The 1957 Hindi film, Do Aankhen Barah Haath by V.Shantaram was inspired by the story of an 'open-prison' experiment swatantrapur in the princely state of Aundh near Satara, Maharashtra.
Bhalji's son Prabhakar Pendharkar (1933 - 2010) was associated with making of Do Aankhen Barah Haath in 1950s, wrote the book रारंगढांग, and was author-director of noteworthy documentaries.
Vasant Desai (1912–1975) was an Indian film music composer, most remembered for his score in V. Shantaram film, like Do Aankhen Barah Haath (1953), Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baaje (1955), Vijay Bhatt's Goonj Uthi Shehnai (1959), Sampoorna Ramayan (1961), Hrishikesh Mukherjee's Guddi (1971) and Aashirwaad.