American pianist Billy Joel once said: I think music in itself is healing. It’s an explosive expression of humanity. It’s something we are all touched by. No matter, what culture we’re from, everyone loves music. And even if the language is different, the thing we all relate and connect with is the soothing effect of music.

In a cinema when the composer and filmmaker theoretically agree on the end product of their work, we get a good film score, while their definitions of that may vary. The film industry globally has seen some long-term collaboration between producer-director-composer. These collaborations have produced many prolific movies and music. Some of the partnerships continued for decades, suggesting that both parties find great value in working with someone familiar rather than unfamiliar. We have heard of great friendship between some famous director-composer collaboration of Hollywood such as Steven Spielberg and John Williams, Maurice Jarre and David Lean, Alfred Hitchcock and Bernard Herrmann, George Fenton and Ken Loach have created the best of movies and music.

Lakhon hai yahan dilwale…..Kismat (1968) Music Director: O.P.Nayyar
Singer: Mahendra Kapoor

In Hindi cinema we have witnessed great friendship between composer-lyricist; the famous duo such as Majrooh Sultanpuri and S.D. Burman who not only shared a common birthday but also a musical awareness. This duo gave simple, common day expressions very delightful catchy tunes. There have been several other famous poet–composer teams like Shailendra- and Hasrat Jaipuri-Shankar Jaikishan, Raja Mehndi Ali Khan-Madan Mohan, and S. H. Bihari-O. P. Nayyar, and the great Jodi of Shakeel Badayuni-Naushad. In the 1980s, the great duo Gulzar-R.D.Burman has given mesmerising songs to the music world. Similarly some great directors loved working with composers who shared same vision; such as Salil Chowdhury and Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Basu Chatterjee and R.D.Burman, Yash Chopra-Lakshmikant –Pyarelal, Bimal Roy –Shankar Jaikishan. These duos gave the music world some memorable songs of all hues and colours. Actors Dev Anand and Raj Kapoor turned producers and had their own banners – Navketan and R.K.Films. Dev Anand was loyally close to S.D.Burman and Raj Kapoor to Shankar Jaikishan.

Dil ki nazar se….Anari (1959) Music Director: Shankar Jaikishan,
Singers:  Mukesh-Lata Mangeshkar

Music has eliciting power; it can draw emotional response from audience. Songs in a movie can shape a narrative, taking it to another level, and they can provide an internal structure to the plot. Some movies have become box office hits only because of the songs they had. The fact is the music is conceived as part of and for the purposes of supporting the film. Therefore, directors prefer composers and lyricists who understand their mind. The essence behind collaborations is making a movie memorable. It is near impossible to have a finished film that is one sole person’s creative efforts; it is always joint effort and team work. In fact, there are hundreds of collaborators leaving their footprint in a movie; from pre-production, script writing, casting, background music, production, set dressing, painting, wardrobe, make up to post-production work such as editing, colour correction, post-audio and of course, composing the music.

Mai zindagi ka saath nibhata chala gaya………. Hum Dono (1961)
Singer: Mohamed Rafi

Historically, it has been quite common for directors and composers to work together on projects consistently, especially after success from past projects. The value of building such a relationship is based the trust. Once a director knows that a composer can work to deadline and churn out a great finished product the more willing he/she is to let that composer stretch out creatively on his next film. When a director works with the same composer, the communication becomes easier, the process is understood and there is an understanding from the where the composer is coming musically.  The famous Hollywood duo Bernard Herrmann and John Williams shared an interesting view on this relationship. They both felt that it is not the length of the relationship, but it is the quality. It goes like this: the trust and freedom that is granted to a composer by the director blossoms the musical art. The stronger the composer/director partnership the further the director can push the composer on the score. Perhaps, further than than they thought they would go. The partnership elevates both the director and composer.

