Sulochana Didi felicitated by Kedar Shinde & team
Filmmaker Kedar Shinde and his team of ‘Aga Bai Arechha-2′ had an occasion to celebrate Woman’s day , when the first look of their film was unveiled on Monday evening. Producer Narendra Firodia from Ahmednagar and his family took this opportunity to felicitate the grand old lady of Marathi and Hindi Cinema- Sulochana Didi.
The veteran actress who walked towards the dais, was escorted by actor Sachin Pilgaonkar, who willingly came forward to offer his helping hand. Among the 40 women from Maharashtra , who were also felicitated were many well known names in Marathi entertainment industry and other fields, including Rohini Hattangadi and lead actress of the film Sonali Kulkarni. Earlier, Sonali Kulkarni showed a fine gesture, by spending some time with the veteran actress and exchanging pleasantries.
Present on the occasion were MNS chief Raj Thackeray, Kiran Shantaram, Vijay Patkar, Purushottam Berde and other invitees. Many artistes from Marathi film and television industry, were present in large number, to grace the occasion.
‘Image of Woman in Marathi TV Serial’ discussed
‘Image of Woman in Marathi TV Serial’ was the subject of discussion at Asiatic Society, Mumbai as a part of ‘Jagatik Marathi Din’ which is to be celebrated on 27th February. The panel of discussion consisted of Marathi film producer-director Viraaj Raje, Writer Ambarish Mishra, Aruna Joglekar, Marathi Film Critic Soumitra Pote and actress Rohini Hattangadi. After a brief introduction, Ambarish Mishra ,channelled the discussion by stating that TV serials do decide the cultural standards of the society.
Aruna Joglekar, who is a dialogue writer of many popular Marathi serials, stressed that the daily soap scenario is not dominated by creative people, but people with money bags. She stated, “An Advertisement company approaches a channel to make a serial, with a particular region in mind, because their surveys show that there’s huge untapped market available there. The interference is so much that I had to dilute my dialogues in ‘Zoka’ due to pressure from marketing team.”
Rohini Hattangadi was honest in admitting that image of woman in serials, is totally controlled by non-creative people. “The channels should at least make one thought-provoking serial, even if the TRPs are low, after making 3-4 successful serials,” she suggested. Soumitra Pote was of the opinion that in today’s daily soaps, woman characters are utterly unrealistic and there’s no value addition for young audience. Viraaj Raje stated “I have given up being creative head of TV serials, due to unnecessary, unwanted & unwarranted interference of marketing teams. “TRPs are supreme, but strangely and surprisingly the sample strength to measure TRPs is only 60 to 70 thousand,” he stated factually.
Ambarish Mishra concluded the discussion, hoping that the channels would project the women on TV, more realistically and the audience should exercise their right to switch off the TV for the programmes they don’t like, so that the channels are forced to cater to their demands.
“Success is achieved through excellent team work” – Rohini Hattangadi
She was almost nearing 30,when she was playing the role of Kasturba in Richard Attenborough’s English Academy awards winning film ‘Gandhi’. But, that role made her an internationally acclaimed actress. Born as Rohini Oak in Pune, Rohini married Jayadev Hattangadi, who was her batch mate in NSD, Delhi. Today, Rohini Hattangadi, is a renowned personality in films, theatre and television industry. So far, she has won two Filmfare Awards, one National Film Award, and is the only Indian actress to win the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her performance as Kasturba Gandhi in Gandhi (1982). Since her childhood, she always wanted to become an actress and began her lessons through theatre. Rohini made her film debut with Saeed Akhtar Mirza’s ‘Arvind Desai Ki Ajeeb Dastaan’ in 1978. The film won the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Movie. This was followed by her appearance in Mirza’s next picture, ‘Albert Pinto Ko Gussa Kyon Ata Hai’ (1980), which won the same award, and Rabindra Dharmaraj’s drama Chakra (1981). Her roles in these films were not big; but after her performance in ‘Gandhi’ in 1982, she was mostly offered character roles in mainstream Hindi cinema and was often typecast in mother’s roles, much ahead of her actual age. Respected for her acting prowess, she has appeared in about 80 feature films, and is today very active on Marathi television.
