Gopal Krishna (1929)

Shantaram's successful debut as a solo director (Netaji Palkar, 1927, had been co-directed with K. Dhaiber) signalled the first appearance of the famous Prabhat emblem, the profile of a woman (Kamaladevi) playing the tutari, the Indian equivalent of MGM's Leo The Lion. In his autobiography (1986) Shantaram said that he wove topical allusions into this Pauranic tale about the antics of Krishna as a child. The conflict between Krishna and the evil Kamsa, king of Mathura, was to be seen as representing the conflict between the Indian people and the British rulers in a manner enabling him to avoid censorship. The playful family film's highlight, apparently, is when the loin cloth of a little boy playing on the swing with Krishna came loose and revealed his penis. This, Shantaram says, went unnoticed in the shooting but was applauded for its bold realism and became seen as his unique directorial 'touch'.