The genius composer Jaidev was one of an underrated music composer who gave some of the most beautiful film scores and mesmerizing soundtracks and even though Sahir ludhiavi has worked with almost every legendary music composer of his era but there was something with his collaboration with Jaidev that cannot be described in words. They have only worked on 5 albums together and this is because Jaidev didn’t actually do many films in his career, but each and every song these two created together is unforgettable. Their music in ‘Hum Dono’ is widely considered as one of the greatest soundtracks of all time.

I want to make a special mention here of a lesser known but one of the prolific composer Kanu Roy. Roy was famous composers in Bengali films, but lesser known in Hindi film industry. Kanu Roy gave music for most of Basu Bhattacharya’s films. His major work was for films Uski Kahani (1966), Anubhav (1971), Avishkaar (1973) and Griha Pravesh (1979). Interestingly, Kanu Roy never used the voice of Lata Mangeshkar. Kanu Roy used Geeta Dutt’s voice for his songs. She has sung just a few songs for him, and they are the best songs in the history of Hindi cinema. All these songs of Kanu Roy have certain common factors like meaningful lyrics, minimum use of orchestra, use of Xylophone, deep rendition of the song by Geeta Dutt and an emotional bonding these songs share with the listener!

Mera dil jo mera hota…………Anubhav (1971), Music Director: Kanu Roy, Singer Geeta Dutt

Marathi theatre has always been regarded as one of the most culturally rich theatre traditions in the country. Right from the 18^th century the Marathi theatre has been present. It seems King Patwardhan of Sangli requested novelist Vishnu Bhave to write an evocative play for entertaining his guests and Bhave wrote ‘Sita Swayamvar’ which was performed on November 5, 1843, in that princely state. It was inspired by Karnataka’s folk theatre form of Yakshagana.

The Marathi stage has evolved in Bombay (now Mumbai) because this city has always been a business city; it had the infrastructure and money which helped the formal performers to grow. Because of the majority Maharashtrian workers community in the city who lived in the chawls the free time was used to practice dramas, keertans, pravachans and powadas. The artists used to practice in whatever space was available to them; sometimes varandahs, staircases and the open grounds. Lavanis such as “Mumbai Nagari Badi Banka, Jashi Ravanachi dusari Lanka” by Patthe Bapurao and Annabhau Sathe’s “Mazi Mumbai, Arthat Muumbai Konachi” were super duper hits those days. People flocked to the theatres to watch these lavanis.

Maharashtra has had long theatrical tradition, one of its early references is found in cave inscriptions at Nashik. Marathi theatre started flourishing in the middle of the 19th century. It includes forms like Sangeet Natak (Musical drama), Tamasha (folk dance), Ekpatri prayog etc. It continues to have a marked presence in the State of Maharashtra. Marhathi theatre is not famous outside Maharashtra; maybe because Marathi as a language is quite difficult and a lot of stress is laid on the richness of the language by the writers; the gamut of Marathi dramas ranges from humorous social plays, farces, historical plays, musical, to experimental plays and serious drama. We have seen the likes of Annabhau Kirloskar, P. L. Deshpande, Vijay Tendulkar, and Mahesh Elkunchwar, Bhalaji Pendharkar, Raja Paranjape, Annabhu Sathe, Vinda Karandikar, Arun Sadhu, P. K. Atre, Daya Pawar etc who were known and are known even today for their par excellence.  But, there is one big problem in staging a drama and continuing it for long time. We find Marathi dramas live a short life span, though some of them have great content. They are forgotten easily. Perhaps it is because Maharashtra faces multiculturalism and therefore the Marathi theatre takes a backset. Most importantly, Marathi theatre faces many political and social undercurrents. There is a sea change in terms of quality and context which are changing like never before. The conditions today cannot be compared to the previous decade.

Marathi Theatre can be described as never-ending energy; live moments, live interaction, superb dialogues, and great backdrops of stage, superb background music scores, and a strong tradition of 150 years which can never die. Besides, Marathi dramas are sharp, witty and very rich in content. They make you think even hours after you’ve watched a show. Marathi theatre is evolving with newer ideas, newer concepts and much more experiments. The new breed of directors is experimenting with forms of theatre. No other place in India has so much of ‘commercial theatre’ like that in Maharashtra. If you have three movie shows in Plaza, the theatre bang opposite to it, Shivaji Mandir, has three shows of plays on the same day.

