Marathi Film ‘Sant Tukaram’ Was The First Indian Film To Celebrate Golden Jubilee

Learn about Sant Tukaram, the Marathi film that made history as the first Indian movie to celebrate a Golden Jubilee. Prabhat Film Company, India’s top film company that made both Marathi and Hindi film has the unique distinction of producing India’s First Golden Jubilee film! Vishnupant Govind Damle and Sheikh Fattelal directed the Marathi film Sant Tukaram, starring Vishnupant Pagnis as Sant Tukaram. The film, released in 1936 at Mumbai’s Central Cinema, ran non-stop for 50 weeks in that single theatre. Thus becoming India’s First Film to Celebrate Golden Jubilee!!

For the present generation let me enlighten about Golden Jubilee. In the past, single-screen theaters, numbering only 70 or 80, limited movie releases. Unlike today’s multiplexes where films like Dabangg 3 open on thousands of screens and collect hundreds of crores in weeks, a hit film then ran for many weeks. A film achieved ‘Golden Jubilee’ status by running non-stop for 50 weeks in a single theatre.  

Sant Tukaram – The Cult Classic Film

The film Sant Tukaram is based on the 17th-century Maharashtrian poet-saint, Sant Tukaram, a devotee of Lord Vittala, who withstands the test of Lord Vittal and emerges victorious.

Historians inform us that Sant Tukaram was such a huge hit that six million people saw the film just in Maharashtra. The Maharaja of Mysore and Lady Linlithgow, wife of Victor Hope, then Victory of India, also saw it. For international viewing, they added subtitles and screened the film at a range of other international film festivals. It won First Prize in the foreign film category at the Venice Film Festival. Unfortunately, they lost the Certificate of Merit, but FTII student Sunny Joseph later found it in Pune garbage. He restored it to the National Film Archive of India. This landmark film is still shown on TV and discussed in film institutes worldwide.

Interestingly, Marathi actor Vishnupant Pagnis played the lead role of Sant Tukaram so brilliantly that he became immortal as the saint. Later, the film industry stereotyped him, and he played Sant Tukaram in many other films.