Even after 35 years of his non-stop acting career, Ramesh Bhatkar still continues to remain a popular actor in Marathi film, on stage and in TV industry. Of the various roles that Ramesh has portrayed , he is best known for his roles in the detective TV serials ‘Commander’ and ‘Hello Inspector’. But the real stage lovers still cannot forget his lead role in ‘Ashrunchi Zali Phule’ (1976), which made a record run on Marathi stage for about 28 years. When we see revival of so many plays, it is felt that this particular play would certainly invite the attention of today’s young generation, if revived at this stage.
Today, Ramesh is doing two stage plays, namely ‘Yayati’ and ‘Premachya Gavaa Jaave’, where he plays two contrast roles. ‘Premachya Gavaa Jaave’ is an old comedy, being revived to pay homage to Mr. Mohan Wagh, while ‘Yayati’ is based on King Yayati one of the ancestors of Pandavas, who was a great scholar of Vedas. Yayati had a great personality and Ramesh perfectly fits into his role even today, when he makes his entry on the stage. Always giving top priority to stage- his first love, Ramesh however regrets that his plays did not receive much of media coverage. ” I only remember one good review by Kamlakar Nadkarni on ‘Yayati’. If Marathi stage has to survive, our media should review more and more plays.” he says.
But, Ramesh still continues to remain the favourite actor among his new fans, though he prefers to maintain a low profile . Even if he is not doing much of films or serials, he still remains a real stylish hero of Marathi industry. Capt. Dilip Bhatkar, a close family friend describes his popularity in Ratnagiri as a real hero of that soil. “To watch his play ‘Yayati’, some of his fans even preferred to stand on the sides of the auditorium, as the show was houseful,” he added.
For more than 30 years now, Ramesh has played memorable lead roles in plays like ‘Ugadale Swargache Daar’ (1982), ‘Denaryaache Haath Hazaar’ (1980), ‘Shadyantra’ (1991), ‘Kevha Tari Pahate’, ‘Akher Tu Yeshilach’, ‘Rahu Ketu’, ‘Mukta’, The Boss- Sutradhar, ‘Kinara’ and so on, which number about 50 plays. At present, his, ‘Premachya Gavaa Jaave’, is doing a good business.
Born to an illustrious music director-composer and accomplished singer Mr. Snehal (Vasudeo) Bhatkar , in his early college days, Ramesh was a champion swimmer and represented the college aquatics team. He was also an enthusiastic kho-kho player with Dadar’s well known Vijay Club. Later, he married to Mridula , who is now a respected judge in Bombay High Court. His son Harshavardhan is doing his Phd in USA.
Ramesh made his debut through Marathi film Chandoba Chandoba Bhaglas ka (1977) followed by AshtaVinayak (1978), Duniya kari Salam, Maherchi Manasa, Aapli Maanasa, and Maherchi Sadi (1991). Of his nearly 90 films, most of them are in Marathi, with a few in the Hindi language. He was a favourite of Filmmaker Deepak Balraj Vij who offered him better roles. If one has to evaluate his performance on screen, it was in Maherchi Sadi in 1991. Watch his spontaneity in every emotion filled scene and that gives a clear indication of his intensity into the role he played.
Ramesh has fond memories of his association with all time great Bollywood director late Kidar Sharma. Ramesh did a Hindi film with him, when the grand old man was almost in his retiring stage and ‘Sahami Hue Sitare’ just turned out to be his last film. The film’s release itself was a great tribute to the great director, who worked with many big stars including Raj Kapoor in the past. “The grand old man was a real director with total commitment. He used to persuade every important artist to give his or her best in every scene he shot. It was a real test for us to get the scene cleared with his appreciation. Every time, I gave the shot to his satisfaction, he used to present me a One rupee coin. Every time I received that coin, I considered it a big honour. He was such a genius person.” says Ramesh while recalling those golden moments.
To say something about his prosperous television career, it began with a title role in Hello Inspector (1990) in Marathi on Door Darshan, followed by ‘Commander’ (1992) in Hindi on Zee TV and then ‘Teesra Dola’ (1998) on DD2. All these serials made Ramesh the most popular TV personality during that period. Later, he also appeared in some other popular serials like ‘HaddaPaar’, ‘Bandini And ‘Yugandhara’. His television career includes about 30 serials with more than 1,000 episodes aired so far.
Passionate about old Music, Ramesh is many a times found singing the old tunes of his late father during his leisure time. Marathi Movie world wishes him a grand success and in appreciation of his contribution to Marathi entertainment honour him as The Star of the Month.