The various genres of Marathi scripts are also a reason for people to watch plays. Comedy, serious depiction of the society, political satires, musicals, romantic, tragedy, rags to riches stories and mission – it has it all. Marathi theatre fascinates its viewers with its large variety.

The cultural connection of Mumbai and Pune with its regional theatre shows that the stage is not dying, it is experimenting and it has long way to go. It has managed to carve a special niche and that’s reason enough to say that there’s plenty of hope for the art in the state of Maharashtra.

Both cinema and drama are based on story. Both drama and cinema depend primarily on performers who resent and communicate the story to the audience. A stage play or a screenplay is like reading a novel. Dramas are livelier and thrilling as you see the actor’s performance right in front. The audience can clap and applaud the actors on the stage. The actors also in response give their best dialogue delivery, voice modulation, gestures thus bringing in more energy in the theater. Drama is on the spot. There are not takes and retakes; it delivers effect on the spot therefore it connects with the viewers more honestly. Drama is more difficult for an actor.

Both drama and cinema share certain common features; they both use sets, props, costumes, music and other sound effects. Communication is the essence in both drama and cinema. Even in the silent era, films relied heavily on human speech that was understood through contextual instinct; a combination of gesture, facial expression, and lip reading; and inserts of printed, projected text. If a drama is dull or boring viewers crate a commotion whereas if a cinema is boring they simply walk out of the theatre. Bothe cinema and drama have their fan following. Everybody cannot enjoy drama; an audience that has been raised on films, do not enjoy dramas.

Marathi theatre has come a long way. While Gujarati, Hindi or English theatre is ‘merely weekend theatre’, catering to the thinking and upper class, Marathi theatre is all about the masses mainly because of the way it gets people to relate to the script. Mumbai and Pune are hubs of Marathi plays. In Mumbai and Pune, there are these niche classes of people who usually do not miss watching a play every week. Mumbai is the economic capital and Pune is the cultural capital of Maharashtra state. There are at least 15-20 theatres in Mumbai which host only Marathi plays right from Prabhadevi to Thane: Rabindra Natya Mandir, Shivaji Natya Mandir, Ranga Sharda, Dinanath, Gadkari Rangayatan and many more theatres are witness to the love Mumbaikars have for this art form. And in Pune: Bal Gandharva Rang Mandir, Tilak Smarak Mandir, Bharat Natya Mandir, Sudarshan Hall, Moreshwar Hall, Yashwantrao Chavan Natya Mandir etc are famous for Mrathi drama lovers. Mumbai and Pune showcase the love for performing art relatively much more, compared to other cities like Bangalore or New Delhi which relatively have fewer auditoriums.

The amount of theatre that is being done on the commercial as well as parallel stage in Marathi cannot be compared to any other regional theatre today. It is facing some technical, political and financial problems today, which I am sure, will be sorted out sooner or later. The Marathi theatre scene is the most happening in the whole of India.

Last week I saw the movie Dr. Prakash baba Amte – The Real Hero starring Nana Patekar, Sonali Kulkarni & Mohan Agashe in lead roles. The Marathi film is a biopic based on the life of Dr. Prakash Amte – son of Baba Amte. The movie shows stark realities of lives of advasis – the Madia tribe from Gadchiroli district. The movie shows Dr. Prakash Apte, his wife Dr. Mandakini Amte and his colleague’s limitless struggle with the naive Madia tribal, struggle with wild animals, struggle with Naxalites and corrupt government officials for bringing in the basic requirements for the existence of the tribal people. Many scenes in the movie are chilling. The Amtes (Prakash and Mandakini) are oblivious of their destination in life. They see the pathetic conditions of the advasis who live like animals. In fact, the tribal people don’t even know that they are human. Both husband and wife decide to make Hemalkasa their home, they live with the Madia tribe people serving them.

