Shantaram Govind Athavale ( mr, शांताराम गोविंद आठवले) (21 January 1910 – 2 May 1975) was an Indian director of

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people *Palaiosouda, also known as Marathi, a small island in Greece See also * * ...

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of North India, northern, Central India, centr ...

and English language films, a lyricist, poet, and author. Part of the generation that emerged from the

Prabhat Film Company Prabhat Film Company (popularly known as Prabhat Films) was an Indian film production company and film studios founded in 1929 by the noted film director V.Shantaram and his friends. It was formed in Kolhapur, Maharashtra, India in 1929, towar ...

in Pune in the 1930s, he made pioneering contributions to Marathi film.

Biography

In the early 1930s, Athavale undertook an apprenticeship with the popular novelist Narayan Hari Apte. When Apte was brought in by the

to script ''

Amrit Manthan ''Amrit Manthan'' ( ''The Changes of Amrit'') is an Indian television soap opera, which premiered on 26 February 2012 and ran through 2 August 2013 on Life Ok. It is the story of two sisters who become each other's enemiesThis show was also b ...

,'' Athavale joined him and achieved success as a songwriter on the film with ''Kiti sukhada.'' At Prabhat, as a lyricist under V. Shantaram and working alongside

Vishram Bedekar Vishwanath Chintamani Bedekar (1906–1998), who professionally used the name Vishram Bedekar, was an Indian Marathi-language writer and film director. Bedekar was born on August 13, 1906 in Amravati. After receiving his college degree in Amr ...

Master Vinayak Vinayak Damodar Karnataki (19 January 1906 – 19 August 1947) commonly referred to as Master Vinayak was an Indian actor and film director of the 1930s and 1940s. Personal life Master Vinayak was born in Kolhapur, Maharashtra, India. He ma ...

, Keshavrao Bhole and others, Athavale would be part of the generation considered pioneers of

Marathi cinema Marathi cinema is an Indian film industry of Marathi-language motion pictures. It is based in Mumbai, Maharashtra. Based in old Mumbai, it is the oldest film industry of Indian cinema. The first Marathi film to be released in India was '' ...

. Athavale's contribution as lyricist to

Sant Tukaram Sant Tukaram Maharaj (Marathi pronunciation: ̪ukaːɾam was a 17th-century Marathi poet, Hindu ''sant'' (saint), popularly known as Tuka, Tukobaraya, Tukoba in Maharashtra. He was a Sant of Varkari sampradaya (Marathi-Vaishnav tradition) - ...

, the first Indian film to achieve critical international success, was highly regarded. Athavale as lyricist frequently worked with Keshavrao Bhole composing music; their collaborations included '' Kunku'' (1937), ''Mazha Mulga'' and ''Gopal Krishna'' (both 1938), ''

Sant Dnyaneshwar Sant Dnyaneshwar (Marathi pronunciation: ̪ɲaːn̪eʃʋəɾ, also referred to as Jnaneshwar, Jnanadeva, Dnyandev or Mauli or Dnyaneshwar Vitthal Kulkarni (1275–1296), was a 13th-century Indian Marathi saint, poet, philosopher and yogi o ...

'' (1940), '' Sant Sakhu'' and ''Shejari'' (both 1941), ''Daha Wajta'' (1942) and '' Ramshastri'' (1944). During this period, he became an assistant director under V. Shantaram. He left Prabhat Films in 1942 and contributed dialogue and lyrics for Debaki Bose's ''Aple Ghar'' and lyrics for Vijay Bhatt's ''Bharat Bhet.'' In 1948, Athavale made his debut as a director with ''Bhagya Rekha,'' which focused on a man who is part of the

independence movement Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the statu ...

and must leave his pregnant wife when forced to go underground. The film incorporated his long-term colleagues Narayan Hari Apte (script) and Keshavrao Bhole (score) with

Shanta Apte Shanta Apte (1916–1964) was an Indian actress-singer who worked in Marathi and Hindi cinema. Renowned for her roles in films like ''Duniya Na Mane/Kunku'' (1937) and ''Amar Jyoti'' (1936) under the Prabhat Films banner, she was active in Indi ...

acting. He won the Certificate of Merit for Feature Films in Marathi at the 3rd National Film Awards in 1956 for directing the movie '' Shevagyachya Shenga''. The film, under the English title Drumsticks, was entered into competition at Cannes in 1956. In the early 1960s, Athavale switched to working in English, making a series of documentaries for the

Films Division of India The Films Division of India (FDI), commonly referred as Films Division, was established in 1948 following the independence of India. It was the first state film production and distribution unit, under the Ministry of Information and Broadcastin ...

. Released in 1966, Athavale's history of the Prabhat Film Company, ''Prabhatkal'', was considered a unique and significant work.

Filmography (as director)

*1948: ''Bhagya Rekha'' (Marathi) *1949: ''Main Abla Nahin Hoon'' (Hindi) *1953: ''Vahinichya Bangdya'' (Marathi) *1954: ''Sansa Karaychay Mala'' (Marathi) *1955: Shevagyachya Shenga (Marathi) *1958: ''Padada'' (Marathi) *1960: Fix it Right (English – documentary) * 1960: Write it Right (English – documentary) * 1961: How to Vote (English – documentary) * 1961: Gift of Sight (English – documentary) * 1962: Citizens and Citizens (English – documentary) * 1962: The Homecoming (English – documentary) * 1962: Marriage and After (English – documentary) *1963: ''Chatur Balak'' (Hindi) *1965: ''Vavtal'' (Marathi) * 1968: ''Sankat Main Swasthya Aur Safai'' (Hindi – documentary) * 1971: My Village My People (English – documentary)

References

External links

* Video of
Bhagya Rekha
' (1948) *Video o
Chatur Balak
(1963) Children's Film Society, India
Shantaram Athavale
– website dedicated to life and works {{DEFAULTSORT:Athavale, Shantaram Govind Marathi film directors 1910 births 1975 deaths Artists from Pune Film directors from Maharashtra