However, Vikram Gokhale's portrayal of Ram is not just compelling, it is, in fact, as moving as Nana's character. The character of Ram, who is an accomplished actor and a great pal of the 'natsamrat' is not there in the play. Audience in Maharashtra should be thankful that his first love remains Marathi theatre and Marathi films. His last memorable role in a Hindi film was in Ab Tak Chhappan, a film by Ram Gopal Varma on the life of encounter specialist Daya Nayak. He is also wise enough to make his money in Hindi films and deliver his best performances mostly in Marathi films and in theatre. The actor, whom this writer has met on a couple of occasions, is a sensitive and intense personality known for his social commitment. It has been a while since Nana has delivered a power-packed performance, but with Natsamrat he has made a brilliant comeback.
The man who dominated stage and cultural space for almost four decades is forced on to the streets. The film is essentially about the post retirement life of the 'natsamrat' and how he is abandoned by his son and daughter. The only dampener might be its length-160 minutes. Full credit to director Mahesh Manjrekar and Nana Patekar, as the film satisfies the audience on almost every count. So, when such an iconic play is transformed into a film it is but natural that there are immense expectations from the director as well as the actors. It is said that theatre legend Pandit Satyadev Dubey, in his workshops for college students, would discuss the depth in the dialogues of this play by discussing them sentence by sentence. Generations of aspiring actors, in their college years, have memorised dialogues of this play when they gave auditions for that elusive big break. There was a time when one was not considered a good actor if he had not played Ganpatrao Belvalkar in Natsamrat.
Written in the mid 1960s, the greatness of the play can be gauged from the fact that almost each and every top Marathi stage actor has essayed the role of Ganpatrao Belvalkar-best remembered among them being late Datta Bhat, Dr Shriram Lagoo, and late Yashwant Datt. This play revolves around Ganpantrao Ramchandra Belvalkar, a thespian hailed as 'natsamrat', in the autumn of his life. The films represented a new phase of Marathi cinema, which is driven by a strong desire to constantly experiment and expand its horizons.Ĭontinuing the good run is the first big Marathi film of 2016- Natsamrat (an actor hailed as the emperor of the stage), which is based on an epic play by the same name by Jnanpith Award-winning Marathi litterateur Vishnu Vaman Shirwadkar, fondly remembered across Maharashtra by his alias 'Kusumagraj'. Last year witnessed some fine Marathi films like Court and Killa helmed by Chaitanya Tamhane and Avinash Arun respectively-both debutant directors.
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