मेघदूत: "नीचैर्गच्छत्युपरि च दशा चक्रनेमिक्रमेण"

समर्थ शिष्या अक्का : "स्वामीच्या कृपाप्रसादे हे सर्व नश्वर आहे असे समजले. पण या नश्वरात तमाशा बहुत आहे."

G C Lichtenberg: “It is as if our languages were confounded: when we want a thought, they bring us a word; when we ask for a word, they give us a dash; and when we expect a dash, there comes a piece of bawdy.”

C. P. Cavafy: "I’d rather look at things than speak about them."

Martin Amis: “Gogol is funny, Tolstoy in his merciless clarity is funny, and Dostoyevsky, funnily enough, is very funny indeed; moreover, the final generation of Russian literature, before it was destroyed by Lenin and Stalin, remained emphatically comic — Bunin, Bely, Bulgakov, Zamyatin. The novel is comic because life is comic (until the inevitable tragedy of the fifth act);...”

सदानंद रेगे: "... पण तुकारामाची गाथा ज्या धुंदीनं आजपर्यंत वाचली जात होती ती धुंदी माझ्याकडे नाहीय. ती मला येऊच शकत नाही याचं कारण स्वभावतःच मी नास्तिक आहे."

".. त्यामुळं आपण त्या दारिद्र्याच्या अनुभवापलीकडे जाऊच शकत नाही. तुम्ही जर अलीकडची सगळी पुस्तके पाहिलीत...तर त्यांच्यामध्ये त्याच्याखेरीज दुसरं काही नाहीच आहे. म्हणजे माणसांच्या नात्यानात्यांतील जी सूक्ष्मता आहे ती क्वचित चितारलेली तुम्हाला दिसेल. कारण हा जो अनुभव आहे... आपले जे अनुभव आहेत ते ढोबळ प्रकारचे आहेत....."

Kenneth Goldsmith: "In 1969 the conceptual artist Douglas Huebler wrote, “The world is full of objects, more or less interesting; I do not wish to add any more.”1 I’ve come to embrace Huebler’s ideas, though it might be retooled as “The world is full of texts, more or less interesting; I do not wish to add any more.” It seems an appropriate response to a new condition in writing today: faced with an unprecedented amount of available text, the problem is not needing to write more of it; instead, we must learn to negotiate the vast quantity that exists. How I make my way through this thicket of information—how I manage it, how I parse it, how I organize and distribute it—is what distinguishes my writing from yours."

Tom Wolfe: "The first line of the doctors’ Hippocratic oath is ‘First, do no harm.’ And I think for the writers it would be: ‘First, entertain.’"

विलास सारंग: "… इ. स. 1000 नंतर ज्या प्रकारची संस्कृती रुढ झाली , त्यामध्ये साधारणत्व व विश्वात्मकता हे गुण प्राय: लुप्त झाले...आपली संस्कृती अकाली विश्वात्मक साधारणतेला मुकली आहे."

Thursday, January 26, 2012

I Wish Shrikant Moghe Played Sakharam Binder

I got to see a fair bit of Shrikant Moghe (श्रीकांत मोघे) on TV in Jan 2012 because he was the president of the 92nd Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Natya Sammelan (अखिल भारतीय मराठी नाट्यसंमेलन) that was held at Sangli (सांगली).

(btw- There is no entry in his name in English Wikipedia and just header entry in Marathi Wikipedia as on Jan 24 2012 9:16 AM. Even his profile on The Internet Movie Database is moth eaten.)

I wish he wrote an autobiography. (I don't know if he has already written one and, if not, at his age, one's memory is even more unreliable companion!)

On TV, he was not allowed to even complete some of the sentences, let alone topics!

For instance, he was narrating how he once asked Vijay Tendulkar (विजय तेंडुलकर) if there were only "Sakharam Binder" (सखाराम बाईंडर), "Gidhade" (गिधाडे)-both Teldulkar's plays- to one's life.

Now, instead of letting Mr. Moghe complete what could have been a very interesting response, the "expert" interjected with "Purush" (पुरुष).

Now "Purush" is NOT Tendulkar'a play. It is of Jaywant Dalvi (जयवंत दळवी). But the 'expert' forced Moghe to say "Purush" and in the process killed the original point.

I have never seen Moghe on stage. I have only watched video clips of some of his stage performances.

I have always felt that he has been an under achiever considering his talent.

My father- who has seen them both on live stage- used to rate Nilu Phule's (नीळू फुले) performance in 'Binder' and Moghe's performance in Vasant Kanetkar's (वसंत कानेटकर) 'Lekure Udanda Jahali' (लेकुरे उदंड जाहली) equally highly.

I have seen Nilu Phule's enthralling (and deeply disturbing) 'Binder' at Sahitya Sangh Mandir, Girgaon (साहित्य संघ मंदिर, गिरगाव) and therfore can imagine Moghe's acting prowess.

I would have liked seeing Moghe play Sakharam Binder or Bérenger in Eugène Ionesco's 'Rhinoceros'. My guess: He would have been quite competent if not good.

I have always enjoyed watching him in Marathi black & white cinema. Even his small role of lecherous politician-minister 'Anandrao' (आनंदराव) in 'Simhasan' (सिंहासन), 1980 has left a lasting impression on me.

Here is another example.

Eyes that are groomed on today's pervasive anorexia might be offended but look closer and you will be taken in by Moghe's infectious smile.

[Uma (उमा)-on whom I had a bit of a crush- and Shrikant Moghe 'singing' one of the best songs I have heard: 'Swapnat Rangle Mee' (स्वप्नात रंगले मी) from director Kamlakar Torne's (कमलाकर तोरणे) Marathi film 'Aamhi Jato Amuchya Gava' (आम्ही जातो अमुच्या गावा), 1968.

Music director- Sudhir Phadke (सुधीर फडके), Voice: Asha Bhosle (आशा भोसले), Sudhir Phadke

courtesy: Eros International]

Returning to Mr. Moghe's question to Mr. Tendulkar, I wish to say that there is to life both 'Sakharam Binder' and 'Tujhe Ahe Tujapashi' (तुझे आहे तुजपाशी).

And are they very different to begin with?

To revisit P L Deshpande's (पु ल देशपांडे) play 'Tujhe Ahe Tujapashi', Moghe's role in which became a huge success, from my earlier post:

"काकाजी: जाऊ द्या यार. जंगलात तर दोनच वेळा. दिवस आणि रात्र. भूक लागली की जेवायची वेळ आणि थकलो की झोपायची.

आचार्य : म्हणजे मी समजत होतो , की हा वाडा चोवीसच वर्षे मागे आहे. पण नाही , अगदी आदिमानवाच्याच काळात आहे. जंगलात राहणार्या आदिमानवानं त्यानंतर काही प्रगति केल्याचं ह्या वाड्याच्या कानावर आलेलं दिसत नाही.

काकाजी: कुणाला ठाऊक काय केलंय ते? प्रगति की अधोगति !"

(Kakaji: Let it be friend. In jungle there are just two times. When hungry it's eating time and when tired sleeping one.

Acharya: I was thinking this house was behind the times by twenty-four years. But no, it's in prehistorical period. Looks like it has not heard any progress the primitive man has made since.

Kakakji: Wonder what is it? Progress or degeneration!)

Doubts over progress or degeneration? Sakharam Binder (and Vijay Tendulkar) would nod in approval!
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