Vishnupant Govind Damle

Vishnupant Govind Damle
Born	Vishnupant Govind Damle October 14, 1892 Bombay, British India
Died	July 5, 1945 Pune, Maharashtra
Nationality	Indian
Notable work	Maharathi Karna Sant Tukaram Sant Dnyaneshwar Sant Sakhu

Vishnupant Govind Damle (14 October 1892 – 5 July 1945) was an Indian production designer, cinematographer, film director and sound engineer for Marathi films. His 1937 film Sant Tukaram was the first Indian film to be screened at an international film festival.^[1] It won a "Special Recommendation" at the 5th Venice International Film Festival.^[2]

Life

Damle was born at Pen, Raigad District, Maharashtra on 14 October 1892. He learned stage painting from Anandrao Painter, Baburao Painter's cousin, with whom he co-founded the Maharashtra Film Company in 1918. He worked as a decorator, set designer, actor, cinematographer and film developer. One of his colleagues, Fattelal Sheikh, worked closely with Damle until his death. Together, they had their directorial debut with the release of the 1928 silent film Maharathi Karna.

Damle left the Maharashtra Film Company in 1929 and founded the Prabhat Film Company with V. Shantaram, Fattelal and Keshavrao Dhaiber.^[3] There he was head of the sound department and introduced new technologies in the playback Marathisprachigen film.

As a director at Prabhat Film Company Damle, he and Fattelal created the "saints" films, such as Sant Tukaram (1936), which was declared one of the three top films at the Venice Film Festival and received a special mention. His last film was Sant Sakhu (1941).

Film Ayodyecha Raja, produced by Prabhat Film Company, in 1932 had Damle as its sound recordist. This is the first available talkie film of Indian film industry.

Damle Fattelal duo had done cinematography for Prabhat's following silent films