He was one of the early filmmakers to realize the efficacy of the film medium as an instrument of social change and used it successfully to advocate humanism on one hand and expose bigotry and injustice on the other.

[10][11] Shantaram introduced his daughter Rajshree and Jeetendra in the 1964 film Geet Gaya Patharon Ne.

The V. Shantaram Motion Picture Scientific Research and Cultural Foundation, established in 1993, offers various awards to film-makers.

[15] Shantaram was maternal cousin of famous Marathi film director Master Vinayak,[16] (father of Bollywood actress Nanda).

They had four children: son Prabhat Kumar (after whom Shantaram named his movie company) and daughters Saroj, Madhura and Charusheela.

In 1941, Shantaram married actress Jayashree (née Kamulkar), with whom he had worked in several films, including Shakuntala (1942).

He had three children with Jayashree: a son, the Marathi film director and producer Kiran Shantaram,[19][20] and two daughters, the actress Rajshree and Tejashree.

[21] In 1956, just before the law was changed to prohibit polygamy for Hindus, Shantaram married another of his leading ladies, the actress Sandhya (née Vijaya Deshmukh), who had starred in his films Amar Bhoopali and Parchaiyan and would go on to star in many of his future films like Do Aankhen Barah Haath, Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baaje, Navrang, Jal Bin Machhli Nritya Bin Bijli and Sehra.

V. Shantaram's family moved from Kolhapur to Hubbbali also known as Hubli in Dharwar district, Bombay state Now Karnataka in 1917 facing a tough time financially.

Shantaram, then a teenager joined the railway workshop at Hubballi as a fitter for a salary of 8 annas (50 paise) per day.