Herbarium to revive Marathi musical theatre

Noted actor Sunil Barve, intends to bring back the lost glory of Marathi musical plays, which was pushed in the background due to the growth of TV and cinema.

"The initiative called 'herbarium' will see some old classics being recreated on stage by new directors and artists. Well known theatre directors like Pratima Kulkarni, Chandrakant Kulkarni, Mangesh Kadam, Vijay Kenkre and Girish Joshi will be part of the initiative to recreate the magic of theatre musicals known as sangeet natak," Barve said.

Explaining the meaning of herbarium, Barve said, "Herbarium is a collection of dried plants mounted, labelled, and systematically arranged for use in scientific study and a place or institution where such a collection is kept."

Marathi musical plays were initiated by Vishnudas Bhave and scaled glorious heights due to efforts of luminaries like Annasaheb Kirloskar and Ram Ganesh Gadkari.

The group has selected classics like 'Sanshay Kallol', 'Manapman', 'Saubhadra', 'Shantecha Karta', 'Garambicha Bapu', 'Vedyacha Ghar Unhat', 'Vahto Hee Durvachi Judi', 'Dinuchya Saasubai Radhabai', 'Suryachi Pille' and 'Zopi Gelela Jaga Zala'.

The first play to be restaged was 'Suryachi Pille' in Mumbai and neighbouring Thane over the last weekend.

Barve said he is happy with the response they got, adding he plans to stage five plays in a year and every play would have 25 shows in select cities in Maharashtra and Goa.

Herbarium would prove to be a refreshing experience for artistes and theatre audiences, he said.

Leading Marathi cine artistes are eager to get back to their roots in theatre through this initiative, he said.

'Suryachi Pille' in the new form is directed by Pratima Kulkarni and stars Uday Sabnis, Pushkar Shotri, Aniket Vishwasrao and Aatisha Naik.

The original play was directed by Damu Kenkre and was first staged by the Goa Hindu Association on April 5, 1978. It featured Madhav Vatve, Bal Karve, Dilip Prabhavalkar, Mohan Gokhale, Sadashiv Amrapurkar and Shanta Jog.

'Suryachi Pille' is a classic comedy about late Punjabrao Kotibhaskar and the attempts of his three sons on his 26th death anniversary to prove that each one of them is the true inheritor of his legacy of patriotism and ideology when the fact is that they can't even take the burden of running their own families.