Bhalji Pendharkar (3 May 1897 – 26 November 1994) was an Indian film director and producer, and a recipient of Dadasaheb Phalke Award, the most prestigious award in the field.

Early life and family

He was born to Radhabai and Gopal Pendharkar. Several of his relatives were also active in the Indian film industry, including his elder brother Baburao Pendharkar, his half-brother Master Vinayak Karnataki, and his cousin V. Shantaram.

Personal life

Bhalji had two wives. One of whom, Leela Chandragiri, acted and sang in Hindi and Marathi films in 1930s under the name Miss Leela. Leela-bai already had two children when she first met Bhalji. Bhalji adopted both of them, a boy (Jayasingh) and a girl. The girl later married novelist Ranjit Desai and she is better known as Madhavi Desai (died in 2013); she wrote the book 'Naacha Ga Ghumaa'. His second daughter's name was Saroj Chindarkar. Bhalji's son with his first wife, Prabhakar Pendharkar (1933–2010), was associated with making of

Do Aankhen Barah Haath ''Do Aankhen Barah Haath'' () is a 1957 Indian Hindi-language drama film directed by V. Shantaram, who also starred. It is considered to be one of the classics of Hindi cinema and is based on humanistic psychology. It won a Silver Bear at the 8 ...

in 1950s, wrote the book रारंगढांग, and was author-director of noteworthy documentaries. Bhalji named his studio Jayaprabha, combining in it the names of Leela's son Jayasingh (whom Bhalji had adopted) and his own son Prabhakar.

Film career

Bhalji started his career in the era of

silent film A silent film is a film without synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, w ...

s. He was associated with Prabhat Film Company's earliest talkies, and also worked with other studios in hometown of

Kolhapur Kolhapur () is a city on the banks of the Panchganga River in the southern part of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Kolhapur is one of the most significant cities in South Maharashtra and has been a hub of historical, religious, and cultural a ...

. Later he acquired his own studio in form of Jayprabha Studio and became a film producer and director. He also wrote lyrics for some film songs in Marathi. His more famous films are: Netaji Palkar, Thoratanchi Kamala, Chhatrapati Shivaji, Mohityanchi Manjula, Maratha Titutka Melvava, Sadhi Manse, Tambdi Maati. Bhalji was awarded the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 1991 by the Indian Government.

Directed films

Screenplay writer

As producer

* 1939 Netaji Palkar * 1927 Vande Mataram Ashram * 1986 Shabas Sunbai

As actor

* 1924 ''Prithvi Vallabh''

References

External links

*
Bhalji Pendharkar Cultural Centre, Kolhapur
20th-century Indian people Hindi-language film directors Marathi film directors Marathi film producers Dadasaheb Phalke Award recipients 1897 births 1994 deaths Shantaram family {{india-film-bio-stub