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V. Shantaram
V. Shantaram
	Shantaram in 1938
Born	Shantaram Rajaram Vankudre; 18 November 1901; Kolhapur, Kolhapur State, British India
Died	30 October 1990 (aged 88); Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Nationality	Indian
Other names	Annasaheb
Occupations	Film director; film producer; screenwriter; actor;
Years active	1921–1987
Spouses	; Vimalabai; (m. 1921) ; Jayashree; (m. 1941; div. 1956) ; Sandhya; (m. 1956)
Awards	Best Director ; 1957 Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baaje ; Best Film ; 1958 Do Aankhen Barah Haath ; Dadasaheb Phalke Award ; 1985 ; Padma Vibhushan ; 1992 ;

Shantaram Rajaram Vankudre (18 November 1901 – 30 October 1990), also known as V. Shantaram or Shantaram Bapu, was an Indian film director, film producer, screenwriter and actor known for his work in Hindi and Marathi films.^[2] He is best known for films such as Dr. Kotnis Ki Amar Kahani (1946), Amar Bhoopali (1951), Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baaje (1955), Do Aankhen Barah Haath (1957), Navrang (1959), Duniya Na Mane (1937), Pinjara (1972), Chani, Iye Marathiche Nagari and Zunj.

Career

V. Shantaram started his film career doing odd jobs in Maharashtra Film Co. owned by Baburao Painter at Kolhapur.^[3] He went on to debut as an actor in the silent film Surekha Haran in 1921.^[4]

Shantaram, fondly known as Annasaheb (अण्णासाहेब), had an illustrious career as a filmmaker for almost seven decades. He was one of the early filmmakers to realize the efficacy of the film medium as an instrument of social change and used it successfully to advocate humanism on one hand and expose bigotry and injustice on the other. V. Shantaram had a very keen interest in music. It is said that he "ghost wrote" music for many of his music directors, and took a very active part in the creation of music. Some of his songs had to rehearsed several times before they were approved by V. Shantaram. ^[5] He was praised by Charlie Chaplin for his Marathi film Manoos. Chaplin reportedly liked the film to a great extent.^[6]

He directed his first film Netaji Palkar, in 1927.^[7] In 1929, he founded the Prabhat Film Company along with Vishnupant Damle, K.R. Dhaiber, S. Fatelal and S.B. Kulkarni, which made Ayodhyecha Raja, the first Marathi language film in 1932 under his direction.^[8] He left Prabhat co. in 1942 to form "Rajkamal Kalamandir" in Mumbai.^[9] In time, "Rajkamal" became one of the most sophisticated studios of the country.^[10]^[11]

Shantaram introduced his daughter Rajshree and Jeetendra in the 1964 film Geet Gaya Patharon Ne. He also introduced his third wife Sandhya's niece Ranjana Deshmukh into the Marathi film industry through Chandanachi Choli Ang Ang Jaali, directed by his son Kiran Shantaram in 1975. Ranjana dominated the Marathi silver screen in the '70s and '80s.

The Dadasaheb Phalke Award was conferred on him in 1985.^[12] He was posthumously awarded the Padma Vibhushan in 1992.^[13]

His autobiography Shantarama was published in Hindi and Marathi.^[12]^[14]

The V. Shantaram Award was constituted by Central Government and Maharashtra State Government. The V. Shantaram Motion Picture Scientific Research and Cultural Foundation, established in 1993, offers various awards to film-makers. The award is presented annually on 18 November.^[12] A postage stamp dedicated to Shantaram was released by India Post on 17 November 2001.

Early life

Shantaram was born in 1901 at Kolhapur to a Marathi Jain family.^[15] Shantaram was maternal cousin of famous Marathi film director Master Vinayak,^[16] (father of Bollywood actress Nanda).^[17] He used to live at Panhala near Kolhapur in Maharashtra state.

Personal life

In 1921, aged 20, he married 12-year-old Vimalabai in a match arranged by their families. They had four children: son Prabhat Kumar (after whom Shantaram named his movie company) and daughters Saroj, Madhura and Charusheela. Saroj, the eldest daughter, is married to Soli Engineer, a Parsi, and they run the Valley View Grand Resort at Panhala near Kolhapur, built on Shantaram's farmhouse, which was inherited by Saroj. Shantaram's second daughter, Madhura, is the wife of Pandit Jasraj and mother of music director Shaarang Dev Pandit and of TV personality Durga Jasraj.^[18] Shantaram's third daughter, Charusheela, is the mother of former film actor Siddharth Ray.

