Noted Marathi poet Namdeo Dhondo Mahanor passes away at 80

“Namdeo Dhondo Mahanor was admitted on July 13 and died of his prolonged illness. He was suffering from multiple chronic ailments for the past few years and was severely unwell for the last two weeks. In spite of giving best medical support, he unfortunately passed away,” said Behram Khodaiji, CEO of Ruby Hall Clinic.

Mahanor will be cremated on August 4 at his native village Palaskhed.

Jabbar Patel, the director of Jait re Jait, called him the next important lyricist after Ga Di Madgulkar. He considers himself lucky that he could make three films with Mahanor.

“What he wrote about in his poetry came from his life experiences. He was born a farmer, so he could write about the good rainy days and about times of drought with a certain depth.” Patel is saddened by this loss and said Manohar suffered a lot in his last stages.

Mahanor’s poetry reached people through school textbooks, songs on the radio or through his speeches in the Maharashtra Legislative Council. “He has contributed so much to Marathi literature, many everyday words are his unique gift to the language. He accepted the role of President for many smaller literary meets, but he never accepted the post as president of the Akhil Bharatiya Sahitya Sammelan,” said film writer Ramdas Phutane.

Mahanor experimented with art and agriculture. It can be seen through his films like Mukta, the Lavani songs he wrote for the movie ‘Ek Hota Vidushak’ that became very popular. He named the custard apples grown in his farm, which weren’t affected by drought, Lataphal.

He raised important issues about farmers during his tenure as MLC at the state Legislative Council. “These questions are still critical to farmers,” said Patel.

Sharad Pawar also paid tributes and expressed grief about the passing away of a close friend. He remembered his speeches from the legislative council and highlighted their importance.