The movie shows journey of the husband and wife doctor couple. It portrays their understanding, their thinking, and their similar aims and objectives while supporting each other. Both have forgone money, status, careers etc living in the deep jungle amongst most pathetic conditions. The movie shows both Dr.Amtes and their colleagues accepting life as it comes; all of them devoted to shaping the lives of the tribal people. Dr. Prakash Amte has been shown doing gynecology and ophthalmology operations. Dr.Amte uses his knowledge and reading to help patients in dire need of medical help. While watching the movie one thinks today’s medical world is highly clichéd.  The medical specialization has created a situation of “too many cooks in the kitchen”. Today’s academic medical centers are full of specialty teams, which cover all facets of health care. The composition of these teams includes a wide array of practitioners, ranging from allied health professionals, to student doctors training to obtain their medical degree.

Today’s patients are finding themselves caught amongst experts with numerous opinions surrounding their various medical ailments. They listen to too many specialists for their ailments. What happens when these recommendations begin to conflict? When reality sets in, the patient does not know who to turn to or how to proceed forward. This movie has shown two methodical medical practitioners using their common sense and expertise. I really appreciated his fact while watching the movie.

Dr. Prakash Amte is the son of Magsaysay awardee and legendry Baba Amte, he and his wife, Dr. Mandakini Amte were awarded the Magsaysay Award for ‘Community Leadership’ in 2008 for their benevolent work in the form of the ‘Lok Biradari Prakalp’ amongst the Madia Gonds in Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra.

Nana Patekar has played Dr. Prakash Amte effortlessly. His dialogue delivery, voice modulation, facial expressions, eye movements, and body language every bit of his screen presence is awesome. His dialogue delivery in Marathi is as dynamic as in Hindi. The dialogues written by Adv. Samruddhi Porey are heart-touching and full of wisdom. The cinematographer Mahesh Anye has done an incredible job with lighting and breathtaking photography. Patekar has portrayed Dr. Praksh Amte with incisive emotions. There are innumerable scenes in the movie which will dampen your eyes. I think no other actor would fit the role of Prakash Amte on screen. And, beautiful Sonali Kulkarni has supported Nana Patekar with equal brilliance and intensity. Both Patekar and Sonali Kulkarni make a wonderful screen pair.

We all live our life cribbing for countless and unfulfilled needs and demands; we live a monotonous routine, and are never contended in our lives. And, there are people like Baba Amte and his sons Prakash and Vikas Amte who have worked towards making the world a better place to live. The father Baba Amte has literally fought all his life for fiving the leprosy patients a better life. And, his sons Vikas and Prakash have also dedicated their lives for social causes. They worked and lived to serve others, to make the world a little better; by doing so, all that they gained is a little peace of mind – little happiness. I think that has led them into self actualization.

The director of the movie, Sammruddhi Porey and the entire unit’s efforts need to be lauded for showing Dr. Prakash Amte’s compassionate mindset, stretching his limits with utmost reality to bring the small changes in the tribal land. The cast and crew of the movie have gone out of their way to depict reality. They have shot the movie with real tribal people and animals which is a dangerous and painstaking task. Apart from this, the dialogues are intelligently written, dialogue and description is where the experience of screenplay for the audience lives in;
the feel and consistency of the dialogues and placements of them are simply superb. Nana Patekar and Sonali Kulakrni have delivered them precisely. The screen play is very well edited and some scenes in the movie have rib-tickling humor which makes the movie more appealing. This is must watch movie for all.

• Produced By : Samruddhi Porey
• Directed By : Samruddhi Porey
• Star Cast : Nana Patekar, Sonali Kulkarni,Mohan Aagashye, Ashish Chougule,Vikram Gaikwad, Bharat Ganeshpure, Tejashri Pradhan, Aniruddha Wankar,Vinayak Patwardhan,Kunal Gajbhare,Sushant Kakde,Sukumar Day, Prasad Dhakunkar, Naina Rani, Krishna Dharme,Vinod Raut
• Cinematographer :Mahesh Anye