Vastraharan: A Celebration of Boli Natak

Vastraharan (Gangaram Gavankar), a book-cover

'Vastraharan' will be re-staged again by Bhadrakali Production. While the plan is to do the ‘limited’ 46 shows, the play has remained ingrained in the memory of theater lovers in unlimited ways through its epoch-making 5000+ runs and stories around its professional success. The production has been re-staged multiple times since it premiered in February 1980. Performers change, audiences multiply, but the enchanting Vastraharan performance of the great Machindra Kambli has remained etched in the memory of people. The Bhadrakali Production of Vastraharan, with Gangaram Gavankar as the playwright, Ramesh Randive as the director, and Machindra Kambli as the lead actor, is a milestone in the celebration of boli natak in the history of Indian staging practices.

'Vastraharan' is written by Gangaram Gavankar, who is now in his mid-80s. It is in Malvani boli, a Konkani dialect mainly spoken in the Sindhudurg area in Konkan. Gavankar was born in Madban in Konkan. His father left for Mumbai when Gavankar was five, and they did not see each other for the next 12 years. When his father met his son in Bombay after 12 years, he asked his sister, "Who is this guest?" and "Why is he here?" His father used to work on the footpaths of Bombay selling tea while living in a 4 by 6 room. Only Gavankar's father could barely fit himself in the room. Gavankar had to sleep in a lorry outside and work and study in a night-school before joining the JJ School of Arts. Damu Kenkre, his class teacher in JJ and a theatre stalwart, inspired him to write and revise "Aaj Kaay Natak Hovacha Naay," a 20-page farce in the Malvani dialect written in Dashavatar and other loknatya forms. The farce was later renamed "Vastraharan '' and performed in various play competitions at Kamgar Rangbhumi before becoming a significant commercial success. Gavankar continues to write and stage plays.

The legendary 'Vastraharan' play subverts the Mahabharata through the use of the play-within-a-play trope. As the clichéd Vastraharan trope and style became popular, several writers and artists began to replicate its form in numerous drama competitions and comedy shows. Machindra Kambli's entertainer remains unique.

The Vastraharan team in the 1980s. The performers in the picture include Nana Patekar, Sachin Pilgaonkar, Ashok Saraf, Vinay Apte and others.

Alive for generations, 'Vastraharan', with its rustic and raw beauty, is being re-staged as middle-class urban theatre in 'sophisticated' Marathi takes center stage, and the traditionally rich and open form of farcical humor can easily offend revivalists' sentiments. In the time when parodying historical or mythical figures is not permitted, it's wonderful to see a new 'Vastraharan' team entertaining people with humor and laughter. I am looking forward to seeing the production because our friend and theatre-actor Omkar Govardhan, who has established himself as a well-known small-screen mainstream actor too during his three-year stint in a popular TV series, is returning to the stage with the evergreen play "Vastraharan."