Late Vishnupant Damle was a well known name not only in Marathi film industry, but also Indian film industry. Through his Prabhat Film Company, he has offered scope to all time great artistes like Dev Anand, Guru Dutt and Madhubala; besides offering the first Hindi music directors Husnlal Bhagatram to Indian film industry. Today, where the popular Film And Felevision Institute of India ( FTII) stands in Pune; was originally the Prabhat Studios, owned by Damle Family. How can one forget some of the the memorable films like ‘Ayodhyecha Raja'(The first talkie Film),’Amrutmathan’,’Sant Tukaram’,’Sant Dnyashewar”Kunku’,’Manoos’,’Shejari’ & ‘Ramshastri” made under their banner ?

The second and third generation of Damle family have now come forward on the occasion of 100 years of Indian Cinema; to institute awards for different categories for Marathi Film Industry. This will be the first year of their ‘Prabhat Puraskar'; announcement of which was made officially at a Press Conference in Mumbai by Vivek Anant Damle, the Grandson of Late Vishnupant Damle; on Wednesday night. Besides individual awards for acting and films, there will also be awards in different categories like Script, direction, Music, Cinematography, Editing and other technical sections.
All the Marathi films approved by Censor Board between the period 1 st January 2012 till 31st December 2012 will be eligible for the selection process. Last date of submission of entries will be till 6 pm on 9th March 2013. This year their film festival will be held between 10th May- 16th may 2013. After the 1st and 2nd round of scrutiny ;in the final round seven films will be screened at the iconic Prabhat Theatre in Pune for a week, where 250 seats will be reserved exclusively for captive viewing by a select group of people with interests and knowledge of films and theatre. Those who view all the seven films will be provided a form to rank them under various categories. The main Award ceremony will be held in Pune on a grand scale, which is celebrated as the Prabhat Anniversary day i.e. 1st June 2013.

On this occasion, Mr.Sachin Pilgaonkar released the specially composed Prabhat song rendered in the voice of Sandeep Khare on the music of Salil kulkarni. In his small speech, Sachin recalled the moment of his shooting at Prabhat Studios as a 4 and a half year old Kid. “While shooting at that time, I didn’t realise the importance of being there ;but, today I realise the importance of being part of artistes who performed in that historic studio,” he said. Dr. Jabbar Patel released the website of Prabhat Puraskar www.prabhatpuraskar.com designed for this award function. He is also a member of the Parent Committee, along with Smt. Sumantai Kirloskar, Mr.. Pratap Pawar and Mr.Shriniwas Patil.

Dr. Jabbar Patel briefed about the valuable contribution of Prabhat Film Company and said that to win the Prabhat Puraskar will be considered as the most prestigious achievement; though there are other awards for Marathi films. “Even finding your name among the nominees, will be a big honour,” he said. Mr. Anil Damle proposed vote of thanks. Also present on the occasion were guests like Kiran Shantaram, Ms. Kanchan Adhikari, Mr. Shrirang Godbole, Mr. Nikhil Sane ( Zee TV), Leena Nandgaonkar, & Mahesh Manjrekar who arrived late.

Apart from awards in different categories of Marathi films, three special awards will also be presented for Hindi films. They will be in memory of Dev Anand, Madhubala and Husnlal Bhagatram in the category of Best Debutant male, Best Debutant female and Best debutant Music director; announced Mr. Vivek Damle. It may be recalled that all three of them began their career with Prabhat Films. All the members of Damle family were present on the occasion, including Anant Damle, Pandit Damle & Yashwantrao Damle. Panditrao and Yashwantrao, who were part of Prabhat Film’s hit film ‘Sant Tukaram’ (in which they played as child artistes) unveiled the trophy.

Pandit Damle a former Aeronautical Engineer had some hearing problem; so his wife Neela, a former Marathi actress and daughter of Madhav kale, spoke on his behalf. She recalled all old memories of their young days, while speaking to Marathi Movie World. They were all happy to share some memorable moments of their good old days. By the way, by the end of this year, Prabhat will be offering all their films enhanced with HD technology.