Founded on 1st June 1929, Prabhat Films studio was formed in Kolhapur, Maharashtra (and moved to Pune in 1933) by Vishnupant Damle, K Dhaiber, Syed Fatehlal and V Shantaram. The four partners had parted ways from Maharasthra Film Company where they all had assisted Baburao Painter and went onto become senior members of the company. They were joined in by a local goldsmith S V Kulkarni as the financing partner. While many of the films were directed by the prolific director V Shantaram, the other partners also made films. K Dhaiber primarily being a cinematographer also directed films. The duo team of V. Damle and S. Fatehlal were famous for the mythologicals they made over the years.

The company made 6 silent films Gopal Krishna (1929), "Khooni Khanjar" (1930), "Rani Saheba" (1930), "Udaykal" (1930), "Chandrasena" (1931) and "Zulum" (1931). All these films were quite a success at the boX office. With the advent of sound, Prabhat Film Company produced the first marathi film, "Ayodhyache Raja" in 1932, directed by V. Shantaram. The film was produced both in marathi and in hindi as "Ayodhya ka Raja". Interestingly Shantaram chose to adapt the story of Raja Harishchandra as the first Prabhat Talkie . This was also the theme of the first feature length film made by D G Phalke, titled Raja Harishchandra (1913). Over the neXt decade, Prabhat films continued to make several films establishing itself as one of the most important film companies during the time. With the logo of the profile of a woman playing the tutari, Prbhat went on to make some landmark films proving itself successful not only on the boX office but even garnering international attention. They produced the first Indian Talkie in multicolour "Sairandhari" in 1933 but the colour was NOT satisfactory. Their film, "Sant Tukaram" (1936) directed by V Damle and S Fatehlal went on to be awarded of the best three films of the year at the 5th Venice International Film Festival. Their film "Amrit Manthan" (1934), directed by V. Shantaram, went on to become the first hindi talkie to celebrate silver jubilee running for 29 weeks at a stretch.

Prabhat films produced other important films and acclaimed films like "Kunku" (1937, "Duniya na mane" in hindi), "Manoos" (1937, "Aadmi" in hindi), "Sant Dnyaneshwar" (1940), "Shejari" (1941, "Padosi" in hindi), etc. After a successful run of over a decade, V. Shantaram left the company in 1942. This was a major blow to Prabhat Film Company and with Damle passing away in 1945, the company was in poor condition. It was eventually shut on 10th October 1953.

Studio