Satyavan Savitri” (1914). He shot into limelight with the first-ever blockbuster hit film of India, “Lanka Dahan” (1917), in which he also introduced the fascinating concept of a ‘double-role character’.


The Pusalkars said that their grandpa unfailingly credited his doting wife, Saraswati Phalke for his success in film-making - that has now mushroomed into a gigantic entertainment industry that ranks among the biggest money-spinners for the national economy.


“He made 75 films, of which only one was a talkie, ‘Gangavataran’ in 1937. Many of his films were very popular, and he was a visionary, a trendsetter in several aspects of film-making which inspired future generations,” said the Pusalkar couple.


Explaining the objectives behind the website, Pusalkar said that in the past so many years, Dadasaheb Phalke’s name has been grossly misused and even exploited for pecuniary gains through fly-by-night operators all over India.


“Such elements brazenly organize functions, mega-events, dole out awards in his name claiming them as ‘genuine’, collect funds, etc. which has occasionally landed the Phalke family into trouble. So, we decided to do something about it, starting with this dedicated website,” Pusalkar said.


Henceforth, the Pusalkars declared that “any and all functions anywhere in India or the world using Dadasaheb Phalke’s name unauthorizedly would attract legal action”, unless they secure the prior written permission from the Phalke Family.


However, the Government of India’s prestigious ‘Dadasaheb Phalke Award’ (under the National Film Awards) instituted in 1969 for the country’s top film personalities will not come under the DPIAM’s purview, they assured.


“My grandfather-in-law was reduced to a mere ‘product’ and all these unscrupulous elements ‘sold’ him in their dubious ‘dukaans’ to reap huge profits. We are hopeful that all this will now stop as even the ordinary masses become aware of such racketeering,” gushed Mrudula.


The website provides many unknown gems from Dadasaheb Phalke’s life and times, how he was inclined to the fine arts from a very tender age.


He acquired a degree from the Sir J. J. School of Arts (founded 1857) in Mumbai, followed by the Advanced Fine Arts Training from Kala Bhavan (founded 1890) in Baroda, before confidently stepping into the mysterious world of entertainment.


Describing him as “an accidental film-maker”, Pusalkar said his granddad was equally proficient in other fields like drawing, painting, photography, model-making, theatre, printing and had mastered the art of magic from the American wizard, Carl Hertz (1859-1924), but it was films that made him an icon.


The family has been appealing to confer India’s top civilian award ‘Bharat Ratna’ on Dadasaheb Phalke.

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