Down Melody Lane..::..Article on Films, Personalities, Music Reviews and More..

In Pune in the late '40s and '50s, there was an enthusiastic group of young Marathi film-makers which had close links with literature. Pu La Deshpande was one of these. Madgulkar's younger brother, Vyankatesh, scripted the pioneering film Pudhche Paool based on his short novels. Deshpande not only composed the music for the film but also acted in it. Both the Madgulkar brothers were prolific screenplay and dialogue writers. Many successful Marathi films flowed from their efforts. Ga Di Madgulkar was also highly respected as a lyricist and short story writer. Vyankatesh Madgulkar, now in his late 60s, is a Sahitya Akademi award-winner whose short stories and novels have been widely translated into English and a few other European languages. The Madgulkar era is one of the most notable in the Marathi cinema.

Because of the influence of the Madgulkar brothers, writers of what is called the rural Marathi short story also became active in their shadow. Based on Ga Di Madgulkar's novel Akashachi Phale, Madhukar Gopal Pathak directed that sterling film Prapanch which eventually won the highest national and regional awards. Together with Sulochana, the film starred Shahir Amar Shaikh in the role of the pauperised potter. Shaikh was once employed in the Navyug Film Company of Pune before he became a Communist and shahir. This is a case of hundred per cent authentic casting. This was Pathak's first directorial venture. It is a pity that the commercialism of the cinema in general and of Marathi cinema in particular has not allowed his writing or directorial talent to progress much; but he has diverted himself to some significant fiction writing.

Ranjit Desai was a well-known figure in Marathi letters. The film, Ranglaya Ratri Asha, based on his story and directed by Raja Thakur was a notable film. Together with Arun Sarnaik, it also curiously starred Minu Mumtaz as a kotha dancer, then at her loveliest. That the impoverished Marathi cinema had enough guts to commission this then dazzling beauty and that she in turn accepted the role re-entrenches one's belief that artistic considerations are honoured even by the commercial world of films.

'Rural' writers like Shankar Patil and Da Ma Mirasdar have also been active in films. But one cannot remember a single film that may be called artistic or of the stature of the films already referred to. In the old days, apart from Khandekar and Atre, the works of writers like Vi Vi Bokil and Datta Raghunath Kavthekar - haloed Pune names - were also used as material for cinema. In the Master Vinayak oeuvre itself one remembers those two hilarious comedies based on the works of Chi Vi Joshi, viz., Lagna Pahave Karun and Sarkari Pahune, as examples of scintillating satire. The squint-eyed Damuanna Malvankar played the role of Chimanrao while Vishnupant Joag was his sidekick Gundyabhau. Actually in the 30s Malvankar had played the same role for the pioneering Chimanrao film Satyache Prayog, made by Vishram Bedekar.

Still from Rao Saheb

As for the Vinayak satires, it was Khandekar who scripted them, thus proving that he was as good at pathos as at comedy. In spite of all these efforts, it must be said that the Marathi cinema sorely neglected "new writing" in Marathi. Arvind Gokhale, one of the doyens of the "new short story" briefly flirted with film-writing but that, too, mostly in Hindi. Gangadhar Gadgil was never touched by the film industry. Pu Bha Bhave had some of his stories used for films, notably Soubhagya, the story of a lame, middle-aged, man married to a pretty young lass, and Rayugadcha Rajbandi, a film about prince Sambhaji's liaision with a married young woman, which was a disastrous flop.

For one reason or another, the generation that has followed these pioneering first four of the "new short story" has kept away from the cinema. One of the glorious exceptions to this phenomenon is that of Vijay Tendulkar. Tendulkar's forte was always recognised as that of a playwright. Jabbar Patel got him to write an original screenplay. This, Saamna, with Shriram Lagoo and Nilu Phule, became a notable artistic success. Tendulkar went on to write more Marathi scripts, for Patel, Ramdas Phutane, Amol Palekar and others. He still rules the roost, keeping up side by side an astounding production of plays and other writings.

The well-known poet Dilip Chitre won an NFDC award for his script of Godam (in Hindi) which he himself directed to good effect. Bhaskar Chandavarkar got a similar award and directed Atyachar, based on the Dalit writer Daya Pawar's autobiographical book Balute. The Sahitya Akademi award-winning book by Laxman Gaikwad, Uchalya, is currently being made into a film by Vijaya Mehta. Earlier Mehta had made Smritichitre in Marathi based on the classic autobiography of Laxmibai Tilak. Her Hindi film, Raosaheb, was patterned after Jaywant Dalvi's brilliant Marathi play, Barrister.

Contemporary Marathi writers such as Dalvi, Madhu Mangesh Karnik, Subhash Bhande and playwrights like Ashok Patole have rarely crossed into films but are found to be very active in the related area of TV serials. However, this is a tentative achievement and does not compare either with the full glory of artistic film-making or the applause of the theatre. From this point of view, it may be contended that, by and large, Marathi cinema has turned its back on Marathi literature.