In 1941, Shantaram married actress Jayashree (née Kamulkar), with whom he had worked in several films, including Shakuntala (1942). He had three children with Jayashree: a son, the Marathi film director and producer Kiran Shantaram,^[19]^[20] and two daughters, the actress Rajshree and Tejashree. The couple divorced in 1956.^[21]

In 1956, just before the law was changed to prohibit polygamy for Hindus, Shantaram married another of his leading ladies, the actress Sandhya (née Vijaya Deshmukh), who had starred in his films Amar Bhoopali and Parchaiyan and would go on to star in many of his future films like Do Aankhen Barah Haath, Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baaje, Navrang, Jal Bin Machhli Nritya Bin Bijli and Sehra. They did not have any children together, but Sandhya bonded strongly with Vimalabai and her children.

Shantaram's great-nephews Swastik Karnatki and Karan Gurbaxani are also Directors in Mumbai.

Death

Shantaram died on 30 October 1990 in Mumbai.^[22] He was survived by his three wives and seven children.

Vimalabai died in 1996 after being bedridden for four years. Jayashree died peacefully in her sleep in 2003.

V. Shantaram worked in railway workshop Hubballi, Karnataka State

V. Shantaram's family moved from Kolhapur to Hubbbali also known as Hubli in Dharwar district, Bombay state Now Karnataka in 1917 facing a tough time financially. Shantaram, then a teenager joined the railway workshop at Hubballi as a fitter for a salary of 8 annas (50 paise) per day. Impressed by his hard work his salary was raised to 12 annas per day. In the evenings he worked as a door keeper at NEW Deccan Cinema Theatre at Hubballi. Although he was not paid for this job, he was allowed to watch all movies screened for free. There he watched movies of Dadasaheb Phalke, father of Indian Cinema, and developed a passion for the movies. He learnt photography and sign board painting in Hubballi. He later said that the first time he touched a camera, he instantly connected to it.

Filmography

As actor

Surekha Haran (1921)
Sinhagad (1923)
Savkari Pash (1925)
Stri (1961)
Parchhain (1952)
Do Ankhen Barah Haath (1957)

As producer

Bhakticha Mala (1944)
Maali (1944)
Banwasi (1948)
Sehra (1963)
Geet Gaya Patharon Ne (1964)
Vanvaas (1967)
Ladki Sahyadri Ki (1966)
Jal Bin Machhli Nritya Bin Bijli (1971)
Raja Rani Ko Chahiye Pasina (1978)
Jhanjhaar (1987)

As director

Source: IMDB^[23]

Awards and recognition

Recognition

2017 – on 18 November 2017, Google honored Shantaram on his 116th Birthday with a Google Doodle on their Indian front page.^[24]^[25]
1952 – Amar Bhoopali (The Immortal Song) competed at the 1952 Cannes Film Festival.^[26]

Awards

1952 Cannes Film Festival – Vulcan Award - Technical Grand Prize for Direction^[27]
1955 – All India Certificate of Merit for Best Feature Film – Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baaje^[28]
1955 – President's Silver Medal for Best Feature Film in Hindi – Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baaje^[28]
1957 – President's Gold Medal for the All India Best Feature Film – Do Aankhen Barah Haath^[29]
1957 – President's Silver Medal for Best Feature Film in Hindi – Do Aankhen Barah Haath^[29]
1957 – Filmfare Award for Best Director – Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baaje
1958 – Berlin International Film Festival, OCIC Award – Do Aankhen Barah Haath^[30]^[31]
1958 – Berlin International Film Festival, Silver Bear (Special Prize) – Do Aankhen Barah Haath^[30]^[31]
1959 - 16th Golden Globe Awards, Samuel Goldwyn International Film Award – Do Aankhen Barah Haath (won)^[32]^[33]^[34]
1985 – Dadasaheb Phalke Award
1992 – Padma Vibhushan (posthumous)

