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Journalism of Courage
A FEW Marathi plays have lived on long after the denouement and the curtain call. Whether it was the acting, the controversial subject, or the getting together of a writer-director-cast which created magic, there were plays that never really ended. In an effort to document some of these play as well as to cash in on the fame of the original, a significant initiative seems to have come about. Recording plays on DVDs and VCDs.
8216;8216;It has now become routine for Marathi play producers to record the play on camera before its last show. But there are many landmark Marathi plays which have archival value as well but have simply never been documented,8217;8217; says Sandesh Kulkarni. He recently directed Vijay Tendulkar8217;s Sakharam Binder for Dolphin Entertainment.
Sakharam Binder8217;s VCD version8212;soon to be made into a DVD8212;has Sonali Kulkarni, Sayaji Shinde and Chinmayee Surve and is slated to be released in early July.
Tendulkar8217;s other famous play Ghashiram Kotwal is also on DVD now, produced by the Pune-based Alurkar Music House with the Puppet theatre group staging the play. 8216;8216;Going to the theatre involves a lot of expenses besides one may not be able to see the play one wants. With the easy availability of technology, all you have to do is buy the VCD or DVD of the play. Of course, much depends on the quality of the product too8212;Ghashiram is a universal favourite and is known well beyond regional boundaries,8217;8217; says Suresh Alurkar, owner of Alurkar.
A LARGE Maharashtrian audience overseas is fuelling this demand for plays on tape. Ghashiram Kotwal is slated for an early July release in Atlanta8217;s Brihan Maharashtra Mandal meet. The DVD format, also has additional features like commentary by music composer Bhaskar Chandavarkar and English subtitles.
It was for the US-based audience that software professional Abhay Patil decided to produce Atul Pethe8217;s Surya Pahilela Manoos in 2001. 8216;8216;I saw the 99th show of the play which has Shriram Lagoo as Socrates and I was bowled over. I knew this needed to be recorded as it was a landmark performance by a veteran,8217;8217; says Patil who set up the California Arts Association for this purpose.
While he realised that the market potential of a play which was intellectual in nature was limited, it did not stop Patil from recording another of Pethe8217;s plays, Anandovari. The VCDs of both plays have been produced by Rudra Entertainment Pvt Ltd.
Recordings of other landmark plays like Himalaychya Savalit with Shreeram Lagoo and Bhalchandra Pendharkar8217;s musical Duritanche Timira Javo were recovered from
8216;8216;a state of disuse8217;8217; and made into VCDs last year by Rudra. 8216;8216;On our current list is the shooting of Satish Alekar8217;s Mahanirvan and Begum Barve with the original cast to be made into VCDs,8217;8217; says Subhash Chheda, director of Rudra.
Using a fresh cast but maintaining the ambience of a staged performance, has its own advantages, says producer Mohan Jawade of Dolphin Entertainment. 8216;8216;You can use the best of talent available today to re-enact plays which have been hailed as outstanding,8217;8217; he says. Besides Sakharam Binder, other Tendulkar plays like Shantata Court Chalu Aahe, Baby, Kamala, Gidhade and Kanyadaan as well as Sha Na Navare8217;s Sur Rahu De and Va Su Bhagat8217;s Jangli Kabootar will be shot next.
Tendulkar on his part is happy. 8216;8216;Plays like Ghashiram Kotwal and Sakharam Binder are being staged somewhere or the other, filming them for home viewing is a good idea. It does compromise the fact that these plays were written for the stage and not for the celluloid medium, but I think it8217;s a workable compromise.8217;8217;
