A name written with golden letters in the annals of Indian cinema V Shantaram. He was one of the founding fathers of Indian cinema. His art and works remain unparalleled in aesthetics and technique to this day.  An indefatigable worker to his last days V. Shanataram left an extensive body of his works for others to seek inspiration and emulate. This veteran personality‘s life will be showcased in an exclusive episode in Factrichi 100 varsh on Sunday, 24th June at 1:30 pm and 9:30 pm only on IBN-Lokmat.

Born as Shantaram Rajaram Vankudre in November 1901 in Kolhapur, his upbringing was very economical, as most of his contemporaries of the early 1900‘s. Not very well educated, he started working early in life on small time jobs to support his family. He worked in the railways in the beginning and later became a curtain puller in the theatres. From the job in the cinema hall, Shantaram graduated to a job as an assistant to a photographer, before joining Baburao Painter's newly opened Maharashtra Film Company where he learnt the nuances of filmmaking. A stroke of fate brought Shantram in contact with V.G. Damle, K.R. Dhaiber, Syed Fatelal, and S.B. Kulkarni all professionals in different aspects of filmmaking. In 1929 they set up the Prabhat Film Company. Prabhat came out with a brilliant movie Gopal Krishna (1931). 

Througout his sis decade long career he produced, directed and acted in various well-known films like Dr. Kotnis Ki Amar Kahani (1946), Amar Bhoopali (1951), Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baaje (1955), Do Aankhen Barah Haath (1957), Navrang (1959), Duniya Na Mane (1937), Pinjra (1972), ChaniIye Marathiche Nagari and Zunj. V.Shantram passed away in 1990 at the ripe old age of 89. A versatile genius, the life flow of V.Shantram was marked exactly by the time and tenure of the emergence and evolution of Indian cinema.

V. Shantaram had seen and performed in all the eras of the Indian film. To know more about his life, tune in to Factrichi 100 varsh on Sunday, 24th June 2012 at 1:30 pm and 9:30 pm only on IBN-Lokmat.