Born in 1931 in Bombay, Shri Panshikar made an early appearance as an actor on the professional Marathi stage under the direction of the late Shri Nandu Khote and Shri M.G.Rangnekar. At twenty-one he began directing plays, founding Natya Sampada in Bombay in 1963 – a group that has since earned great popularity among audiences in Maharashtra.

As an actor, Shri Prabhakar Panshikar made thousands of appearances all over the country. Acharya Atre’s To Mee Navhecha was reckoned the most successful of his productions, with innumerable shows. He also produced many successful plays like Ithe Oshalla Mrutyu, Ashrunchi Zali Phule and Katyar Kaljat Ghusali among others. A prominent figure of the professional Marathi stage, Shri Panshikar had also been the President of the Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Natya Parishad.

He established his own company, Natyasampada, with Vasudev Kolhatkar and Mohan Wagh. In Vasant Kanetkar`s Ashrunchi jhali phule in 1966, his role of the professor-turned-goonda won him tremendous appreciation. He is said to have notched up over 5000 performances as an actor.