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BHALCHANDRA PENDHARKAR |
| Veteran Marathi stage actor, singer and producer Bhalchandra Pendharkar passed away at a private hospital after a brief illness on 11th August 2015. Born on 25th November 1921, Pendharkar was the son of actor singer Bapurao Pendharkar, who, along with the legendary Keshavrao Bhonsale, founded the Lalit Kaladarsha, a natak mandali like the Kirloskar Natak Mandali and the Gandharva Natak Mandali.
Keshavrao Bhonsale passed away in 1921 at a very young age, and the mantle fell on the young Bapurao Pendharker, who did female roles to begin with. The company broke away from tradition and did at the time, the avant garde plays of Mama Warerkar on contemporary social issues.
Bapurao Pendharkar too passed away at a fairly young age and the mantle fell on his son Bhalchandra Pendharkar. Contemporary playwrights and directors, as well as noted vocalists, stood by the young Bhalchandra and kept Lalit Kaladarsha alive.
Bhalchandra Pendharkar, however, rose to fame with Bal Kolhatkar's DURITANCHE TIMIR JAWO, a regular melodrama, with crisp dialogues and some good numbers for Anna, as Bhalchandra was lovingly called. He gained immense popularity because of the play. He played Digu, the retarded son of a zamindar, who is exploited by his brother-in-law. His rendering of the two songs - Aai Tujhi Atawana Yete and Tu Japuna Taak Paula Jara were hits.
After Bal Kolhatkar, the veteran Vidyadhar Gokhale came to Bhalchandra's assistance with PANDITRAJ JAGANNATH, a love story based in the Moghul era. A poet falls in love with Shaha Jehan's daughter, and this predictably ends as a tragedy. This was almost a poetic drama with some classical dances.
Bhalchandra Pendharkar was lucky for being supported throughout by formidable actors like Nanasaheb Phatak, Master Dattaram and Mama Pendse. Lalit Kaladarsha was a professionally managed company and its shows always began on time.
Journalists have always been confused about Baburao Pendharkar (a very male prose actor) and Bapurao Pendharkar (a singer actor specialising in female roles). Similarly, journalists are confused between Bhalji Pendharkar (a filmmaker) and Bhalchandra Pendharkar (basically a stage actor and manager).
Bhalchandra Pendharkar was associated with the Mumbai Marathi Sahitya Sangh and acted in many old Marathi plays. His role of Bala in HONAJI BALA was memorable. V. Shantaram also made a film on the life of the Marathi poet Honaji, in which he took Pendharkar as Bala.
Pendharkar was always at ease with classics such as Deval's SHAPASANBHRAM and SHARADA (as the young Kodanda and the aged Shreemanta), Kirloskar's SAUBHADRA (as Narada; the play had popular songs such as Pawana Wamana Ya Mana, Lagnala Jato Mee and Radhadhara Madhu Milinda Jaya Jaya).
Pendharkar was a keen documenter and had recorded all the plays and programmes at Dr Bhalerao Natya Gruha (Marathi Sahitya Sangh) where he maintained a studio. He even collected 8 mm films, especially test matches. I have personally seen the Alec Bedser Test in one such screening at the Sahitya Sangh-the test where Bedser took 10 wickets for 105 runs in an innings in the fifth test in the 1950-51 Ashes series.
Bhalchandra Pendharkar received many awards, including the Bal Gandharva Award, the Vishnudas Bhave Award and the Tanvir Award. He was also a recipient of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 2004. Pendharkar's name was always linked to traditional plays. Yet Damoo Kenkre, Vijay Tendulkar, Arvind Deshpande, Vijaya Mehta made him the first president of their avant garde group Lalit Kala Kendra. Even Dr Shreeram Lagoo gave him the Tanvir Award - of which the other recipients have been Ebrahim Alkazi, Vijay Tendulkar, Satyadev Dubey, Vijaya Mehta, Sulabha Deshpande. That was indeed a rare honour.
*Arun Naik is an author, editor, printer, publisher, theatre critic, translator, theatre director and designer. His translations and productions of Shakespeare's Hamlet, Macbeth and Othello have been widely acclaimed in both academic and theatre circles. He teaches Dramatic Literature, Communication Skills, Creative Writing, Translation and Printing Technology. He has contributed to The Oxford Companion to Indian Theatre. He has travelled widely to study the latest in printing technology and in theatre.
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