Sumitra Bhave

Sumitra Bhave – a remarkable director, renowned producer, and a phenomenal scriptwriter with multiple National Awards in her kitty. No words could do justice to what she did for the film industry for over four decades. Born on 12th January 1943 in Pune, Sumitra Bhave grew up in Pune and completed her schooling. She did her Bachelor’s degree from Fergusson College in Pune. Sumitra Bhave is a double Master’s degree holder. She earned her first Master’s degree in Political and Science Sociology from Pune University and did her second Master’s at Tata Institute of Social Sciences.

Following her education, Sumitra Bhave worked at All India Radio as a Marathi News Reader. She associated herself with many organizations and also worked at Karve Institute of Social Service. Inspired by UN representative Dr. Francis Maria Yassas, Sumitra Bhave joined the organization Streevani, which fights for the rights of women, and served as a Director of Research Project. The experiences she gained from there motivated her to become a filmmaker so that the people can hear the stories which we not paid attention to. Sumitra Bhave made her first film called Bai, a short film, in 1985. Being the writer and director of the movies, Sumitra Bhave focused on a woman’s life from a slum.

She hit gold with her debut movie when ‘Bai’ won the Best Non-Feature Film on Family Welfare Award at the 33rd National Film Awards The National Film Awards gets presented every year >> Read More... . Within no time, she released her next short film, ‘Paani’, in 1987, which fetched her the National Award for Best Educational/ Motivational/ Instructional Film at 35th National Film Awards. In 1992, Sumitra Bhave joined hands with filmmaker Sukthankar and made the short film ‘Chakori.’ Since then, they have given many beautiful short films and movies. Sumitra Bhave and Sukthankar debuted into the film industry with the Marathi film Doghi in 1995. Besides directing and writing, Sumitra Bhave also worked as an art director, costume designer, and editor. ‘Doghi’ swept every award possible, including the National Film Award for Best Film on Other Social Issues at 43rd National Film Awards and Best Film, Art Director, Script, and Story at Maharashtra State Film Awards.

In 2002, Sumitra Bhave released two movies ‘Dahavi Fa’ and ‘Vastupurush,’ of which ‘Vastupurush’ won the Best Feature Film Award at the 50th National Film Awards. Their film ‘Devrai’ bagged the Best Film on Environment Conservation/ Preservation Award at 52nd National Film Awards. Sumitra Bhave won the Best Dialogue for the movie ‘Astu’ at 61st National Film Awards 2013. In 2016, Sumitra Bhave and Sukthankar’s film ‘Kaasav’ bagged the Best Feature Film Award at 64th National Film Awards. Some of her other popular films are Badha, Ek Cup Chya, Samhita, and more.

Out of 17 feature films of Sumitra Bhave, six of them have won National Film Awards at various categories. Besides, most of her films received several accolades. The iconic director, Sumitra Bhave, left the world in April 2021 because of her illness. Her last movie ‘Dithee’ got released on 21st May 2021. Even after her death, her legacy will live on forever.