History of Marathi Cinema is as old as Indian cinema. The Marathi man gave birth to Indian cinema and since then the Marathi film industry has continuously contributed to the mainstream cinema simultaneously enriching the Marathi movies as well. Frankly, Marathi cinema even goes back even further than Dadasaheb Phalke. Marathi cinema took off in 19thcentury with some unusual but pathbreaking experimentation. Around 1885, Mahadev Gopal Patwardhan -a Chitpawan Kokanastha Brhamin performed a unique experiment called "Shambarika Kharolika' ( The Magic Lantern) . This much talked about experiment was akin to today’s animation. Patwardhan had hand drawn a series of small human figures with expressions smaller than 5 cm, on a 10 cm-slide. He had drawn more than 1,000 slides and he would display these slides in quick succession, there by producing animation. He performed these slide shows all over India and had also received recognition from the British government for his efforts. We can dare to call it the first animate film in India -by a Marathi film maker! The article traces the journey of Marathi cinema , its transformation from mythological stories to realistic themes. The social issues now being handled by the young , dynamic and emerging youths are being depicted on the silver screen very effectively and impressively. Unfortunately , it is not able to compete with Hindi cinema so fondly called as Bollywood, produced almost next door in Mumbai-also a capital of Marathi speaking region. However that has not deterred Marathi film makers from handling bold subjects. The regret is : Marathi audience has not yet been bold to appreciate these efforts in large numbers.

1. M
arathi cinema took off in
19th century with some
unusual experimentation.
Around 1885, Mahadev
Gopal Patwardhan performed a unique
experiment Shambarika Kharolika. This
much talked about experiment was ak
in to today’s animation. Patwardhan
Cinema Special May-June 2013 INDIA & YOU38
had hand drawn a series of small
human figures with expressions
smaller than 5 cm, on a 10 cm-slide.
He had drawn more than 1,000 slides
and he would display these slides in
quick succession, there by producing
animation. He performed these slide
shows all over India and had also
received recognition from the British
government for his efforts. The first
Marathi movie released in India was
Shree Pundalik by Dadasaheb Torne
on 18 May 1912 at ‘Coronation
Cinematograph’, Mumbai. Marathi
cinema has a unique relationship with
Indian cinema. The father of Indian
Its history is as old as Indian cinema. The Marathi man gave birth to Indian cinema and since then
the Marathi film industry has continuously contributed to the mainstream cinema simultaneously
enriching the Marathi movies as well.
100years100yearsof Marathi Cinemaof Marathi Cinema
Rajendra Shende

2. festival. His company, the Maharashtra
Film Company, was responsible for
nurturing the talents of many great
artists like H M Reddy and Nagi Reddy
from Chennai and V Shantaram, Damle,
Fattelal, Dhaybar, Baburao Pendharkar,
Master Vinayak and Nanasaheb
Sarpotdar from Maharashtra. This
company also launched many actors
like Ruby Myers, Master Vitthal,
Prithviraj Kapoor, Zebunnissa and
Lalita Pawar. Baburao’s contribution
to Indian Cinema includes innovation,
ideals, realism and social relevance. He
produced 17 silent films between1920
and 1928.
The centenary of Marathi cinema is
truly a journey of talented filmmakers
working with smaller budgets to
bring forward wider issues of the
emerging world that is transforming
the local social scenario. ‘Dadasaheb
05
cinema industry, Dada saheb Phalke
and who made the film Raja Harish
chandra in 1913 – was Marathi and the
journey of Indian cinema began from
the Coronation theatre in Bombay
(Mumbai was called then), where the
movie was released.
It was a silent film, but that silence
spoke loud and clear. The theme of the
film was about a mythological king, but
many experts believe that it symbolised
the struggle against subjugation and
silencing of the Indian expression by
the British rule.
