Thursday 5 November 2015

23rd SEPTEMBER 1920 -6th NOVEMBER 1987 PROF. BHALBA KELKAR

Bhalchandra Vaman Kelkar

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bhalchandra Vaman Kelkar
BornSeptember 23, 1920
DiedNovember 6, 1987 (aged 67)
NationalityIndian
Other namesBhalba Kelkar
Known forMarathi Literature and Theater
ReligionHindu
Bhalchandra Vaman Kelkar (Marathi: भालचंद्र वामन केळकर) (September 23, 1920 – November 6, 1987) was a Marathi writer and actor, from Maharashtra, India. He was one of the founders of Progressive Dramatic Association in Pune. [1]
Bhalba Kelkar was also known for writing biographies of Indian scientists for children.

Late Prof Bhalba Kelkar
            
Late Prof. Bhalba Kelkar
Prof Bhalchandra Waman (Bhalba) Kelkar was the inspiration and soul of PDA since formation. PDA has produced many well-known artists in the era when Bhalba was the whole and sole of the organizarion. Bhala is equal to PDA and PDA is equal to Bhalba was one obvious equation of those times.
Many leading and veteran artists such as Dr Shreeram Lagoo, Dr Jabbar Patel, Sai Paranjape have had major and memorable formative influences from Bhalba.
Bhalba literally revolutionized the then Marathi theatre by contributing tremendously to experimental plays. Not only the style of presentation but the strata from which artists would come also changed due to his own personal magnetism and efforts. He was one of those very few giants who brought the learned middle class into a more seriously run activity of theatre. His theatre was not just for entertainment. He always looked forward to value addition to the human side of all those pursuing this activity either as artists or as spectators.
His demise on 6th November 1987 was a major loss to Marathi Theatre. Once a chairman of Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Natya Sammelan, a Physics professor, writer of many many books simplifying science for children, a friend philosopher and guide to many of his students and mentor too many of his theatre students, Bhalba; remains a never exhausting source of inspiration for all of us.

Curtain goes up on a new act at PDA

Sanjay Pendse, TNN | Oct 13, 2001, 11.51PM IST
pune: the progressive dramatic association (pda), which gets ready to conclude its golden jubilee celebrations with a theatre festival this week (starting october 18), has played a stellar role in the history of marathi theatre. "it was a bleak scenario," remembers founder-member dr shriram lagoo, who started his long unbeaten innings with the pda in 1951. "glorious musicals had made way for cinema way back in the 1930s. all remaining talent had been lapped up by the movies. an entire new generation of theatre enthusiasts was itching for something new, something modern. something to proudly call their own." founder-president bhalba kelkar, dr lagoo, keshav ghule, taramati gharpure and jayant dharmadhikari came together to form what was then called the inter-collegiate dramatic association (which later became the pda). oblivious of each other, young amateur theatre groups across the state were bracing to usher in a renaissance on the marathi stage. vijaya mehta and damu kenkre in mumbai, purushottam darvhekar in nagpur headed such groups, which went on to make history in experimental theatre. "contemporary plays offered either cheap entertainment or bland social messages. others drew on playwrights like ibsen and tennesse williams, who were not exactly hot news then," says dr lagoo. like the other upcoming amateur groups, pda charted its own path in the first decade. "we were not entirely happy with all the plays we did in the beginning. we started off with the pathbreaking udyacha sansar. between adapting oscar wilde and doing s.v. vartak's andhalyanchi shala, we did a historical like bebandshahi," dr lagoo recalls. "but we discovered a fresh new idiom with g.n. dandekar's rath ha jagannathacha," he adds. slowly and steadily, bhalba kelkar and pda became synonymous with amateur theatre in pune. it was credited with making a clean break from historicals, mythologicals and musicals. others praised it for the first experiments with realism on marathi stage. bhalba kelkar was a man with definite views on theatre activism and amateur theatre. pda grew and survived on the strength of these views. but they also proved its undoing. after a decade, dr lagoo, fresh from a stint in the uk, left pda because he thought the association was not doing enough experimentation. towards the end of the 60s, a talented bunch left pda over the issue of staging tendulkar's iconoclastic ghashiram kotwal. the play went on to acquire cult status. nevertheless the pda stood by its views and continued to stage plays. it's set to stage the 500th show of vasant kanetkar's prema tuzha rang kasa, which must be something of a record for an amateur group. in fact the measure of maharashtrian enthusiasm for theatre is that an 'amateur' group celebrates 50 years here, and gets to stage 500 shows of a single play. the pda staged as many as 44 new plays and revived 28 old ones in its 50 years. it is known on the theatre scene across the country and has travelled abroad. youngsters join it through its summer camps, which are conducted by the who's who of indian and marathi stage. some leave, some stay on. but the show goes on. bhalba himself passed away in 1987. nevertheless, as always, a new batch of youngsters is once again itching to do something new. some of its latest experiments are karnad's yayati, genda (based on french playwright eugene ionesco's rhinoceros) and c.p deshpande's nanefek. these will be on show in this week's pda festival. in fact the boys at pda are contemplating murray schigel's closet madness, which deals with homosexuality. now that would be one radical move for the group. the old guard, represented by shashikant kulkarni and keshav ghule, are being more indulgent with the new generation, which in turn understands the value of its inheritance. "the pda provides a precious platform for youngsters," says young theatre director mohit takalkar. "its a privilege when someone as senior as sevatai chauhan comes down to teach us. but we still have our rules. for example, if theatre activity affects a young member's academic performance, he or she is asked to leave pda. in the past, there has been little or no interaction between pda and other groups. we youngsters feel greater give-and-take between amateur groups will benefit us all," takalkar sums up. even dr lagoo is optmistic about their efforts. "in the last few years i have seen new hope at pda. these children have inherited bhalba's dedication, which was unquestionable. but bhalba's dedication was that of an unquestioning pilgrim (not a scientist). however, the challenge the new generation faces is that of proving its mettle on global stage. i hope they realise what they are up against." well, that should be easy enough to see, at this week's theatre festival.
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          1. Bhalchandra Vaman Kelkar
            Bhalchandra Vaman Kelkar was a Marathi writer and actor, from Maharashtra, India. He was one of the founders of Progressive Dramatic Association in Pune. Bhalba Kelkar was also known for writing biographies of Indian scientists for children. Wikipedia
            Born: September 23, 1920, India
            Died: November 6, 1987
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