References

^ Dadasaheb Phalke Award filmography. ultraindia.com Archived 7 December 2009 at the Wayback Machine
^ Tilak, Shrinivas (2006). Understanding Karma: In Light of Paul Ricoeur's Philosophical Anthropology and Hemeneutics. International Centre for Cultural Studies. p. 306. ISBN 978-81-87420-20-0. Retrieved 19 June 2012.
^ Biography – The V. Shantaram Centennial Collection Archived 2 September 2013 at the Wayback Machine
^ Remembering the Pioneer screenindia.
^ Narwekar, Kiran Shantaram with Sanjit (2003). V. Shantaram, the legacy of the Royal Lotus. New Delhi: Rupa & Co. ISBN 978-81-291-0218-8.
^ Charlie Chaplin saluted V. Shantaram. In.movies.yahoo.com (18 November 2013). Retrieved on 2018-11-20.
^ Lal, S. (1 January 2008). 50 Magnificent Indians Of The 20Th Century. Jaico Publishing House. pp. 274–. ISBN 978-81-7992-698-7. Retrieved 20 February 2015.
^ A navrang of Shantaram's films – Retrospective The Hindu, 2 May 2002. Archived 1 September 2010 at the Wayback Machine
^ Founders Prabhat Film Company Archived 3 September 2013 at the Wayback Machine
^ Well ahead of his times The Hindu, 30 November 2001. Archived 1 February 2011 at the Wayback Machine
^ Scroll Staff (18 November 2017). "Google doodle honours V Shantaram on his 116th birth anniversary". Scroll.in.
^ ^a ^b ^c 17th Awardee Dada Saheb Phalke Awards, List of Awardees. Archived 25 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine
^ Official List of Awardees Padma Vibhushan. Archived 15 November 2012 at the Wayback Machine
^ "50 years of a Shantaram classic". Times of India. 28 September 2006. Archived from the original on 11 August 2009. Retrieved 8 August 2011.
^ Lyden, John (2009). The Routledge Companion to Religion and Film. Taylor & Francis. pp. 148–. ISBN 978-0-415-44853-6.
^ "Remembering Master Vinayak on his 113th birth anniversary". 19 January 2019.
^ "Nanda: The little-known life of a screen goddess".
^ Jai ho! Jasraj. The Hindu. 8 October 2007.
^ Gavankar, Nilu N. (26 July 2011). The Desai Trio and the Movie Industry of India. AuthorHouse. p. 139. ISBN 978-1-4685-9981-7. Retrieved 5 May 2013.
^ Mishra, Ambarish (28 September 2006). "50 years of a Shantaram classic". The Times of India. Retrieved 22 September 2014.
^ ""My father married the women he loved"". 29 October 2015.
^ Biography American Film Institute.
^ "IMDB Profile films". IMDB. Archived from the original on 4 September 2013. Retrieved 16 October 2011.
^ "V. Shantaram's 116th Birthday". www.google.com. Retrieved 17 November 2017.
^ V. Shantaram Google Doodle | Biography of V. Shantaram. YouTube (17 November 2017). Retrieved on 2018-11-20.
^ "Awards for Amar Bhoopali (1951)". Internet Movie Database. Archived from the original on 4 September 2013. Retrieved 20 February 2009.
^ "AMAR BHOOPALI". Festival de Cannes.
^ ^a ^b "3rd National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 November 2013. Retrieved 1 September 2011.
^ ^a ^b "5th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 November 2013. Retrieved 2 September 2011.
^ ^a ^b Awards for Do Aankhen Barah Haath Internet Movie Database. Archived 4 September 2013 at the Wayback Machine
^ ^a ^b "Berlin Film Festival: Prize Winners". berlinale.de. Archived from the original on 15 October 2013. Retrieved 1 January 2010.
^ "Do Ankhen Barah Haath (1957) - Awards - IMDb". IMDb.
^ "Do Ankhen Barah Haath (1958) - Awards". IMDb. Archived from the original on 4 September 2013. Retrieved 8 May 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
^ "Do Ankhen Barah Haath (Two Eyes, Twelve Hands)".

Biographies

Shantaram, Kiran & Narwekar, Sanjit; V Shantaram: The Legacy of the Royal Lotus, 2003, Rupa & Co., ISBN 978-81-291-0218-8.
Banerjee, Shampa; Profiles, five film-makers from India: V. Shantaram, Raj Kapoor, Mrinal Sen, Guru Dutt, Ritwik Ghatak Directorate of Film Festivals, National Film Development Corp, 1985.
Pandit Jasraj, Madhura, V. Shantaram: The Man Who Changed Indian Cinema, Hay House, 2015^[1]