V Shantaram: All you need to know about this filmmaker and legendary actor

November 18 marks the birthday of veteran filmmaker of the Indian Cinema, V Shantaram. He is one of the pioneering filmmakers of Indian cinema known for his major contribution towards Bollywood.

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V Shantaram: All about the legend and the movies he has acted in

Shantaram Rajaram Vankudre was fondly called V Shantaram, Shantaram Bapu or Annasaheb. He was an actor, film producer, and a director. He was widely popular to introduce sound and colour to the Indian Cinema. He was born in Kolhapur to a Jain family. V Shantaram started his career in this creative field by doing odd jobs from Maharastra Film company which was owned by Baburao Painter at Kolhapur. In 1921 he made his debut as an actor in the silent film Surekha Haran and at the age of in 1929, directed the film Gopalkrishna. Sound became a reality in Indian cinema in the year 1930 and  V Shantaram was the first one to make a bilingual film in the history of Indian Cinema called the Ayodhyecha Raja (Marathi).

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Annasaheb or V Shantaram had a 6-decade long career and used cinema as an important tool to bring in social change, advocate humanism and expose injustice.  His films reflected strong female leads and the problems they face on a daily basis for example women who were forced to marry older men or the love story of a police officer and a prostitute. V Shantaram acted in films like Surekha Haran (1921), Sinhagad (1923)- a film based on Shivaji Maharaj’s lieutenant Tanaji, Savkari Pash- A film on social issues (1925), Stri- a film depicting history  and historic characters (1961), Parchhain-  story of a man who is accidentally blinded by a woman whom he falls in love with, only to lose her when he regains his sight. (1952), Do Ankhen Barah Haath- the story of an open prison (1957). V Shantaram’s acting skills were admired by Rajesh Khanna and one movie he directed was loved by English comic actor, Charlie Chaplin. After this contribution, the legend breathed his last in 1990.

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