Pralhad Keshav Atre (1898-1969)

Marathi-Hindi director and controversial literary figure in post-WW1 Maharashtra. Educated at the universities of Poona and London; studied experimental psychology under Cyril Burt and taught at Harrow before returning to India. Owner-editor of populist down-market Maratha newspaper; one-time Congress Party MLA. Author of 22 plays, 13 short-story collections, four books of poetry and a 4-volume autobiography (Atre, 1965-7). Teacher and producer of several school textbooks, often calling himself Principal Atre in his film credits. Aggressive polemicist remembered for famous literary battles with N.S. Phadke and Mama Warerkar. Owned Chitramandir Studio/Atre? Pictures (1940), the Atre Printing Press (1944) and Atre Arts (1968). Film career began adapting his own short stories for Master Vinayak (​Brahmachari, 1938; Brandichi Batli?, 1939). Became a leading independent scenarist (e.g. Raja Rani?, 1942) and pioneered the entry of new literary modes emerging from non-fictional prose into post-Independence Marathi film. His chosen genre was political satire, usually directed against the realist conventions of pre-WW1 social reform novels with their caste biases and Anglophilia. However, his best-known film as director was the bitter-sweet melodrama Shyamchi Aai. Wrote plays in many genres: thrillers (To Mee Navhech), tragedies (rewriting the reformist Sangeet Natak playwright Ram Ganesh Gadkari and his own Udyacha Sansar) and satire. Noted scripts: Dharmaveer?, Premveer, Begunah (all 1937), Ardhangi?/ Ghar Ki Rani?, Lapandav? (both 1940). Preferred to hire directors rather than to direct. Produced and wrote his own movies, often starring his wife, Vanmala, through his Atre Pics, founded in 1940.

FILMOGRAPHY: 1944: Dil Ki Baat; 1945: Parinde; 1948: Moruchi Mavshi; 1949: Brahma Ghotala; 1951: Hi Majhi Lakshmi; 1953: Shyamchi Aai; 1954: Mahatma Phule.

Director