A note on Prabhat Film Co and its founders

There were five people who were mainly responsible for
the formation of Prabhat Film Company in June 1929.
V Shantaram, Vishnupant Damle, Fatehlal Sheikh (called
Saheb Mama), Keshavrao Dhaibar ('dhaayabar'), and
Sitaram-bapu Kulkarni. The first four names were artists
in Baburao Painter's Kolhapur based Maharashtra Film
Company in the 1920s. Shantaram Bapu was junior to Damle;
he later claimed that Damle conceived a dislike for him
the very first time they had met, around 1920. Damle Mama
and Saheb Mama looked after the arts and technical sides.
VaNakudre Shantaram and Dhaibar were actors and also
interested in direction. In 1927/28, Painter asked
Shantaram, allegedly his favourite and a chamcha, and
Dhaibar to direct the film 'Netaji Palkar' jointly. Damle
and Fatehlal directed 'Maharathi KarNa'. Both films were
hits. But Painter hired an outsider to direct his next
film at a vastly higher salary and became moody and vain.
Damle and Fatehlal (or Fattelal) discussed starting their
own company. They knew Shantaram was a vital cog in
Painter's set-up and that he was also dissatisfied with
Painter despite his strong attachment to him. Shantaram
says Damle overcame his dislike for him and suggested
that they should concentrate their efforts under one
banner. Thus Prabhat was formed. It was Baburao
Pendharkar who suggested the name PRABHAT. Sitaram Bapu
was the chief financer. After producing 6 silent films,
Prabhat entered the sound era with Ayodhyaa Kaa Raajaa in
1932. The general practice was to produce a film both in
Hindi and Marathi. In late 1933, Prabhat moved from
Kolhapur to Pune.

In the meantime, Painter's company folded up. He
expressed a desire to work for Prabhat and was absorbed
in the set-up. Shantaram's cousins - Baburao Pendharkar,
Bhalji Pendharkar and Master Vinayak - were also
associated with Prabhat. In 1943, Shantaram left Prabhat
and founded Rajkamal. After 1944, it was all downhill for
Prabhat and the company had to be closed in 1953 because
of financial difficulties. V Damle had died in the 1940s.
The prints of Prabhat's films were sold in an auction
after the company closed down in 1953. A Tamilian named
Mudliyar bought them. In 1970, Anantrao Damle, son of
Vishnupant Damle, tried to buy back the prints of the
films. (Anantrao Damle died in 2001. His wife Aruna-bai
Damle is also well-versed about the era and has written a
book on Marathi films.) Mudliyar gave back the prints and
expressed happiness that Maharashtra's cultural treasure
was returning to its home.

Anil Damle, the late Anantrao Damle's son, is currently
involved in transferring Prabhat's films to VHS and
exploring the DVD option. Some films or songs are
available commercially. I don't know whether www.neelam.com
is familiar with the work the Damle family is doing. But
they might be a good bet for getting the commercial
releases in North America. Ayodhyaa Kaa Raajaa (Hindi)
and Ayodhyechaa Raajaa (its Marathi version) are the
earliest talkies which are still available. The Hindi
version is preserved in some format in full. I don't know
whether the original print survived the recent fire. Anil
Damle told me they are transferring films to VCD, VHS and
DVD slowly depending on demand and the availability of
time and money. The Marathi version of Ayodhyecha Raja is
available in the VHS format.

http://www.prabhatfilms.com/memorabalia-sale.htm

- dn

Anil Damle is the grandson of Late Vishnupant Damle, one
of the founders of Prabhat Films. Bapu Watwe had seen the
Prabhat era at close quarters, is an authority on the era
and has written on the topic. Bapu is related to the Damle
family. I requested Anil Damle to ask Bapu some questions.
He promptly emailed me the answers.

Vasanti, the child actress who made her debut with
Prabhat, is the same woman who later acted in Ranjit
Movietone's films. Her duet with Vishnupant Pagnis for
Gyan Dutt's Sant Tulsidas ('maalii, maalii, mere man kii
bagiyaa phuulii') is a brilliant example of soulful
singing. After Jayant Desai left Ranjit to start on his
own, Vasanti acted and sang in at least one film of his,
again with Pagnis, and Kaushalya. I wonder whether their
songs in Bhakta Raj - 1943, one of C Ramchandra's earliest
films, are available. Vasanti Ghorpade was daughter of
Vinayakrao Ghorpade. Vinayakrao's sister Tanibai Ghorpade
was one of the greatest classical singers but she quit
singing in 1909 and no samples exist.Tanibai was all but
legally married to Bapusaheb Kagalkar (kaagalakar), who
was the local prince's brother. She is probably better
known as Tanibai Kagalkar. I had made a post on Tanibai on
rmic last year. Tanibai took active interest in Kolhapur's
film industry right until her death in 1931.

One Tanibai had acted in Maayaa Machchhindra - 1932. This
woman hailed from Kagal and belonged to Dombari caste. Her
name was Tanibai Dawari. Dombaris perform stunts on the
road like doing somersaults, walking on rope.

Buwa Saheb, a frequent presence in Prabhat's films, is a
different man than Phulaji Buwa Saheb who had sung 'surya
dev jagdish tej' in Ram Rajya (1943). Prabhat's Buwa
Saheb's surname was Desai.

Sant Tukaram was dubbed in Hindi and released in 1948,
12 years after the original was released in Marathi. The
Marathi version was selected among the best 3 films in a
Film Festival in Venice in the late 1930s. Keshavrao Bhole
was the MD in 1936 and Pagnis had sung many songs. The
Hindi version had to be dubbed because it was made after
Pagnis' death. Narendra Sharma adapted the lyrics into
Hindi, V G Bhatkar (better known by his pen-name Snehal
Bhatkar) was the MD. The songs were sung by Bhatkar
himself and Manik Dadarkar (later Manik Verma).

Baburao Apte, Shanta Apte's brother, did not act in
Prabhat's films. Anant Apte played female roles in
Prabhat's silent films in the late 1920s, under the name
'Kumari Anant Apte'. (Anant Marathe, Ram Marathe's younger
brother, is a different fellow.) Bapu Watwe said that Ram
Apte acted in one film only. He must have been referring
to Prabhat's films only because Ram Apte's name can be
seen in the credits for some Ranjit Movietone films.
I guess Ram Apte of Prabhat and Ram Apte of Ranjit should
be the same person.

- dn

One more piece of information is that all films by Prabhat
which were still available 15-20 years ago have been
transferred to some medium. The technical term for that
medium is not known to me. Films like Sairandhri were
lost long time ago. But the recent fire in Pune which
consumed original prints of many films has affected
Prabhat's films relatively little. The exact list of films
whose print was destroyed in the fire is still not known.
Some people say the original reels of Prabhat's Aadmi,
Manoos (Marathi) and a few other films have been destroyed.
But Aadmi and Manoos are available on VHS now. To
repeat, other Prabhat Films whole original print was destroyed
in the fire also survive in some form. Efforts are on to convert
all of them to VHS/VCD/DVD form.

- dn