The Dadasaheb Phalke Marathi Chitrapat awards were held in a glittering function at the Ravindra Natya Mandir recently. Many artistes like Ramesh Dev-Seema Dev, Ravindra Mahajani, Vijay Chavan, Ashok Shinde, Swapnil Joshi (in absentia) ,Makarand Anaspure, Mahesh Kothare, Arun Nalavde, Technicians like cinematographer Mangesh Sawant, lightmen/art directors Sharad Pol, M. R. Achrekar, choreographers Subal Sarkar, Narendra Pandit,and music director Avdhoot Gupte were presented with bouquets and citations at the hands of WICA chief cinematographer Ashok Mehta.

Congress leader Dhondiraj Waghmare and state education minister Varsha Gaikwad, Journalists Dilip Thakur (Saamana), Sanjay Ghavre (Lokmat), Vaishnavi Kanvinde (Maharashtra Times), PR persons Sanjay Bane, Ganesh Gargote, still- photographer Mohan Loke were felicitated at the hands of eminent actor Ramesh Bhatkar.

Makers of films with commercial values like ‘Rita’, ‘Hello Gandhe Sir’, social values like ‘Umang’, ‘Pratisaad’, ‘Janm’ and those films with rural backdrop like ‘Gosht Dongraevdhi’, ‘Urus’ were also felicitated along with films like ‘Ajoba Vayat Aale’, ‘Kamapurta Vima’, ‘Baap Manus’, and ‘Konti Bayko Karu’ which received a special mention.

The function gained momentum with song and dance performances by Madhavi Nimkar-Abhijeet Kelkar, Rutuja Deshmukh, Madhura Velankar and Umesh Kamath. Mimicry skits brought the house down with Ashish Pawar, Pradeep Patwardhan, Vijay Kadam and Madhavi Juvekar giving their best. Students from Heramb School sang popular songs.

The show was anchored by Dr.Ganesh Divekar and Prachi Pandit. Present on the occasion were Phalke’s third generation descendants Chandrakant Pusalkar and his wife, who too were felicitated and they made an announcement that in future an award will be given to a female director in the name of Phalke’s wife Savitrabai Phule.

Also present on the occasion were Devendra More of Marathi Trade Guide who sponsored the awards and Maharashtra Congress Committee Secretary Shakeel Ansari.