SCHOOL was an ordeal for Bhimrao Panchale,who preferred listening to ghazals than studying. He tuned in to the songs and techniques of great ghazal masters,and began learning Urdu to understand and appreciate poetry and music. But it was only in Class X that he heard Suresh Bhats Marathi ghazal,and Panchale was hooked. Today,Panchale is fondly called the ghazal nawaz for his lifelong effort to adapt ghazals traditionally an Urdu form of poetry to Marathi. He has spent over 40 years trying to popularise the genre and develop it. Originally,only a handful of artistes such as Suresh Bhat and Suresh Wadkar would perform Marathi ghazals. Now,though,there are several others such as Arati Ankalikar-Tikekar and Datta Prasad Ranade. When I started,they would tell me that there is no such thing as a Marathi ghazal and that it wouldnt sound the same. Today,however,there are hundreds of Marathi poets and singers dedicated to ghazals, says Panchale. One such artiste is Pune-based Shirish Kulkarni,who recently performed at Lalit Kala Kendra,Pune. Kulkarni used to be a folk singer,until he discovered the beauty of ghazals. In 2009,he began writing and performing his own Marathi ghazals. For Kulkarni,ghazals are about abstract feelings,they dont talk about a particular person or an incident. He says that usually people who are comfortable with Marathi get scared of ghazals because they are intimidated by the Urdu lyrics. But if the same emotions are expressed in Marathi,then people connect with it, he says. Panchale,who has organised over 2,000 mehfils,90 workshops,seven ghazal sammelans and has written several books about Marathi ghazals,believes that Marathi captures the beauty and form of ghazals just as well as Urdu. The tradition of ghazals in Urdu is more than a thousand years old,in Marathi,its newer,but as a language,Marathi is just as complete and rich as Urdu, he says.
