Film director Ram Gabale passes away

PUNE: Acclaimed veteran film director Ram Gabale (85), known for a number of films, documentaries, children's films and serials, passed away on Friday morning after a prolonged illness. He is survived by his wife Meera, daughter Rekha and son Devendra. Gabale's last rites were performed at the Vaikunth crematorium on Friday itself.
Gabale, originally from Kolhapur, moved to Mumbai and worked with the Rajkamal Studios.Soon, Gabale got a break as a director at the Prabhat Studios in Pune. Here he directed his first movie Vande Mataram, starring late P L Deshpande and his wife Sunita in 1947, when he was just 23-years-old.
Prior to that Gabal had assisted well-known directors, like Master Vinayak and V Shantaram. Some of his works include films like Mothi Manse, Dev Pavla, Dev Bappa, Chota Jawan and Dharti-Akash. He also assisted the late P L Deshpande as a director on the popular serial Batatyachi Chaal.
Gabale was a director who made films on topics that were hitherto unexplored during his time including one on working women called Postatil Mulgi and also a number of documentaries. Many of them went on to win awards at the national and the international level.
His documentary on Maharshi Karve earned him a state award, a children's film Phool aur Kaliyan earned Gabale the Prime Minister's gold medal, Kale-Gore was awarded at the Leipzig International Film Festival and Jaldeep bagged an award at the Venice Film Festival. Gabale also received a special ward from Indira Gandhi for his film Shatayu Kesari.
Apart from being a prominent film maker, Gabale has also held positions at prominent institutions like the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), where he was the vice-principal, and also at the Film City in Goregaon and the Films Division in Mumbai where he held high posts.