Soon afterwards, the Marathi
cinema began flourishing and unlike
many other Indian language cinemas, it
developed simultaneously in two cities
– Bombay and Kolhapur in Western
Maharashtra and over time it also
spread to Pune. Kolhapuris the home
of art in Maharashtra. The two brothers
from Kolhapur, Anandrao and Baburao
were all-rounders in the field of art and
cinema. After the demise of Anandrao,
with grit and determination, Baburao
single-handedly created a projector
and a camera. He also created the
printing machine and the developing
speedometer. On December 1, 1918,
he founded the Maharashtra Film
Company. He produced the first film,
which had a female character in it
– Sairandhri. It was released on 7th
February 1920 in Aryan Theatre in
Pune. In 1925, Baburao produced a
socially relevant silent film Savkaari
Paash using the technique of flashback.
This became the very first India film
to be shownat an international film
Phalke’ Award given annually for the
exceptional contribution to National
level Cinema itself is testimony to the
contribution of Marathi to the Indian
Cinema.
Nanasaheb Sarpotdar, who had
earlier worked with Baburao Painter,
founded the Aryan Film Company in
Pune in 1927. His film MaharachiPor
based on the contemporary social
issue had become a huge hit. Great
leaders like Mahatma Gandhi and
Sarojini Naidu appreciated his efforts
for contributing to the social cause.
When the first Indian talkie Alam Ara
in Hindi was release, at the same
time, Marathi movie Shamsundar was
released which went onto become a
success. Baburao Painter’s students,
V Shantaram, Dhaybar, Damle and
Fattelal decided to move out of
the Maharashtra Film Company
Regional Cinema
INDIA & YOU May-June 2013 Cinema Special 39
Dhundiraj (Dadasaheb) Govind Phalke (1870-1944)
Alam Ara (1931)

3. Regional Cinema
Cinema Special May-June 2013 INDIA & YOU40
and formed their own Prabhat Film
Company on 1st June 1929 in
Kolhapur. They remade the silent film
Sairandhri into a colour talkie. The first
Marathi talkie film, Ayodhyecha Raja
was released in 1932, just one year
after Alam Ara the first Hindi talkie film.
One of the biggest studios in India
at that time was the powerful Prabhat
Film Company, based in Pune. Its
production Sant Tukaram was the first
Indian Film to win the Best Film Award
at the Venice film festival in 1937.
The period from 1940s to1960s is
considered as the classical and golden
era of Marathi cinema. The Prabhat
studios produced a series of Marathi
films. Bhalaji Pendharkar, Baburao
Painter, V Shantaram, Raja Paranjape,
Raja Thakur, G D Madgulkar, Sudhir
Phadkewere the distinguished names
who brought the family drama as well
as social issues very craftily to the
public through creative story lines. One
such cinema was Jagachya Pathivar
(Around the World) of Raja Paranjape
that weaved very gripping story line
with very meaningful and melodious
songs that captured the audiences.
Another form of films in Marathi that
became very popular in the 1960-70
period was films based on Tamasha or
folk dance and drama. Many of such
films were based on the personal stories
of the actors and actresses working in
Tamasha theaters. Ananat Mane and
later Dada Kondke captured not only
the rural audience, (Of the 90 million
Maharashtrians, 70 per cent live in rural
area), but also in the cities like Mumbai.
Dada Kondke went on to make bawdy
comedies with ‘double entendre’ rustic
dialogues.Those movies did not have a
long-lasting impact and that era ended
swiftly having got entangled in ‘too
much of the same’.
Late 70s and 80s saw some
hallmark films produced by Jabbar
Patel, Sinhasanor The Throne about
competition among power-hungry
politicians and Umbartha, or The
Threshold about a woman trying to
establish her identity outside the family.
Other notable filmmakers were Jayu
and Nachiket Patwardhan, who made
22 June 1897, about revolutionaries in
the Indian independence movement,
Vijaya Mehta, who made Smriti Chitre
or Memories, based on memoires
of famous woman writer and Amol
Palekar, whose Bangarwadi was
based on a well-known story about
rural Maharashtra. These films clearly
demonstrated that Marathi cinema
was indeed turning the page from the
period of racy films.
Sachin Pilgoankar, Mahesh Kothare,
Smita Talwalkar, Chnadrakant Kulkarni
were some other trend setters who
brought back young audiences to
Marathi cinema by handling unusual
subjects. Mahesh Kothare made
the first Marathi film shot on the
anamorphic format or cinemascope.