Rohini Hattangadi, Actress
Being a versatile actress, Rohini has performed in many Hindi and Marathi serials in the recent past; but, her eTV’s serial ‘Char Divas Sasuche’ which made a record run of more than 6 years continuously. Today, she is the most popular TV actress, returning back with another important role of a head of the family in Zee Marathi’s new serial ‘Honar Sunn Mee Hya Gharchi’. Marathi Movie world spoke to this resourceful actress, to know more about her 35 year long acting career.
Q: We have heard that every serial you are part of in Marathi, turns out to be a marathon serial, gaining popularity. What’s your reaction ? A: Yes, I have seen the success and popularity of ‘Char Diwas Sasuche’; and now, being part of ‘Honar Sun Mee Hya Gharchi’, I watching almost the same reactions coming from people, who I come across. They have appreciated the subject and my role. But, I would attribute the credit of popularity of the serial to the entire team, the writer, producer, director and all the artistes. It’ happens because of good team work.
Q: In your acting career, right from the beginning stage, you have played the Mother’s role for actors, who were much elder to you. How did you react to that situation? A: Being a professional actress, I had to be prepared for any role that was offered to me. Yes, some of the actors like Amitabh Bachchan, Jitendra were more than10 years elder to me. But, it all depended, how that actor playing my son, responded in all those important scenes with me. For any actor, it is very important to extract the best out of him or her; with the good support coming from the artiste who is opposite that person in a particular scene.
Q: Recently, we even saw you performing in a Marathi film ‘Premachi Goshta’ after a long time. Your comments. A: Yes, I did accept that role, as I liked the script.
Q: There are many new Marathi stage plays on different subjects. Aren’t you tempted to perform on Marathi stage now? A: I had done stage in the past. But, in the recent past, I had not received any offers with a good script. But, very soon, you will see me performing in a play ‘Jagadamba’ which is on the life of Kasturba Gandhi. The play was already staged in 2009 and is being revived now. I will be playing the lead role with a solo performance in this two act play. There is lot to be told about life of kasturba Gandhi and her actual role in the life of Mahatma Gandhi. The general feeling is that, ‘behind every successful man there is a wife’. But, in the case of Gandhiji, kasturba was always with him and not behind him. That’s what this play will be speaking about. Through this play, the main character will be communicating with the audience. So, just wait. I am getting ready for this play.
Q: Tell us something about this ongoing serial of yours, ‘Honar Sun Mee Hya Gharchi’? A; Well, I liked the concept and even my role in it. The head of the family I play, is very strict, who wants everybody to be disciplined and speak truth. She is taking good care of all the women folks in the house, after getting rid of the useless men; except her Grandson- Shree, who is well behaved and very much attached to her.
Q: So, can we expect this serial also to be the most popular serial in coming days ? A: I Hope so. After all, success is achieved through excellent team work. Thank you.
Rohini Hattangadi in and as ‘Aai’
The makers of the record breaking Etv serial
‘Char Divas Sasuche’ are now ready with their latest serial ‘Aai’ starring Rohini Hattangadi in the title role along with Madhav Abhyankar, Sharvari Lohkare, Deepti Ketkar, Dr.Vilas Ujawne, Shantanu Moghe, Vandana Vaknis, etc . The serial is produced by Naresh Borde, and directed by Khalil Herekar. The script of ‘Aai’ is written by Abhijeet Pednekar, and the music is composed by Kaushal Inamdar.
The story of ‘Aai’ is about a middle class housewife who faces a lot of strife and struggle to keep her family happy. She makes all efforts to solve her children’s problems and goes through various roles of a wife, a mother, a sister, and most importantly a woman. Catch up with this new serial from 23 Nov at 7.30 pm Mon-Sat on Etv Marathi