Sinhagad (1923)

India's first full-scale historical and the Maharashtra Studio's costliest film to date. Based on a classic by the best-known 19th/early 20th-C. Marathi novelist, it retells a famous episode in the military career of the 17th-C. Maratha emperor Shivaji (Painter) and his lieutenant, the folk hero Tanaji Malusare (Yadav). It features Tanaji's invasion of Fort Sinhagad in the dead of night, using his pet lizard to run up the wall with a rope, and his death in victory. The film was a major influence on subsequent Marathi cinema and on Prabhat films when Maharashtra Film's key technicians worked there. It was remade by V. Shantaram (1933) Yadav played a double role in the film.