“I am proud to be part of Ruia College alumni” – Tanvi Palav
We all are aware that Mumbai’s Ruia College has offered many well known personalities in the field of sports, literature and acting. Recently, the college was declared the best college in India by the UGC, New Delhi; besides having acquired the four star rating from the National Assessment and Accreditation Council of India. Still preserving the traditional Marathi culture of the state, the college has been winning the competitions at many state level dramatic competitions and Youth festivals. No wonder, the college has offered many renowned artistes to Marathi entertainment industry.
Marathi Movie World selected one such young talented TV actress from this college, who during her tenure of three year degree course, won the awards for her college at Youth Festival, for three consecutive years. Tanvi Palav is not only a talented actress but also a finest kathak dancer, having acquired an additional degree in this creative field too. Incidentally, she is in news, as her new Marathi serial ‘Javai Vikat Ghene Aahe’ in lead role, is all set to release on 3rd March on Zee Marathi. Tanvi is very excited about this role of Pranjal, she is portraying in this serial. But, during our conversation with her, she seemed to be more happy to be a part Ruia college alumni. .
“I am proud to be part of Ruia college alumni, as our college is not only known for producing academically best students, but has also offered many well known artistes and sports persons in different fields. It is the kind of culture, that is still maintained by this college. No wonder, our college has received such a prestigious status i.e. the ‘College of Excellence’ from UGC, this year,” she says. Recalling her happy days in Ruia College, Tanvi does not forget to mention about Pednekar Sir. “He was such a wonderful person, always there to help us, to meet all our requirements; be it related to our cultural activities or relating to missing our lectures, during rehearsals and competitions. In fact, all the staff members of the college were very cooperative,” she added. It may be mentioned that other Marathi artistes like Spruha Joshi, Ninad Limaye and Aakash Dabhade were her seniors in Ruia college.
Prior to bagging this most prominent role and that too in this Zee Marathi serial, Tanvi had appeared in Saam TV’s serial ‘Rang Majha Vegala’, produced by Ekta kapoor. Talking about her selection for this role of Pranjal in ‘Javai Vikat Ghene Aahe’, she says, “I had given my audition to Rakesh Sarang’s Cams Club in the past. This time, while finalising artistes for this serial, they called me once again and everything happened so quickly, that I just couldn’t believe that I had started shooting for them. Things had moved so fast, during past few days.”
Tanvi is the niece of renowned Calligraphy master of India Achhut Palav. Like her uncle, she is also very creative and is thinking of developing new things into various dance forms. “Besides acting, kathak is my passion and I shall continue to practice, and train others, even when I become a senior citizen. I would love to explore new forms, to make this dance form look more appealing. Kathak and acting goes parallel and hence this combination has helped me a lot,” she explains. Tanvi is ready to perform in all the three mediums of acting, including films. “My father has advised me one thing, whatever commitments I can fulfil with total devotion, I should take up with a challenge. And, I am now ready for it,” she reacts.
Tanvi is all praise for her parents and especially her father for encouraging her to take part in cultural events, since her childhood, while she was studying in King George School, Dadar and even later, after shifting to Bhandup. “I am also thankful to my teacher Lata Bakarkar, for polishing my dance skills. My dance knowledge helped me to perform on stage with confidence and I learnt acting, during my kathak performances,” she concludes.
“New chocolate hero of Marathi small screen” – Shashak Ketkar
Academically he is an Engineer. And, Swimming was his passion, before he opted for acting profession. In fact, he was a national level swimmer. But, after acquiring his Engineering degree, when Shashak Ketkar proceeded to Australia to do his Masters in Engineering management; he never knew that on his return to India, he would turn an actor.
Things changed for him, during his two year stay in Australia. Shashank had then joined Maharashtra Mandal, to spend his free time. Taking part in cultural activities of the Mandal, during festive occasions and performing on stage, brought him close to acting. And, when he returned back to India, with his masters degree; instead of taking up a job, he took the most crucial decision to become an actor. He had developed a new passion for acting.
Soon, his acting career began with a Marathi stage play ‘Poornaviraam’ ( Full stop). Following the same was his performance in e TV’s serial ‘Kalay Tasmay Namah’ where he played the grandson of renowned actor Vikram Gokhale. During the course of this serial, he played a small role in Mahesh Kothare’s serial ‘Phirun Navi Janmen Mee’ on Mi Marathi channel. And since then ,there was no looking back for him. He found his major break in acting through Star Pravah’s serial ‘Suvasini’ where he played the role of Jayaram.
The character of Jayaram in ‘Suvasini’ gave Shashank his independent identity as an actor. But, when you ask Shashank, the turning point in his acting career, he quotes a scene in ‘Kalay Tasmay Namah’. “It was an intense scene with Mr. Vikram Gokhale and when it was over, director Mandar Deosthali, walked towards me and said that I was a hero material. His words came true, when I received the role of Shrirang Gokale from him, in ‘Honar Sun Mi Hya Gharchi’.” he said.
Till the time we saw this chocolate lover boy image of Shashank in ‘Honar Sun Mi Hya Gharchi’, Shashank had already played variety of roles in serials like ‘Rang Majha Vegala’, and ‘Swapnanchya Palikadle’ besides other serials. He also established himself in negative character for a change in ‘Swapnanchya Palikadle’. According to Shashank, this was an experience to learn new things. “Even today, I am learning a lot from my seniors. Tejashree is a wonderful co artiste; but Atul Parchure has also been of great help on the sets. We make a very good team on the sets of ‘Honar Sun Mi Hya Gharchi,” Every day on the sets, is a school to me.” he concludes.
Shashank is certainly a talented actor and has a bright future ahead. With the progress of his ongoing serial, he looks more and more confident . No wonder, his pairing with Tejashree is the most popular among Marathi home TV viewers today, that too in all age groups. Now, just waiting to see him make a grand debut into films, in due course of time.
Rang Majha Vegala’ – New family serial
Balaji Telefilms have spread their network to Saam TV. Their new serial ‘ Rang majha Vegala’ which is a family social , will begin from 2nd April 2012 on Saam TV at 8 pm. The serial is an out of the box tale of a young woman Gargi and her journey full of struggle.
Directed by Raju Sawant based on the concept of Ektaa kapoor, the story of this serial is penned by Ashish Ubale and the screenplay is written by Ashish along with Komulika Bhattacharya. Dialogues by Ashwini Shende, camera by Alinder Singh and music by Ashok Patki are the other credits. The Serial’s star cast comprises of Tanvi Palav and Shashank Ketkar along with Shilpa Navalkar, Sharvani Pillay, Anand kale, Nandini Vaidya, Lala Deshmukh, Shrikant Gandhe, Vasudha Deshpande, Arun Bhadsavle, Falguni Thakkar, Abhilasha Patil, Mrunmayee Phadke and Yogita Dandekar.