V. Shantaram started his film career doing odd jobs in Maharashtra Film Co. owned by Baburao PainteratKolhapur.[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]
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.
His autobiography Shantarama was published in Hindi and Marathi.[12][14]
Shantaram on a 2001 stamp of India
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.
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.
V. Shantaram's family moved from Kolhapur to Hubbbali also known as HubliinKarnataka in 1917 facing tough time financially. Shantaram a teenager then joined as a fitter in the railway workshop at Hubballi, 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. Though he was not paid for this job, he was allowed to watch all movies free. There he watched movies of Dadasaheb Phalke, father of Indian Cinema, and developed passion for the movies. He learnt photography and sign board painting in Hubballi. He said later that the first time he touched camera he instantly connected to it.
Shantaram, Kiran & Narwekar, Sanjit; V Shantaram: The Legacy of the Royal Lotus, 2003, Rupa & Co., ISBN978-81-291-0218-8.
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.
