Brothers who shaped Gujarati cinema over four decades

With the demise of Arvind Trivedi, popularly known as Lankesh, for his role of Ravan in the 1980’s television series ‘Ramayan’, a four-decade era of two pairs of brothers — Mahesh and Naresh Kanodia and Upendra and Arvind Trivedi — who came from the same region in Gujarat, trained on the theatre stage, forayed into the Gujarati film industry and shaped it, has come to an end.

While Upendra Trivedi died in 2015, his younger brother Arvind Trivedi passed away on October 6 this year. Film musician and singer Mahesh Kanodia passed away on October 25, 2020 and two days later, his younger brother actor Naresh Kanodia breathed his last.

"In a year, we lost three of the four artists who shaped Gujarati cinema since the 1970s. These duos did a commendable job bringing cinema to rural audiences. Gujarati cinema’s history goes back 80 years, 40 of which were ruled by these brothers," says actor Hiten Kumar.
Kumar said that Gujarati films, mostly black and white, made before the time of Upendra-Arvind and Mahesh-Naresh, had more urban backdrops. "Characters in these films were educated and from cities. The rural audience could not relate to themand their stories and stayed away from cinema. These two pairs came from rural areas and understood what the rural audience could relate to. They made films which appealed to rural viewers, who make up 85% of Gujarat," Hitenkumar said.
The actor said there was no competition between these two pairs as they were of two different types. "While Upendra-Arvind were refined actors, Mahesh-Naresh were big entertainers. Mahesbhai brought peppy music to Gujarati films and Nareshbhai danced to those tunes. Gujarati cinemagoers for the first time got an actor who could dance and they loved it," he said.
Kumar said they taught discipline to the younger generation of actors. "I learnt a lot from them. They were never late for shoots and were humble and well-behaved on set," Kumar said.
"One thing that I learnt from my father (Naresh Kanodia) was discipline. He was never late to shoots. In fact, he would arrive earlier than scheduled. In those times, they didn’t have many facilities. They shot films in harsh weather without the comforts that are available nowadays," says actor Hitu Kanodia. Kanodia said while his father charmed audiences with his acting and dance skills, his uncle Mahesh brought tunes that were mixes of classical, sugam sangeet (simplified classical music) and folk.