Jaanta Raja' to make a comeback this summer

Rahul Chandawarkar / TNN / Apr 12, 2009, 02:57 IST

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Jaanta Raja' (the knowledgeable king), the theatrical extravaganza on the life and times of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, will make a comeback in the city.

Jaanta Raja' to make a comeback this summer

PUNE: Jaanta Raja' (the knowledgeable king), the theatrical extravaganza on the life and times of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, will make a comeback in the city with seven straight shows between April 24 and 30. The play will be performed at the Nehru Stadium at 7.30 pm daily.
The lavish production, which has been staged a phenomenal 870 times since 1985, is unique because its actors do not deliver any dialogues on stage.All dialogues have been pre-recorded and the actors only lip-synch.
Recorded originally in Marathi, the play now has a Hindi and English version and was staged in Boston in the US on July 4, 1997 at a world Marathi convention.
Written, directed and produced by the history scholar and authority on Shivaji, Babasaheb Purandare (87), the play is larger than life. The open-air stage which is 100 ft in length and 45 ft in width weighs 30 tonnes, while the sets weigh another 15 tonnes. A total of 200 actors feature in the play, alongside six horses, six camels and an elephant.

According to Purandare, the seeds for the play were sown in 1974, when he staged a 22-minute play to commemorate the 300th anniversary of Chhatrapati Shivaji's coronation at Shivaji Park in Mumbai. Purandare was also inspired by an Italian play involving hundreds of actors and horses based on the Roman era, which he saw in Rome in 1978.
Purandare says, "I was awestruck by the Italian play. I decided then and there to replicate some of the magic with a similarly large play on the life of Shivaji Maharaj."

"It wasn't easy," informs Purandare. "In the early years, we had to hire most of our equipment and request our actors to act for free. However, things are much better now and the Maharaja Shiv Chhatrapati Pratisthan Trust, which owns and manages the play, can afford to pay an honorarium to the actors," says Purandare.
The play revolves around a poet (or shahir'), usually played by Sagar Joshi, who is the energetic common factor on stage and guides the audience through the many incidents and episodes in the famous king's life. Jijamata (Shivaji's mother) is usually played by actress Bhairavi Purandare and Shivaji's role is always essayed by Pravin Shirole.
Shirole is special. He has portrayed the role of Shivaji Maharaj in all the 870 performances so far. Says the businessman-actor, "I used to be a very shy and reticent man before I started portraying the Maharaj. Today, I am more positive, humorous and confident in my day-to-day life."
These are qualities which the real-life Shivaji also displayed, points out Purandare. "The Maharaj's court was very informal and always open to the poorest of the poor. He listened to everyone and always displayed a sense of humour. This fact has been documented by several scholars."
The city-based Hind Mata Pratisthan Trust, which will be organising the seven shows, is also excited about the performances. Says Rajendra Dhume, one of the organisers, "It is Babasaheb's dream that the play be seen by as many people as possible. Keeping this in mind, we plan to show the play to class IV employees of the Pune Municipal Corporation free of cost."

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