Maping the journey of Marathi musicals:

PUNE: The history and development of Marathi musicals (sangeet natak) and rare footage of such theatre greats as the legendary Balgandharva and vocalists Ramdas Kamat and Pt Jitendra Abhisheki, are the highlights of a compact disc (CD) titled Naman Natawara,' which was released recently in the city.

For the Marathi culture aficionados, the musicals have always occupied a special place, with plays like Sangeet Saubhadra,' Sangeet Manapmaan,' Sangeet Sharda' and Sangeet Swayamvar' still attracting large audience whenever they are revived. Besides being an unadulterated musical treat, these have also tackled social issues such as young girls being married off to old men ( Sharda') or the evils of alcohol addiction ( Ekach Pyala').

The CD, conceptualised and produced by writer Sarita Wakalkar and directed and scripted by Madhavi Vaidya, aims to document the changes in Marathi musicals from 1843 to 2008, or from the days of Vishnudas Bhave, the father of musicals, to the recent musical Avagha Rang Ek Jhala'. "My husband was a great lover of natya sangeet (songs from the Marathi musicals) and he would listen to the 15-minute session on All India Radio, without fail, every evening. Gradually, I too started following it. However, after we got involved with horse racing, we lost touch with it," says Wakalkar. It was after she joined the Maharashtra Sahitya Parishad, a state-level literary body, that Wakalkar thought of doing something for the art form and approached theatre critic V B Deshpande and Madhavi Vaidya. "Once I spoke to Madhavi about the idea, she got back to me with the concept of how we should go about it. It took us three months to finish the work," says Wakalkar. Stressing that the CD aims to make up for the lack of any visual documentation of the Marathi musicals, Wakalkar said it will prove to be a great source of information.

Vaidya, director of the two-and-a-half-hour documentary, explains how it has been presented following the structure of a musical. "We have two narrators and even an interval and a final session before the curtain falls, like in a Marathi musical," Vaidya explains. The CD also contains interviews with prominent actors involved in Marathi musicals, including Prabhakar Panshikar, Chittaranjan Kolhatkar, Ramdas Kamat and Jaymala Shiledar. "Through the making of this CD, I learnt some important things like the continuing involvement of the Shiledar family in the musicals, says Wakalkar, while adding that it is these little-known aspects that need to told to the public. However, documenting the period since 1843 was by no means an easy task. Vaidya says the documentary hinges on the milestones attained at various stages of the development of Marathi theatre. "Be it the changes in music, sets and the drama itself, we have tried to portray all the important factors," she adds.

Collecting these relevant and rare footage was difficult as it meant approaching families and people who had them. But they were collected nonetheless. "We even have some footage of Vasantrao Deshpande singing and of course, you can also hear great humorist Pu La Deshpande." On the current reality of the Marathi musicals, Vaidya says they need to change with time. "We need shorter versions, as, these days people are not willing to spend five hours watching just one musical. At the same time, there are some that are doing very well. Take for example, Avagha Rang Ek Jhala' which has completed almost 125 performances in just one year, which is definitely a good run."