He found a fan in the legend Charlie Chaplin. We are talking about Indian cinema’s pioneer late V. Shantaram who celebrates his 116th birthday today. Google doodle has honoured him today on his birthday with a doodle. Shantaram was a successful director, actor and producer who has made films like Netaji Palkar (1927), Navrang (1959), Pinjra (1972) to name a few. He was lauded for introducing sound and colour to Indian cinema and was a true visionary. V Shantaram was born in 1901. He began his career in theatre before joining the Film industry. He acted in films like Sinhagad (1923) and Savkari Pash (1925) before directing Netaji Palkar. His first hit was Gopalkrishna (1929). He made India’s first bilingual film Ayodhyecha Raj or Ayodhya Ka Raja in 1932.

With the advent of sound in early 1930s, the Maharashtrian filmmaker went on to make the first bilingual film in the history of Indian cinema, Ayodhyecha Raja (Marathi) or Ayodhya Ka Raja(Hindi) which translates to ‘The King of Ayodhya’. He also made another bilingual Agnikankan (1932) which was Jalti Nishani in Hindi. His films had strong female characters.  In 1955, his film Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baaje wowed the pan-India audience and he won the president’s honour. His films like Kunku and Manoos were known for their strong female characters. V Shantaram used to live at Panhala. His home is now a hotel, Valley View. He established the Rajkamal Kalamandir Studio in Bombay. He is a recipient of the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 1986. Stay tuned to BL for more scoop and updates…