In the Indian film industry the ‘Prabhat Era’ is engraved in golden letters. Parvatibai Damle installed the Holy Kalash on the 1st of June 1929. Damlemama, S. Fatelal, V. Shantaram and Dhaibar learnt their lessons on film making under Baburao and Anandrao Painter at the ‘Maharashtra Film Company’. These four left Maharashtra Film Company. Each one was possessed with the idea of starting one’s own film company. Sitarampant Kulkarni of the well known Sarafi Pedhi in Kolhapur was an old friend of Damlemama. He had full faith in Damlemama.Sitarampant gave the initial capital to Damlemama. V. Shantaramand Dhaibar joined Damlemama-Fatelal and Prabhat was established on 1st of June 1929, at Mangalwar Peth, Kolhapur. Today Prabhat completes ninety years.
Very recently, a new venture Prabhat Studios has been started to edit documentaries. Prabhat had made 15 documentaries and short films. Out of these, we have made DVDs of a few short films.
There was a time when many artistes and technicians in the industrysought a chance to work at Prabhat so that they could learn something new. Those at Prabhat had from time to time chosen wisely from among the common men and transformed them into great artistes. In a way it was a gift by Prabhat to the world of cinema. Dev Anand made his debut in the year 1946 with the film ‘Hum Ek Hai’, which was a Prabhat production.