SHANTARAM, 73 years of Filmmaking

V. Shantaram lived a log and presumably a very happy life, just short of 90 years. Of these he gave 73 years to the cinema. He began his professional life on his entering his teens with the legendary singer and actor, Bal Gandharva,s theatre company as a gofer and odd job boy. Within a couple of years he found employment at a local cinema and shortly after he became an assistant to the photographer, Baburao Painter. Soon, Baburao turned to filmmaking. Shantaram used the opportunity to learn all he could about cinema. He assisted in direction, production and editing and also became the principal actor in several of Painter,s films while he continued to be an odd job man. He would act in 15 films over the next nine years, plaing roles ranging from impoverished peasants and opulent princes to gods of the Hindu pantheon. In 1929, he directed his first film, Netaji Palkar, a historical film of one of the heroes of Maratha history. All this while most of his contemporaries were going through school and college. Shantaram,s university was the film studio.


At the age of 28, already a veteran actor and director, he started the Prabhat Film Studio with three of his colleagues, Fattelal, Damle and Keshavrao. For the next 13 years Prabhat Studios would produce some of the most path breaking and memorable films of the Indian cinema, a large number of them directed by Shantaram.

His early films were mainly based on mythology and history; costume dramas, which were in vogue at the time. But a stint with UFA studios in Germany in the early 1930,s seemed to have affected him quite profoundly. His lighting style and the manner of framing his images changed dramatically, his work became more expressionist and the montage techniques he used put him well ahead of the other filmmakers of his time. More importantly, the subject matter of his films had a strong reformist intent and social concern. Anti – colonial, political overtones could be seen in several of his films during the decade of the 1930,s. This was perhaps the most creative period for Shantaram, Films that are acknowledged classics today like AMRIT MANTHAN, AMAR JYOTI, DUNIYA NA MANE, ADMI and PADOSI were made during his time in Prabhat. The other filmmakers who made some remarkable films at the time were Fattelal and Damle who together directed SANT TUKARAM, the very first Indian film to wing the highest prize at the First International Film Festival at Venice in 1936.

In 1942, Shantaram broke away from Prabhat to start his own film studio, the Rajkamal Kalamandir in Bombay. Most of the films that he made at Rajkamal became huge successes commercially, but critically they were not as well received as his earlier films. Some of the memorable films he directed at Rajkamal were : DR KOTNIS KI AMAR KAHANI, DO ANKHEN BARA HAATH and LOK SHAHIR RAMJOSHI (a musical based on folk theatrical form popular in Maharashtra). This film would eventually create one of the most successful genres in Marathi cinema.

Prolific as he was as a producer and director of cinema features, Shantaram helped to set up a Film Advisory Board for the Government of India as its Chief Producer during the war years. Shantaram continuesd to be an active filmmaker until the very end. The film, Jhaanjhar was under production when he died at the age of almost 90.

When Shantaram passed away in 1990 the Indian film business as an established industry was 77 years old. He was part of it for 73 of those years.

His first 15 films were made during the silent era. His las film was made when digital technology had made its entry into the cinema. He was not necessarily the best filmmaker that India produced, but he certainly was among its most innovative, with a curiosity and passion for learning that remained with him till the end of his days. Shantaram was at his best when he dealt with social issues albeit done with rather heavy doses of melodrama and sentimentality. A large number of his films were hugely successful.

If you wish to know the history of Indian cinema you only need to read Shantaram,s autobiography.

SHYAM BENEGAL