One fine day, this man decided to embark on a new venture. And the culmination was the birth of Prabhat Film Company. With no prior experience in films, Sitarampant Kulkarni took the plunge. Today, his family maintains that connection. His grandson, Madan Kulkarni, continues to work with the Film and Television Institute of India.Let's turn the clock back to the 1920s. A well-established jeweller in Kolhapur, Kulkarni was acquainted with some of the members of the dramatic establishment - the Maharashtra Company. Vishnupant Damle, a founder of Prabhat Films, was a close friend. Having moved out of the Maharashtra Company, Damle and his associates Keshavrao Dhaibar, S Fatehlal and V Shantaram were looking around to mobilise funds to start their own drama company - a daunting prospect considering that cinema was looked upon as a fickle profession.That was when Damle approached Sitarampant, confident that the businessman would aid him in his endeavour. Says Vinita Kulkarni, his granddaughter-in-law who is well-versed in the history of the Kulkarni association with Prabhat, ``Sitarampant was a true entrepreneur. The cinema line was not looked upon very favourably in those days. But he was open to diversifying his line of work. Also, his friendship with Damle was a strong factor,'' she says. And that was one of the main reasons that prompted the jeweller to provide the financial backing for a film company. Not heeding the advice of well-wishers like his partner Muralidhar Ganesh Chiksar, Sitarampant invested an initial amount of Rs 15,000 and the Prabhat banner saw the light of day.``When the decision to move the studio to Pune was finalised, all the five people who formed the backbone of the film company also moved, and the doors of the studio opened in Pune in 1934. The family story goes that Sitarampant and his wife performed the `vastushanti' of the studio,'' says Kulkarni. Eventually, they set up residence opposite the studio. That's where the present-day generation of the Kulkarnis continue to cherish their history. In fact, the association is visible in the fact that the Damle and the Kulkarni bungalows are identical in their structures.Keenly interested in the activities of the studio, Sitarampant would visit the sets regularly. But with the departure of Shantaram, things began to deteriorate and eventually, in the face of various rifts, Sitarampant withdrew his backing. His share in the company earned him Rs 4.5 lakhs.With that, came the end of one chapter. But Sitaram's son kept the association with films alive. Sadashiv Kulkarni had worked as a sound recordist even with some of the Prabhat Films, and gradually in the mid- 1950s, he formed his own company Amrit Chitra. Its first production - Uddhar - had a star cast - Dev Anand, a close friend since the Prabhat days. Three more films followed - Pratapgad, Kuberacha Dhan and Een Meen Sadeteen. But his untimely demise saw his successors struggle to keep ends together. Today, his son has a 20-odd year association with the FTII.With that it almost seems like things have come a full circle. The family home in the Prabhatnagari of yesteryears reverberates with memories and tales handed down of that glorious period. A trifle indignant about the fact that the edifice is not adorned by the blue plaque that graces the houses of three other partners - Damle, Shantaram and Fatehlal - the Kulkarnis are fiercely proud and protective of their share of history. Through meticulously preserved photographs and books written on the Prabhat era, the Kulkarni family protects its story from getting lost in the annals of history.
