''Ghashiram Kotwal'' is a

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people *Palaiosouda, also known as Marathi, a small island in Greece See also * * ...

play written by playwright

Vijay Tendulkar Vijay Dhondopant Tendulkar (6 January 1928 – 19 May 2008) was a leading Indian playwright, movie and television writer, literary essayist, political journalist, and social commentator primarily in Marāthi. His Marathi plays established him as ...

in 1972 as a response to the rise of a local political party, in

Maharashtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...

. The play is a political satire, written as historical drama. It is based on the life of

Nana Phadnavis Nana Fadnavis (Pronunciation: aːna pʰəɖɳəʋiːs, fəɖ- also Phadnavis and Furnuwees and abbreviated as Phadnis) (February 12, 1742 – March 13, 1800), born Balaji Janardan Bhanu, was an influential minister and statesman of the Marath ...

(1741–1800), one of the prominent ministers in the court of the

Peshwa The Peshwa (Pronunciation: e(ː)ʃʋaː was the appointed (later becoming hereditary) prime minister of the Maratha Empire of the Indian subcontinent. Originally, the Peshwas served as subordinates to the Chhatrapati (the Maratha king); later, ...

of Pune and Ghashiram Kotwal, the police chief of the city. Its theme is how men in power give rise to ideologies to serve their purposes, and later destroy them when they become useless. It was first performed on 16 December 1972, by the Progressive Dramatic Association in

Pune Pune (; ; also known as Poona, (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million ...

Jabbar Patel Dr. Jabbar Patel (born 23 June 1942, Pandharpur) is a former paediatrician and a Marathi-language theatre and film director of India. His production of the play Vijay Tendulkar's play Ghashiram Kotwal, in 1973 is considered a classic in Mode ...

's production of the play in 1973 is considered a classic in Modern Indian Theatre. Ghasiram Kotwal play

History

Tendulkar based his play on a 1863 story by author-historian

Moroba Kanhoba Moroba Kanhoba Vijaykar was a 19th-century writer and social reformer belonging to the Pathare Prabhu Pathare Prabhu is one of the Hindu communities in the city of Mumbai (formerly known as Bombay). Introduction The Pathare Prabhus and the ...

who tossed together history and fiction to write ''Ghashiram Kotwal'' and saw it as something of a simple morality play''. The first performance of this play was at Bharat Natya Mandir in

on 16 December 1972. The play initially generated a huge controversy, but has been considered a success in the following years. The play was staged at different venues during a tour of Western

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

in 1980. In 1986, the play toured cities in US and Canada.In 1989, the group took the play on a tour of east European countries of

Soviet union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

, and

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

Synopsis

The play begins with an invocation to lord

Ganesha Ganesha ( sa, गणेश, ), also known as Ganapati, Vinayaka, and Pillaiyar, is one of the best-known and most worshipped deities in the Hindu pantheon and is the Supreme God in Ganapatya sect. His image is found throughout India. Hindu d ...

. Then the

Brahmins Brahmin (; sa, ब्राह्मण, brāhmaṇa) is a varna as well as a caste within Hindu society. The Brahmins are designated as the priestly class as they serve as priests (purohit, pandit, or pujari) and religious teachers (guru o ...

introduce themselves and we can see the morally corrupt state of affairs in Pune.

who is the Diwan (Chief Secretary) of

is also corrupt and visits the

lavani Lavani () is a genre of music popular in Maharashtra, India. Lavani is a combination of traditional song and dance, which particularly performed to the beats of ''Dholki'', a percussion instrument. Lavani is noted for its powerful rhythm. Lavan ...

dancer. Ghashiram is working with the Lavani dancer. He is impressed by the wit of Ghashiram. Ghashiram being a Brahmin goes to collect alms at the

's festival the next day. However, he is ill-treated there and is charged with pick-pocketing and imprisoned for the offense. He then decides to take revenge. So the play continues on to reach the next part of this play. Ghashiram barters his own daughter Gauri to get the post of

Kotwal The Kotwal also spelled as Cotwal, or Kotval was a title used in medieval India for the leader of a Kot or fort. Kotwals often controlled the fort of a major town or an area of smaller towns on behalf of another ruler. It was similar in function ...

(police chief) of Pune from Nana. Having got the post he begins to enforce strict rules in the city. He starts asking for permits for everything and starts throwing people in jail for the smallest offenses. When the commoners come to Nana with a complaint, he dismisses them & is deeply indulged with Gauri. In the meantime, Gauri becomes pregnant by Nana and dies during childbirth. Nana asks her body thrown in the river in secret. He convinces Ghashiram that the title he enjoys is only because of his patronage. The situation goes out of hand when a few brahmins visitors to the city are put in jail, and die from suffocation due to inadequate ventilation in their custody. The Brahmin of Pune then complains to the Peshwa. The Peshwa summons Nana who orders Ghashiram to be killed in the most inhumane way possible. Nana ignores his summons, the Brahmins then surround his palace protest. To save his skin Nana finally gives orders for execution of Ghashiram. Ghasiram Kotwal

Style

The play is notable for the use of the "

Tamasha Tamasha ( mr, तमाशा) is a traditional form of Marathi theatre, often with singing and dancing, widely performed by local or travelling theatre groups within the state of Maharashtra, India."Tamasha", in James R. Brandon and Martin Banham ...

" form in Marathi folk theatre. Singing and dancing are used here to good effect. "Abhangas" (devotional songs) are mixed with "Lavnis" (love songs).

Original cast and crew

* Ghashiram Savaldas: Ramesh Tilekar *

Mohan Agashe Mohan Agashe (born 23 July 1947) is an Indian psychiatrist and actor. He was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1996 in theatre. Early life Agashe was born in Bhor, Maharashtra. He studied in B. J. Medical College, Pune for his MBBS an ...

