The life of Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, has been the subject of several films.

History The first known film about the life of Buddha was Buddhadev (English title: Lord Buddha) which was produced by the well-known Indian filmmaker Dadasaheb Phalke (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 (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, which was issued by the Theosophical Society in 1891. 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 films.

On March 20, 1952, a Japanese feature film representing the life of Buddha had its premiere, Dedication of the Great Buddha. Director Teinosuke Kinugasa (1896–1982) directed the picture under the Japanese film company Daiei Eiga. It was nominated for the 1953 Cannes Film Festival.

Another film about Buddha was a documentary film 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 honorable mention at the Cannes film festival in 1957. It is a black-and-white film consisting of beautiful images of natural environments, archeological sites, reliefs and paintings, ancient ones from Ajanta as well as modern ones accompanied by a voice over relating the history of Buddha.

The film Angulimal (1960) was not directly based on the life of Buddha, but on the life of a dacoit and killer who used to loot and kill innocent people and cut off their fingers and who made a garland of such fingers to wear around his neck, thus he got the name Angulimal (Anguli: finger, mala: garland). The film depicts an incident where the dreaded dacoit once met the Buddha when Buddha was passing by 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 US 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 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.Aloysius Pieris, Love Meets Wisdom: A Christian Experience of Buddhism, Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books 1990, p. 54, 125. After its release in 1925 The Light of Asia was banned in Sri Lanka and the Malay States (contemporary West Malaysia).Rachel Dwyer, Filming the Gods: Religion and Indian Cinema, London et al.: Routledge, p. 28.

List of films on the life of Buddha Date English title Original title Country Notes IMDB1923Lord BuddhaBuddhadev IndiaSilent film by Dadasaheb Phalke 1925The Light of AsiaPrem SanyasGermany/IndiaSilent film by Franz Osten1952Dedication of the Great BuddhaJapanFilm by Teinosuke Kinugasa1957Gotoma the Buddha IndiaDocumentary produced by Bimal Roy. Director was Rajbans Khanna1960Angulimaal India1961Buddha ShakaJapanFilm by Kenji Misumi1964Shakyamuni Buddha SeokgamoniSouth KoreaFilm by Il-ho Jang1967Gautama the Buddha IndiaRerelease of Bimal Roy's documentary 1972Siddhartha India/United StatesBased on Hermann Hesse's novel of the same name.1980The Story of Buddha釋迦牟尼 (佛祖降臨)Hong Kong/Taiwan1989BuddhaIndiaShort documentary1993Little Buddha France/Italy/Liechtenstein/United KingdomFilm by Bernardo Bertolucci, where the life of Buddha is enacted as a story-within-a-story 1997BuddhaIndiaSerial produced by G. Adi Sheshagiri Rao. Director was P.C. Reddy2001Life of BuddhaLa Vie de BouddhaFrance/IndiaDocumentary produced by Martin Meissonnier2004The Legend of BuddhaIndia2D animation film The Life of BuddhaPhra Phuttajao Thailand 2D animation film produced by Wallapa Phimtong 2008Tathagatha Buddha: The Life & Times of Gautama Buddha India Hindi film on DVD produced by K. Raja Sekhar 2009 The Rebirth of Buddha Japan Happy Science-sponsored film 2010The Buddha US Produced and directed by David Grubin Buddha: The Great Departure手塚治虫のブッダ－赤い砂漠よ！美しく－JapanAnime film based on the manga series Buddha by Osamu Tezuka 2013Siddhartha The BuddhaSri Siddhartha Gautama (ශ්‍රී සිද්ධාර්ථ ගෞතම)Sri LankaDirected by Saman Weeraman2013A Journey of Samyak Buddhaअ जर्नी आफ सम्यक बुद्ध IndiaScreenplayed and directed by Praveen Damle, based on Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar’s book The Buddha and His Dhamma.2013Biography of Buddha釋迦牟尼佛傳 Hong Kongdirected by Kwok Fai Lee2013-2014Buddha—The King of Kingsबुद्ध - राजाओं का राजाIndiaTV series in 55 episodes2014Buddha: The Inner WarriorIndia et al.To be directed by Indian film maker Pan Nalin, official website of the movie2014Buddha 2: The Endless Journey Japan Sequel to the film based on the manga series Buddha by Osamu Tezuka

See also Gautama Buddha Pali Canon & Early Buddhist Texts Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta Anattalakkhaṇa Sutta Samaññaphala Sutta Mahaparinibbana Sutta Physical characteristics of the Buddha Relics associated with Buddha Lumbini, Bodhgaya, Sarnath & Kushinagar Great Renunciation & Four sights Leela Attitude Māravijaya Attitude Meditation Attitude Naga Prok Attitude The Life of Buddha The Buddha and His Dhamma Angulimala (2003 film) Knowing Buddha

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