Brahmachari (1938)
Cast and crew
Director: Master Vinayak
Writer: P.K. Atre
Cast: Master Vinayak, Meenakshi Shirodkar, V.G. Jog, Damuanna Malvankar, Javdekar
Dialogue: Pandit Indra
Cinematography: Pandurang Naik
Music: Dada Chandekar
Lyrics: Pandit Indra
The film
Brahmachari was made in Marathi, with an equally popular Hindi-Urdu version.
Story
In the 1930s many idealistic, young, middle-class Hindu men were attracted to a celibate-muscular version of Hinduism. (The Boy Scouts movement in the west and celibate versions of Islam were also doing the rounds around the same time--for young men from their respective communities.) ' Brahmachari' means 'celibate' and the film's hero Audumbar (Vinayak) has resolved to be celibate. However, saucy, playful Kishori (Meenakshi) leads him away from the straight and narrow, partly by appearing in a swimming costume.
The film, in effect, poked fun at this celibate-muscular version of Hinduism.