He brought a great deal of innovation
in the technical quality of Marathi films,
including Dolby Digital sound. He
made the first film with digital special
effects in 2004.
Post 2004, Marathi cinema has seen
a remarkable turn around in the show
and substance of Marathi Cinema.
Sandeep Sawant’s Shwaas (Breath)
came like a fresh wave of breeze. Its
success clearly demonstrated that
stories handled in a simple but mature
(1932) Sant Tukaram (1937)

4. Regional Cinema
INDIA & YOU May-June 2013 Cinema Special 41
manner can make an impact. The film
bagged the President’s Medal for the
Best Film and was also India’s official
entry to the 77th Academy Awards.
After P K Atre’s Shyamchi Aai, (Shyam’s
Mother), Shwaasis the only Marathi film
to have won President’s Medal and
the only regional film to enter academy
awards as India’s official entry.
Movies like Satchyaaat Gharat
about neo-liberalism in the youth,
Dombivali Fast about commuters’
woes and common man’s impotence
in face of corruption, Uttarayan about
love between two senior citizens,
Valuabout taming of a wild bull in
the village, Joshi Ki Kamble about
reservation quota for low castes),
Mahasattaon a worker’s ordeal in face
of power of industrialists,Thaang on
homo sexuality, Balirajacha Rajya Yeu
deon farmers’ suicides demonstrated
that Marathi cinema had reached an
important milestone and searching the
root problems caused by globalisation.
Young film makers like Kedar Shinde,
Gautam Joglekar, Gajendra Ahire with
veterans like Mahesh Kothare, Smita
Talwalkar, Amol Palekar managed to
turn around the fortunes of Marathi
cinema. The industry once stuggled
to make 30 odd films a year in 2007
now 100 films at time in the pipeline to
realise. Ankush Chaudhury and Sachit
Patil’s Saade Maade Teen, and Umesh
Kulkarni’s Valu fetched about $1 million
each, a sum not considered as small for
the regional language cinema.
Nowadays, some of the Marathi
films have also found interest in other
parts of the country and they have
been remade in other languages. For
example, Nishikant Kamat’s award
winning film Dombivali Fast was
remade in Tamil in 2007.
Young directors and producers have
also found interesting and sharp stories
based on the impact on their societies
of the ruthless wave of globalisation.
And even as the cine industry itself is
becoming globalised, they also find it a
challenge to keep off competition from
other languages. But the new wave of
producers and directors has managed
to keep many Indian language cinemas
alive and kicking and the same is true
of Marathi cinema. Such a revival is set
to make Marathi cinema richer even
though confronted with Bollywood’s
proximity in Mumbai.
In 2009, the Marathi Film Harish
Chandrachi Factory, which was based
on Dadasaheb Phalke’s journey
in making India’s first feature film,
was India’s official entry to the 82nd
Academy Awards. In 2012, Marathi
film Deool won the best Golden Lotus
National Award for the best feature
film. With these recent successes
in Marathi films, the Government of
Maharashtra has started film grants
to initiate seed projects. The new
wave Marathi films have explored bold
subjects with very innovative scripts
and original screenplay.
The influx of funds has boosted
the production values and films like
Natrang and Balgandharva very aptly
demonstrate the resurgence in high
quality new wave Marathi cinema. In
June 2012, set on one of the highest
budgets in Marathi cinema, remake of
the original Marathi film – Sant Tukaram
– released.
So, where does Marathi Cinema
go from here? Marathi Actor Vikram
Gokhale, who has won the National
Award for the Best Actorin 2013 for
film ‘Anumati’ (Permission) said
aptly, “It is nice that Marathi films are
recognise dat a national level. However,
I differ with those who say that good
times have come. The new generation
of filmmakers, actors and technicians
are doing a good job but the new
generation of audience is still missing
and that is definitely affecting the
Marathi cinema even today.”
For Marathi cinema, which began
its journey 100 years back with silent
movie, this is a mute question!
(The author, who heads TERRE Policy
Centre and formerly Director with United
Nations Environment Programme, is keen
observer of transformation of Marathi
Cinema)
In 2012, Marathi film Deool
won the best Golden Lotus
National Award for the best
Marathi films,