In holy films like Sant Tukaram (1936) and Sant Dyaneshwar (1940), there is an attempt at regional-cultural negotiation of the biographical genre. around the lives of the respective saints are presented with emphasis on devotional philosophy, which could be read as a non-Brahmin culture. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Here we see possibilities for challenging caste and gender hierarchies by centralizing folk performance forms like bhajans and kirtans, and significantly hymns, spoken words. by these saints who are commonly called abhangas. Through these films, there is a cultural negotiation that subtly points to issues of caste, gender and performance form in Prabhat (Ingle, 2017). Historical and popular presence of narrative biographies of saints in the Marathi social sphere, performance of folk forms such as abhangas, which evoke secular, non-Brahmin Bhakti/devotional philosophy affirming regional Marathi cultural everydayness and the language of Bhakti, evoking register of devotion which is uniquely vernacular and regional but which is not exclusively territorial or governed by the constraints of state policies” (Ingle, 2017, p. 46). Thus, through films like Sant Tukaram (1936) and later Sant Dnyaneshwar (1940), Sant Sakhu (1941)) where linguistics was relocated in devotional philosophy emphasizing secular and non-Brahmin tendencies, and the narrative conflict was taken on a social and caste significance and the miraculous which manifests the divinity of the saint is indicative of the way in which the cinematic institution was mobilized to address regional social spaces (Ingle, 2017, p. 46). This reading of holy films by Prabhat then informs my understanding of how narrative tendencies and vernacular linguistic performance aesthetics formed a philosophy and devotional songs through which caste and gender were negotiated and which were central to engendering audiences. imagination of modern Marathi cultural milieu. Prabhat Studio, which was almost synonymous with Marathi cinema in the pre-independence era, through its cinema inclusive of aesthetics, ideas and politics, attempted to consolidate a modern Marathi middle class and upper caste audience. While in its early days Marathi films attracted its middle-class audience who were also frequent audiences and who also frequented Marathi theater, after 1947 there was a shift in this audience which in turn led to a shift in the themes of films aimed at working-class audiences. not the only audience for Marathi cinema. The World War which had a drastic impact on the regional film industries, including the Marathi film industry, due to the reduction in imports of cinema films or film stock and the establishment of a system of control over those -this. This led to supplying the limited film stock that was given to Hindi cinema emerging as a national cinema. This ultimately marked the end of the studio era in the Marathi film industry. Thus, the post-studio era marked a complete change in economic conditions leading to a change in the structure of the Marathi film audience that constituted the working class. There were increasing numbers of industrial workers and migrants living in cities, small towns. with their roots still in the villages. This change in audience has led to the production of a new trend within.. 48)