Prabhat Studio of V. Shantaram, Govind Damle and Fateh Lal Yasin created Prabhat Theatre, and that was given on lease to the Damale family. The inangural show of Prabhat Talkies was held on September 21, 1934. Its forerunner was Kibe Laxmi Theatre, which was later named Prabhat Talkies by the new custodians of Prabhat Film Company. The first film that was screened by the theatre was the English film Love Me Tonight. It was now in its 81st year. The lease ended in December, 2014. Its manager Vivek Damle is the grand son of late Visnupant Damle. The last film reel rolled out at the stroke of midnight on Thursday, 25th Dec 2014. They will wind up things and hand over the charge to the Kibe family on January 10, 2015. The Kibes are originally from Indore. Prabhat has screened over 1200 films. The popular Marathi film Maherchi Sadi ran for over two years. Many watched films back-to-back on the last day.

Kibe Laxmi Theatre

Prabhat has been shut for the last eight months. It was shut after the expiry of lease between the Kibe family and the Damle family of the erstwhile Prabhat Film Company. The Kibes have announced the completion of the renovation, and it is to be open for public in the next few days. ( September, 2015 ). It awaits the permission from the police. Originally, its construction was completed on Sept 21, 1934. Sardar Ramchandra Mukundrao Kibe, grandfather of Ajay and Suresh Kibe, the present owners, named it in honour of his mother Laxmibai as Kibe Laxmi Theatre. The theatre was then leased to Prabhat Film Company of Kolhapur which shifted to Pune in the 1930s.The company named it Prabhat. It had been screening movies till Dec 25, 2014. Renovated Kibe Laxmi Theatre will be a single screen theatre, competing with multiplexes.