Dadasaheb Phalke's house in Nashik no more exists

Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan announced in the state legislature recently that the Nashik house where Dadasaheb Phalke, the founder of Indian cinema industry, lived, will be converted into a national memorial. The only hitch in the plan could be that the house no longer exists. There is a black marble plaque pointing out the place in Gole colony in Ashok Stambh area of city where Phalke's house once stood. What stands there now is 'Janakashram', a four-storey 10-year-old building, which houses a commercial complex and an apartment owned by Phalke's grandson, Deepak Phalke. According to Madhukar Zende, senior official of the Nashik Municipal Corporation, Phalke leased this plot of land from Professor Gole in 1939, and constructed a small bungalow which he named Janakashram.