Bajaa Gajaa Music fest in Pune
The popular music festival ‘Baajaa Gaajaa’ 2011 will be held at Ishanya, Yeravada, Pune between 4th February and 6th February 2011. Music lovers be able to enjoy concerts by a wide range of artistes performing diverse forms of Indian music on multiple stages.
Performances will be scheduled at the following venues in Ishanya:
• Open Stage 1at Aangan: from approximately 11 am to 6 pm every day from Feb 4 to 6, 2011, with a break for lunch between 1 and 3 pm.
• Open Stage 2 at Jalsaghar: from approximately 11 am to 6 pm every day from Feb 4 to 6, 2011, with a break for lunch between 1 and 3 pm.
Entry to these concerts is free.
• There will also be special concerts every evening from 6.30 pm to 9.30 pm at the Amphitheatre. You will need to pick up invitation cards for these concerts from locations which will be announced shortly.
For latest details, visit website: http://baajaagaajaa.com/
PIFF to begin from 6th January 2011
The most popular Pune International Film Festival will begin from 6th January 2011 in different sections. In the competition section, the first section will be for international films, where 14 selected films will be shown. In the second section for Marathi films, 7 films have been selected for screening and in the third section of short films made by students, 38 entries have been short listed. In all, there will be about 200 films to be shown from 40 counties. The interested film lovers can register themselves to watch these films at different venues in Pune, such as E-square, City Pride, Inox, Fame , R-Deccan and Ganesh Kala Krida Manch.
Maharashtra Government will present the following awards: The ‘Prabhat’ Best International film, The best director for international film and Sant Tukaram award for best Marathi film.
Kedar Shinde to appear on small screen
For a long time there were news floating in about Kedar Shinde entering small screen and that too as an actor. But, now the news is true. Kedar has confirmed this to MMW. He will soon be seen in a very special role in Star Pravah‘s popular serial ‘Mann Udhaan Varyache’, produced by Mahesh Kothare and his son Adinath Kothare. After the release of his much talked about film ‘On Duty 24 Taas’, he seems to have taken a break from direction, by switching over to acting.
Known for his perfect timing of comedy through stage and films, as a director; Kedar has already displayed his acting talents on stage. Popular Bollywood director N. Chandra once said that a good director has to be a good actor, but he himself never came on the screen. But, Kedar has decided to perform as an actor and that too under the direction of other director, to prove his mettle.
Now, it’s ‘Ekapeksha Ek – Apsara Ali’
Zee Marathi’s popular dance reality show ‘Ekapeksha Ek‘ will be back soon with a new name ‘Ekapeksha Ek – Apsara Ali‘ , offering more glamour, fierce competition among dancers. For the upcoming fresh season, 9 beautiful, talented & famous celebrities will compete with each other.
The contestants for this season are well known celebrities from Marathi Film and Television industry which includes Neha Pendse, Girija Oak, Mrinmayee Deshpande, Urmila Kanetkar, Neha Joshi, Smita Tambe, Aarti Solanki and Sonali Khare. But to add more spice in this severe competition, they have also included Surekha Punekar – highly popular ‘Lavni’ performer from Maharashtra who is also known as Queen of Lavani.
To ensure better grooming of these contestants and bring out the best in them, the organizers have Mayur Vaidya, Fulva Khamkar and Dipali Vichare, the most prominent choreographers from the industry, who will guide the participants and prepare them for competition. Finally, to judge these talented individuals, they will have their popular Mahaguru, Sachin Pilgaonkar. The host of the show will be Pushkar Shrotri.
‘Ekapeksha Ek – Apsara Ali’ will begin from 29th December @ 9.30 pm Every Wednesday & Thursday at 9:30 pm on Zee Marathi.
Aadesh Bandekar’s new family show on E TV
Popular programme host Aadesh Bandekar will continue to entertain the viewers on E TV, every Monday and Tuesday at 9.30 pm. The only change is that he will be presenting a new programme titled ‘DNA Ekamatra family Show’ which also offers maximum cash prize of Rs.5 Lakhs to the participants. This new show will replace the ongoing reality show ‘Wow!‘ from 27th December 2010.
To announce the launching of their new show, E-TV Marathi had organized a Press show, where clippings of the first two episodes were shown. In this unique show, besides the participant and host; there will be 8 families comprising of either Mother or father on one side and their children on the other side. The participant has to guess and identify the correct pair. Every participant will have to progress towards next round while winning Rs. 50,000/- for every correct answer. In the final round, he or she gets a chance to play jackpot or walk home with the amount won till that round.
In the initial episodes which have been shot, celebrities like Sonali Kulkarni, Vinod kambli, Jitendra Joshi, Rahul Mahajan and Sachin Pilgaonkar have taken part. While speaking on the occasion, E-TV’s Sr. Branch Manager Mr. Dilip Mondkar made it very clear that the show was open to all and to participate in the show, viewers should send their SMS as follows: DNA<Space>Your Name<Space>Name of the City and post the same to 562635. Mr. Aadesh Bandekar the Programme Host, also spoke on the occasion and said that he was enjoying his new role with the new set of participants. “This new programme is a total fun and I am sure, all the viewers sitting at home would also enjoy the show,” he added. When asked what DNA exactly meant, he gave the meaning as, ‘Disata, Nasata Asata’.
Harish Tiwari of Cell 18, who has presented this show for E-TV, and Sanjeev Jangam, the writer were also present for the function.
‘Patrakar Din’ award for Vikram Gokhale
The Maharashtra Rajya Marathi Patrakar Sangh, which has been preserving cultural heritage of Maharashtra by honouring various personalities in different fields for their outstanding work, will be organising their ‘Patrakar Din’ on 6th January 2011.