* Sutradhar (Narrator): Shreeram Ranade * Singers:

Anand Modak Anand Modak ( mr, आनंद मोडक) (13 May 1951 – 23 May 2014) was an acclaimed Marathi film composer and music director in Marathi cinema and Marathi theatre, known for his experimental style. He is notable films include ''Lapan ...

Ravindra Sathe Ravindra Sathe is an Indian playback singer in Marathi film industry. He was the original cast and crew member of famous Marathi theatre Ghashiram Kotwal. Career He started his career as sound recordist in Doordarshan. He has many performances ...

, Chandrakant Kale * Music:

Bhaskar Chandavarkar Bhaskar Chandavarkar (16 March 1936 – 26 July 2009) was an Indian sitar player, academic and film and theatre composer who worked with well-known directors of Indian cinema like Mrinal Sen, Girish Karnad, Aparna Sen, K. G. George and Amol P ...

* Dance: Krishndev Mulgund * Director:

Arvind Thakar Arvind (from sa, अरविन्द ') is a common Indian masculine name meaning lotus. The name is of Hindu origin. Its variants include Aravind, Aravinda, Aravindan, and Aurobindo (). Meaning ' means sun in the Sanskrit language. In pa ...

Musicians

* Music:

- manjiri/tal * Chandrakant Kale - Chipali * Ashok Gaikwad - Dholaki/Tabla * Prabhashankar Gaikwad - sundri * Shrikant Rajpathak - Mrudung * Shyam Bhende - Harmonium

Controversy

Like many of Tendulkar's plays, this play created a lot of controversy because it offended the

Chitpavan The Chitpavan Brahmin or Konkanastha Brahmin is a Hindu Maharashtrian Brahmin community inhabiting Konkan, the coastal region of the state of Maharashtra. Initially working as messengers and spies in the late seventeenth century, the community ...

Brahmin Brahmin (; sa, ब्राह्मण, brāhmaṇa) is a varna as well as a caste within Hindu society. The Brahmins are designated as the priestly class as they serve as priests (purohit, pandit, or pujari) and religious teachers (guru ...

community and that it showed the statesman

in a bad light. Hence it was temporarily banned in the state.

Shiv Sena Shiv Sena ( IAST: ''Śiva Sēnā'') () was a right-wing to far-right Marathi regionalist and Hindu ultranationalist political party in India founded in 1966 by cartoonist Bal Thackeray. Originally emerging from nativist movements in Bom ...

leader

Manohar Joshi Manohar Gaju Joshi (born 2 December 1937) is a prominent politician from the state of Maharashtra. He was the Chief Minister of Maharashtra from 1995 to 1999 and Speaker of the Lok Sabha from 2002 to 2004. He is one of the prominent leaders of ...

, also a

, was in the forefront of the anti-Ghasiram agitation in Mumbai, and the party stopped the staging of the play in the metropolis in 1971-72. The play was based on historical facts. Ghashiram was a North Indian Brahmin, a resident of

Aurangabad Aurangabad ( is a city in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the administrative headquarters of Aurangabad district and is the largest city in the Marathwada region. Located on a hilly upland terrain in the Deccan Traps, Aurangabad is th ...

, who was appointed as the Police prefect of Poona on 8 February 1777 and continued to hold officer till his death which took place on 31 August 1791 under violent circumstances. He had earned Nana's confidence by his faithful service during the critical times that followed the Peshwa Narayan Rao's murder. He enjoyed the full trust of Nana Phadnavis and his administration was notoriously worse than that of his predecessors. He was the man who had been appointed to watch the movements and plans of

Raghunath Rao Raghunathrao Bhat (a.k.a. Ragho Ballal or Ragho Bharari) (18 August 1734 – 11 December 1783) was the 11th Peshwa of the Maratha Empire for a brief period from 1773 to 1774. He was known among the Hindus for his extremely successful North-west ...

and his family and he reported to Nana whatever suited his purpose. He had under him a large body of unscrupulous spies, everyone possessing ample means of harassing people in consequence of which the word Ghashiram has become a permanent synonym for oppression and tyranny. The rule of Ghashiram was cruel and tyrannical. However, there is no historical evidence to support the portrayal of Nana Phadnavis as depicted in the play. The controversy also unfortunately undermines the crucial contribution made by

towards India's freedom movement.

Film adaptation

The play was adapted into a

film, ''

Ghashiram Kotwal '' Kotwal'' is a Marathi play written by playwright Vijay Tendulkar in 1972 as a response to the rise of a local political party, in Maharashtra. The play is a political satire, written as historical drama. It is based on the life of Nana Phadna ...

'' (1976), which was the debut film of actor

Om Puri Om Prakash Puri (18 October 1950 – 6 January 2017) was an Indian actor who appeared in mainstream commercial Hindi films as well as Bengali, Kannada,English, Punjabi and one Telugu film, as well as independent and art films and also starred ...

. The main characters were played by

Prakash Belawadi Prakash Belawadi is an Indian theatre artist, film director, television and media personality, who's also a teacher, activist and a journalist. He hails from Bangalore. He has participated in many seminars, conferences and festivals in India an ...

and

. The film's screenplay was written by

. The film was directed by K. Hariharan and

Mani Kaul Mani Kaul (25 December 1944 – 6 July 2011) was an Indian director of Hindi films and a reputed figure in Indian parallel cinema. He graduated from the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) where he was a student of Ritwik Ghatak and ...

in cooperation with 16 graduates of the FTII.

References

External links

* {{Marathi Theatre Plays by Vijay Tendulkar 1972 plays Indian plays adapted into films History of India in fiction Marathi-language plays Sangeet Natak