Exactly 75 years ago on this day, Indian cinema had its watershed moment with release of the Marathi movie Manoos (man) that, perhaps for the first time, made a bold attempt to explore realities of the life of a sex worker.
It was legendary producer-director V Shantaram, who conceived the plot, based on a short story The Police Constable, which revolved around the theme of a simple, good hearted uniformed man attempting to unshackle and free a prostitute from a life of indignity. "Today, the theme sounds pretty run-of-the-mill kind, but presenting it in 1939 on the silver screen with a female actress portraying the character, condemned to the world of vice, was a real reel adventure that became a hit," said Anil Damle, grandson of Vishnu Damle, one of the pioneering five partners, including Shantaram, who set up the famous Prabhat Studio in the city that produced some of the best movies with social import.
Highlighting the finer nuances that went into the making of the Shantaram masterpiece, Damle told PTI, "A perfectionist artiste, Shantaram went to the red light area of Bombay and visited brothels to lend a realistic touch to the sets created in Prabhat studios by S Fattelal. Eminent director Shyam Benegal had paid tributes to their creative genius saying it was hard to believe that the scenes involving Maina (Shanta Hublikar) and Ganapat Hawildar (played by Shahu Modak) were shot in a studio."
An effervescent Shanta Hublikar broke taboos to play the role of Maina, the prostitute who dreamt of a normal married life but remained street smart to survive and combat harsh realities of the world in which she lived.
Recalling Hublikar's path breaking depiction of Maina, Damle quoted her as saying from his Prabhat archives: "I never felt that I was doing an inferior role of a prostitute. I was at peace with the character because I wanted to portray the agony of a social segment."
The film was subsequently adapted in Hindi the next year under the title Aadmi. The English synonym given was Life for Living.
