‘ मृणालताई करंडक २०२२’ राज्यस्तरीय एकांकिका स्पर्धा
‘Eka Lagnachi Pudhchi Goshta’ all set to score 400
Prashant Damle is one such actor in Marathi, who has totally dedicated himself to Marathi stage. Having created many records in the past, Prashant is now all set to create another record with his popular Marathi play ‘Eka Lagnachi Pudhchi Goshta’ to perform its 400th show soon. After lifting of lockdown Prashant has succeeded in staging a full house show of this play recently.
Produced by Prashant Damle Foundation and Gauri Theatres, this play will be marching towards its 400th show soon and for that Prashant has already booked the shows of this play from 6th March to 14th March 2021. The 393rd show will be held at Deenanath Vile Parle, followed by 394th at Dr .Kashinath Ghanekar auditorium, Thane on 7th March, with 395th show at Gadkari, Thaneand 396th show at savitribai Phule, Domibivali. The next three shows will be held at Prabodhankar Thackeray, Borivali, Yashvantrao Chavan, Kothrud and Ramakrishna More , Chinchvad to move ahead with the 400th show at Balgandharva Rangmandir, Pune on 14th March 2021.
Both Prashant Damle and Kavita Lad Medhekar will be looking forward to celebrate success of their play with the best wishes from the Marathi audience.
‘Lok- Shastra Savitri’ Natya Jagar to begin from 3rd January
3rd January is the birth anniversary of Savitribai Phule the renowned social reformer, educationalist, and poet from Maharashtra. On this occasion, writer- director Manjul Bharadwaj through his Theatre of Relevance will be launching his Marathi play ‘Lok- Shastra Savitri’ with the 3 pm inaugural show at Malti Vaidya Smruti Trust, Badlapur. This will be followed by series of shows till 10th March 2021 at different places like Thane, Kalyan, Panvel, Borivali besides Mumbai city.
It may be recalled that Savitribai Phule brought in many reforms in our society and people are aware of her contribution but still her principles are yet to be understood properly. Along with her husband, Mahatma Jyotiba Phule, she played an important and vital role in improving women’s rights in India. She worked to abolish the discrimination and unfair treatment of people based on caste and gender.
It is for this reason, Mr. Manjul Bharadwaj wants to spread her principles through this play to generate awareness among the people. Group of Marathi artistes from Theatre of Relevance like Ashwini Nandedkar, Sayali Pawaskar, Komal Khamkar, Tushar Mhaske, Yogini Chouk and Surekha Salunkhe are part of this play.
Seminar to review changing scenario of Marathi plays
At present Marathi plays are going through a bad time . But, with the improving situation we can look forward to a changing scenario with audience returning to drama theatres. Though announcement has been made by our Government to reopen drama theatres soon, there is no movement noticed to see the rehearsals prior to the shows or booking of shows. Uncertainty still hangs over return of audience to the theatres. In short, the right mood is to be created.
Perhaps, taking this situation into account, Vinay Apte Pratishthan and ‘Jagatik Marathi Natyadharmi Nirmata Sangh’ have arranged a seminar in the form of Group Discussion on 7th December 2020 which coincides with death anniversary of Late Vinay Apte. This group discussion will be held @ 6 pm on this day at Madame Cama Hall, Savarkar Smarak , Dadar. This seminar is open only to invitees and participants like Vijay Kenkre, Vandana Gupte, Shrirang Godbole, Sunil Barve, Prajakta Deshmukh, Abhijit Jhunjjarrao will be part of this seminar. The programme can be seen live on FB page of Vinay Apte Prathishthan.
Zee5 offers variety of popular Marathi plays
During this lock down period what the regular Marathi theatre audience is missing is their favourite pastime of watching Marathi plays in drama theatres. For such people Zee Marathi has offered variety of old Marathi plays in video format. Some prominent pays in the list are, ‘Natasamrat’ starring Mohan Joshi and Rohini Hattangadi. ‘Aaranyak’ starring Dilip Prabhavalkar, Ravi Patwardhanand Pratibha Matkari.