This year in the Movie section, they have accordingly selected the film ‘Wavtal‘ which has a strong subject of a married woman who becomes a victim of circumstances and is rejected by her near and dear ones. Finally, she defends herself and selects her own place. Another person to receive an award in Actor’s category is Mr. Vikram Gokhale, whose selection too is based on his contribution to social field, besides acting.
The function will be held at 4pm at S.M. Joshi Hall, Navi Peth, Pune, when the following awards will be presented :
Journalism Section :
Sanjay Malme (Mumbai)
Shrikant Bojewar
Amol Torne ( Baramati)
Raj Kazi ( Pune)
Vivek Inamdar ( Pimpri-Chinchwad)
Pandurang Sarode ( Pune)
Sagar Shinde ( Pune)
Movie Section:
Film : Wavtal
Actor: Vikram Gokhale
Music: Harshit Abhiraj
Production arrangement: Sanjay Thube
Services Section:
Shivajirao Upase (Chief Engineer- Water Resources dept)
Sports section :
Shantaram Jadhav ( Arjuna award winner)
Social Service Section :
Radheshyam Chandak (Founder President- Buldhana Urban Bank)
Competition not with Bollywood, but among themselves
Bollywood’s much publicized film ‘Tees Maar Khan’ is being released on Friday 24th December 2010 and on the same day four Marathi films will be simultaneously released posing a big threat to Bollywood, especially in Maharashtra; during the Christmas vacation. But, the trade pundits say that it is not a competition with Bollywood, but it is a competition among the Marathi films. “If it was only one film like ‘On Duty 24Taas‘, then things would have been different, but with four-five films together, the audience is likely to divide among Marathi film lovers,” says an expert.
It is for the first time, after so many years that four Marathi films are being released on the same day and they are not ordinary films, but multi-starrer films with big names associated with them. While Kedar Shinde’s ‘On Duty 24 Taas’ is ahead of all in promotion, the next to invite the attention is ‘Chal Dharpakad‘ with Nirmiti & Co; which does not miss a single opportunity of campaign at public places, where the actresses play exhibition Kabbaddi matches.
A lot has been heard about actor Vikram Gokhale’s debut as a director through ‘Aaghaat’, a sensational film based on the medical profession and ethics. This film too has been involved in TV campaign through talk shows. Finally, Rohan Shivalkar’s film ‘Hungama’ which is supposed to be a comedy film, has not depended much on publicity campaign. It looks like that the makers of ‘Hungama’ are looking forward to ‘word of mouth’ publicity, after the film’s release. Come Friday and the fate of all these films will be decided.
5 New Marathi plays during next fortnight
Suhas Joshi, Vikram Gokhale, Mahesh Manjrekar and Siddharth Jadhav will be the topic of discussion among Marathi drama lovers during the next fortnight. In fact, Suhas Joshi and Vikram Gokhale will be seen together on stage almost after 30 years long period. Mahesh Manjrekar will be in the new role as a writer – director with his new play ‘Mee Shahrukh Manjarsumbhekar’ which will begin with its first show on 29th December 2010. Siddharth Jadhav, who plays the lead role in this play, will be supported by Sagar Karande, Rupali Bhosale and Kishore Raorane.
Katha (The Story), which brings Suhas Joshi and Vikaram Gokhale together, displays a wonderful relationship between husband and wife in a humorous way. This play will have their inaugural show on 26th December 2010. Bhushan Kadu starrer ‘Chehrapheri’ will begin from 18th December 2010, obviously with full-two-dhamaal, as Bhushan plays a double role in this play, supported by Rasika Vengurlekar, Puja Chavan and Deepti More.
The humour arising out of the relationship between husband and wife with big age difference has been presented in a different manner through one more play ‘Nava gadi Nave Rajya’ by young team ofUmesh kamat ,Priya Bapat, Hemant Dhome and Urjaa Deshpande. Vijay Tendulkar’s popular play ‘Ghashiram Kotwal’ is all set with a revival after 6 years, with the first show to be held at Pune’s Balgandahrva Auditorium on 19th December 2010, while another hit play ‘Guntata Hriday Hey’ is also in the pipeline.
Avadhoot Gupte’s rare gesture
We have been watching so many talk shows on television channels, but we have never seen the programme host donating his honorarium for the day towards the just cause. However, such an incident took place on Zee Marathi channel’s popular programme ‘Khupte tithe Gupte‘on Friday 17th December 2010.
It so happened that the host Avadhoot Gupte was interviewing two great personalities, namely Mr. Vikram Gokhale and Social activist Ms. Sindhutai Sapkal. With the progress of the discussion, the host was found deeply moved by the contribution of both of them for a social cause and kept on appreciating their work. At the end of the show, he handed over the entire honorarium for the day’s show as his contribution to the trusts run by them. He offered two cheques separately to each one of them. Isn’t that a rare gesture on the part of the host?
Revival of old hit Marathi plays
Marathi Stage-TV and Film actress Neelam Shirke is going on the lines of Sunil Barve’s Herbarium. She has turned a Marathi Drama Producer with the revival of an old hit play ‘Barrister’. Vikram Gokhale, who played the lead role in this play some 35 years ago, will be directing this play. Now, Shailesh Datar will play the lead role along with other promising artistes from Marathi stage. Rehearsals of this play are currently going on.
Neelam has big plans to revive around 50 such old hit plays during the next 5 years, with each play running for 25 shows. So, there will be 10 such plays in a year. With ‘Ghashiram Kotwal‘ also waiting for release, the focus will be on such old plays in the coming year. It also gives an impression that either the industry is running short of new stories, or the new subjects are not well accepted. After all, the Marathi stage has to survive and therefore the revival of old plays is not a bad idea.