A Legacy of the Prabhat Film Company and the beginning of Film Institute of India: A Historical Overview

- Beginning from the already-explored world of celluloid to the new digital landscape, it has been a memorable journey so far. In 1933, the five partners of Prabhat Film Company decided to shift their base from Kolhapur mainly on two grounds: uninterrupted electricity supply and proximity to the hub of cinema, Mumbai. A piece of land on a hill near Law College Road near Pune was acquired, and two large shooting studios were built. A woman holding a Tupari against the background of a rising sun depicts the progressive attitude of the studio. This symbolised the Prabhat, which soon became a household name in Pune. While producing mythological films to keep the studio commercially viable, Prabhat also made several other films that quietly supported the freedom struggle and made socially relevant films. But after reaching the pinnacle of achievement, Prabhat slowly fell apart in the 50s. In 1960, Shri BV Keskar, the minister of Information and Broadcasting, took the initiative to purchase the property of Prabhat Studio to establish the Indian Film Institute. S K Patil headed this committee, including veteran filmmaker V Shantaram. And B N Sarkar, among others, it was on the 20th of March 1960 that the Film Institute of India began functioning. This is still celebrated as the first Technical Film Institute of India. Secular and liberal viewpoints helped make the Film Institute of India an esteemed institute of film pedagogy. So, this article will discuss how the legacy of the Prabhat Film Company influenced the formation of the First Film Institute in India. Did the pedagogy of the Film Institute of India encourage a group of young filmmakers to experiment with film theory and praxis, which was a steppingstone towards a new cinema movement in the 1970s?