1988 play ‘Kusum Manohar Lele’ starring Shubhangi Joshi, Bal Karve, Manda Desai and Dr. Girish Oak is also another attraction on this Zee5 app, besides another popular play ‘Vahato Hi Durvanchi Judi’ starring Subodh Bhave in the lead role. There is also ‘Kachecha Chandra’ starring Sharad Ponkshe and Harshada Khanvilkar while ‘Vegala Vhaychay Mala’ starring Nivedita Joshi and Jayant Savarkar is also another good choice. Among the other plays in the list are, ‘Pappa Sanga Kunache’ with Late Anand Patwardhan, ‘Goshta Janmantarichi’ with Mohan Joshi and ‘Ghar Shrimantanche’ with Sudhir Joshi.
Makarand Deshpande to make his acting debut on Marathi stage
Renowned Hindi stage and film actor Makarand Deshpande, who made began his acting career with Inter Collegiate Drama competitions, later turned writer director of many Hindi plays. He also performed in Hindi plays and was also seen in prominent roles in some of the Hindi films. Now, Makarand wants to make his acting debut in Marathi, through his favourite play ‘Sir,Premacha Kaay Karaycha’ which is written and directed by him.
Looking at the title of this play, it is clear that the play talks about ‘Love’ . But, it is a different type of love, which just happens. What if a girl student falls in love with her Sir ? This is what the subject of this film is all about. Along with Makarand, the other important artistes in this play are Ajay kamble, Aakansha Gade, Madhuri Gavali, Ninad Limaye and Aniket Bhoir. The inaugural show of this play is scheduled to be held on 19th December at Gadkari Rangayatan, Thane, followed by second show at kalidas , Mulund on 21st December 2019.
Speaking about his debut on Marathi stage, Makarand says, “I have written many Hindi plays over the years and also directed some of them besides acting. I have performed these plays in various parts of the country, like Gujarat, Rajastan, U.P., M.P, Kolkatta and Delhi. Now, I want to perform in my mother tongue Marathi and therefore I have selected my favourite drama for my debut on Marathi stage. I am sure that the Marathi audience would accept me in the same way I was accepted in Hindi.”
‘RangaVaikhari’ receives overwhelming response for ‘One act play’ competition
Rajya Marathi Vikas Sanstha which organizes State Level Marathi One Act Play competition for Colleges will be hosting their 3rd chapter this year with preliminary rounds to begin from 22nd to 26th December 2019 at different places in Mumbai, Amravati, Ratnagiri, Belgaum, Jalgaon, Nashik , Kolhpur, Ahmednagar and Pune regions. Compared to last year, this year the number of participating entries are more.
For th final third round which comprises of ‘Katharang’ will offer best stories of 25 prominent writers in Maharashtra and the teams will have to make a dramatic presentation of the subject using their creativity to write the script direction, choreography and music in 40 minutes duration. The names of the renowned authors whose stories have been selected are, C.V.Joshi, Narayan Dharap, Ranjit Desai, Madhu Mangesh Karnik, Rajan Khan, Shankarrao Kharat, D.B.Mokashi Vijaya Rajadhyaksha, Gauri Deshpande, Pratima Ingole, Urmila Pawar and others.
Looking at this big response, Now, it remains to be seen whether this year’s competition will be more impressive than what we saw last year.
Marathi Play ‘Zund’ will present Kiran Mane in a challenging role
‘Zund’ Marathi play, Actor Kiran Mane
Kiran Mane has always kept a low profile. Having started his acting career through experimental theatre, Kiran came to Mumbai from Satara via Pune , when he broke the journey to join the theatre of workshop of Pt. Satyadev Dubey . Thereafter, he began his journey on stage with ‘Gandhi Virrudh Gandhi’, ‘Manomilan’, ‘Wada Chirebandi’. Later, with sensational Marathi play ‘Govind Ghya Kuni Gopal Ghya’, ‘Maayleki’, ‘Tee Geli Tevha’, ‘Shree Tashi Sou’ and ‘Perfect Mismatch’ , he established himself as a versatile actor, having won several awards for his performance. Kiran was also seen in television serials, but theatre has always been his first love.
