Vijay Tendulkar, whom I had briefly mentioned in my previous post passed away today in Pune.
Tendulkar revolutionized the Marathi stage and he did this in both style and content. Not just, were his plays hugely political, but they were also presented in astyle that was previously unknown in Marathi stage. Ghaashiram Kotwal, was probably the epitome of this revolution in style.
Violence was the under-running theme of all of his plays. However, his plays made statements far beyond raw violence. His plays were known to make strong political statements. The themes of his plays ranged from domestic violence (Gidhaade: Vultures), feminism(Shaantata, Court chaalu aahe: Silence, the court is on) to caste system and other social issues. You will also see a strong hint of leftism through all his writings.
Although Tendulkar wrote chiefly in Marathi, his themes definitely had a global appeal. Still, for those who cannot comprehend it, I would recommend wtching Ardhasatya, which brilliantly expresses his Kafkaesque style.
3 comments:
That's truly unfortunate. I read some of his plays during the course on indian writing that I did a year ago (English translations, of course). Do they still stage Ghashiram Kotwal with Mohan Agashe playing Nana Phadnavis? The version of the play that I saw contained lesser known actors.
I don't know much about Tendulkar, so I will refrain from commenting on that.
But I must say that Baccha has a most concise and precise way with words. I really didn't know he wrote so well. Way to go man :-)
@karthik:
No, they hardly stage that play anymore and never with Mohan Agashe. However, I am going to hunt for his DVDs and books and will let you know if I find one with Mohan Agashe playing the part.
@sd:
Thank you! Will try to keep writing on a variety of subjects.
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