This classic film chronicles the life of Tukaram (17th C.), one of Maharashtra’s most popular saint poets, activating the 20th century resonances of his turning away from courtly Sanskrit towards vernacular rhythms of religious poetry.
Mar 1936
A love tragedy featuring a policeman, Ganpat (Modak) and a prostitute, Mainal (Hublikar). Ganpat saves Maina from a police raid on a brothel and they fall in love. Her reputation and sense of guilt resist his attempts to rehabilitate her. Ganpat's respectable middle-class mother (Sundarabai) symbolizes all that Maina would like to be, but she is arrested for murdering her evil uncle and refuses Ganpat's offer to release her from prison.
Mar 1939
This classic opens with a sensational low-angle circular track movement as Chandika cult followers meet in a dungeon of flickering lights and deep shadow. As the more rationalist King Krantivarma (Varde) banned human or animal sacrifices from the increasingly fanatical festivals dedicated to the goddess, the cult's high priest (Chandramohan/Date) orders the hapless Vishwagupta (Kelkar) to kill the king.
Jan 1934
Prabhat's expansively mounted historical set at a contentious period of the Maratha empire is a biographical of Ramshastri Prabhune (1720-89), chief justice at the court of Madhavrao and later of Nana Phadnavis, and a major figure in the development of an indigenous legal code.
Jan 1944
It's the story of a boy who finds enlightenment by experiencing religious hipocrisy and dogmatism. Dnyaneshwar liberated the "divine knowledge" locked in the Sanskrit language to bring that knowledge into Prakrit (Marathi) and made it available to the common man.
May 1940
Neera (Apte) is trapped into marrying an old widower Kakasaheb (Date). He is a progressive lawyer with a son and daughter of Neera's age. Neera refuses to consummate the union claiming that while suffering can be borne, injustice cannot. Neera faces many hurdles including her mother-in-law and a lascivious stepson Pandit (Nene).
Feb 1937
Marathi version of the film starring Mazhar Khan, Gajanan Jagirdar and Anees Khatoon. In a small village in India, the villagers of different communities live in harmony. But when an industrialist, arrives to construct a dam, he sows distrust and disunity between the Muslim and Hindi communities.
Jan 1941
Chandrasena, wife of their captor Mahi. Despite her loyalty to Rama, she despises the decadence of her husband's kingdom. As the battle rages and Mahi proves invincible with his ability to duplicate himself and his fallen soldiers, Chandrasena holds the key. She reveals the secret to defeat her husband, turning the tide of the war. Expect grand visuals, including classic flying figures, magical arrows, and a memorable scene of a gigantic Hanuman dwarfing a human figure.
Oct 1935
Set in medieval Rajput court, mainly addresses Rajput notions of chivalry. The legendary warrior Mansingh (Phatak) is the nation's strong man but he is cordially hated even by his own people. Claiming to have been offended by Taramati (Tarkhad), he insists to her eminent father that only a marriage (on terms insulting to her) can placate him. He becomes a tyrant imprisoning large numbers of people, and eventually Taramati's father, also in prison, leads a popular revolt, threatening to kill his son-in-law. Only Taramati's decision to protect her husband resolves the conflict.
Oct 1936