Kiran will now be seen in forthcoming Marathi play ‘Zund’, the inaugural show of which will be held on 14th December 2019 at Prabodhankar Thackeray Auditorium , Borivali. This will be Kiran’s 10th commercial play and he seems to be very excited with the kind of challenging role he is playing in this play. ” This is a Mind boggling subject. And my character in this play will take me to greater heights.” Written by Samar Khadas, produced by Santosh Kanekar and directed by Pradeep Mulye, this play also stars Akshar Kothari, Shriram Gadgil, Sagar Athlekar, Pradeep Patwardhan, Sagar Pawar and Pooja Raibagi. This play is presented by Zee Marathi.
Marathi Play ‘Daha By Daha’ reaches Golden Jubilee mark
Family related subjects have always invited the attention of Marathi drama lovers. One such subject presented through recently launched Marathi Play ‘Daha By Daha’ produced by Sachin Narkar, Vikas Pawarand Aakash Pendharkar has also received overwhelming response from the Marathi theatre audience . In a very short time this play will perform the Golden Jubilee show, which certainly needs appreciation.
‘Daha By Daha’ presents the story of Ghadigaonkar family living a simple traditional lifestyle. But, how this family breaks this traditional comfort zone to attempt something different is the focus of this play. And it is for this reason the play has successfully marched to Golden Jubilee show shortly with the positive response from the audience.
This play stars Vijay Patkar, Prathamesh Parab, Supriya Pathare, Vidisha Mhaskar, Gaurav Malankar and Amir Tadwalkar. Sanjay Jamkhandi and Vaibhav Sanap are the writers while Aniket Patil has directed this play. Music by Ashutosh Waghmare, Light effects by Vijay Gole , production design by Sandesh Bendre, make up by Hitesh Pawar and dress design by Rashmi Sawant are the other credits.
Reacting to their success the producer and team members have said that they themselves have also taken inspiration from the Ghadigaonkar family presented through this play and are looking forward to achieve their next milestones of 100, 500 and 1000 shows.
Shruja Prabhudesai to portray an important character of Bayo in ‘Himalayachi Savali’
Every actress has a dream to play a role which should extract her acting potential to the maximum. For stage and television actress Shruja Prabhudesai this opportunity has walked in with the most important role of ‘Bayo’ in the revived 1972 popular play ‘Himalayachi Savali’. Along with her in the lead role is Sharad Ponkshe who will play the character of Nanasaheb.
The inaugural show of this revived Marathi play will be held on Sunday 29th September in Nashik. Incidentally, Nashik also happens to be the birthplace of the writer of this play Prof. Vasant kanetkar. Directed by Rajesh Deshpande the play also stars Jayant Ghate, Vighnesh Joshi, Kapil Redkar, Omkar Karve, Krushna Rajshekhar, Prakash Sable, Makarand Navghare, Vasantika Walke, Pankaj Khamkar.
Made under the banner of Supriya Productions, this play is produced by Prakash Desai Pratishthan & Avdoot Productions. Govind Chavan and Prakash Desai are presenting this play with music by Rahul Ranade. Art direction Sandesh Bendre, costumes-Mangal Kenkre, production designer- Subhash Redkar are the other credits of this play.
Speaking about her role in this play, Shruja says, “This is the most challenging role I am playing, which has different shades. I am learning a lot during rehearsals, as I am portraying a character which is more older than my age, keeping in mind the body language and expressions of that character. Being from Konkan belt, I was comfortable with the required accent from this character.”