Kaviteche paan (कवितेचं पान)

Attended a concert titled "Kaviteche paan (कवितेचं पान)". 

Artists were Madhurani Prabhulkar, Sharwari Jamenis and Kaushal Inamdar, who also played Harmonium. The program was organized by Maharashtra Mandal Abu Dhabi at  Embassy of India auditorium on 29th Sept 2017. I attended the concert with Aditi, Sucheeta, Jayant, Pooja, Sameer, Swati, Prakash, Jyoti and Vijay.

Madhurani has been doing a web series with same title on you tube. It had become a rage.  This was the first live program of 'Kaviteche pan (कवितेचं पान)'. 

Program started with a very meaningful prarthana 'Hich amuchi prarthana (हिच अमुची प्रार्थना)'. This song has become immensely popular recently, from movie Ubuntu. Music of this movie is by Kaushal.

Mangesh Padgaokar's hilarious poem 'Tumche kay gele? (तुमचं काय गेलं?) followed up by another one by same poet, a romantic one, 'Maj navhate thauk (मज नव्हते ठाऊक)' by Sharwari. Kaushal presented 'Paus (पाऊस) by Kavivarya Shankar Vaidya. Madhurani presented a very short, but beautiful, poem 'Chatri (छत्री)' by Guru Thakur. Kaushal presented two poems of by Naresh Patil. 'Mazya chatak maitara (माझ्या चातक मैतरा)' and 'Hindkalale abhal (हिंदकळलं आभाळं)'. Sharwari enacted the later with her dance that enhanced the beauty. 

Suresh Bhat's two poems 'Ajun kahi (अजुन काही)' and 'Geet asawle tuzyasathi (गीत आसावले तुझ्यासाठी)' were presented by Kaushal followed by 'Sajan dari ubha (सजण दारी उभा)' enacted by Sharwari and sung by Madhurani.

Kaushal presented Prof Ashok Bagwe's 'Rangat ye tarangat ye (रंगत ये तरंगत ये)' where the poet commands the words and the words comply. This was a special poem where poet uses two words with difference on one letter but very  different meaning in every stanza, a fantastic word play.  Then they presented Vaibhav Joshi's 'Tari pan (तरी पण)' and Saumitra's 'Tuze maze lagna (तुझं माझं लग्न)'. It was followed by Arun Kolhatkar's poem 'Ektepan (एकटेपण)' and Sanjeevani Bokil's 'Mazya hirwya mahera (माझ्या हिरव्या माहेरा)' enacted by Sharwari and music composed by Madhurani. This one brought tears in the eyes of some. 

'Maza zoka (माझा झोका)' by Ashok Bagwe was followed by Shashi Dambhare's two poems 'Chahachya kapasobat (चहाच्या कपासोबत)' and 'Kshama (क्षमा)'. Kaushal presented a sphut (स्फुुुट) he authored, where he assigned various drinks to various singers based on similarities in characteristics. It was too good. It was followed by Mahesh Keluskar's 'Ranat zimma paus (रानात झिम्म पाऊस)' composed by Kaushal. Sharwari presented 'Ajun nahi jagi Radha (अजुन नाही जागी राधा)' about love of Kubja for Krishna.

It was followed by 'Smarashil Radha (स्मरशिल राधा)' of Kusumagraj on Kubja sung by Madhurani and performed by Sharwari. Kaushal presented famous 'Pruthviche premgeet (पृथ्वीचे प्रेमगीत)' of Kusumagraj composed by Kaushal. Sharwari presented another poem of Kusumagraj 'Ahi-Nakul (अहि नकुल)', a fight of Serpent-Mongoose. Wow! What a poem. It was graceful, picturesque and Sharwari brought out alive by her expressions. Madhurani then presented GaDiMa's hilarious poem, a dialogue between two dogs, pine old and one young.

  

Kaushal presented first 12 lines of a very long poem 'Mohini (मोहिनी)' of Balkavi for which he composed music. This one brought the tempo bit down. Madhurani presented 'Ti  mhanali (ती म्हणाली)' of Sanjay Chaudhari about mother and her daughter. Sharwari performed while seated, without getting up. 

Kaushal presented famous 'Tukobachya bhetis Shakespeare ala (तुकोबाच्या भेटीस शेक्सपीयर आला)' by Vinda Karandikar. Madhurani presented 'Darshanala ala? (दर्शनाला आला?)' by Kusumagraj. Sharwari presented Ravindranath Tagor's  prose translated by Khanolkar.

Program concluded with very famous Marathi abhiman geet (मराठी अभिमान गीत), a song that underlines greatness of Marathi language.  It is composed by Kaushal, recorded in 11 studios, sung by more than 450 singers and played by more than 70 musicians. This song had become an iconic song since its release. There was a long applause and standing ovation at the end. 

This program featured many unknown poems. They were appreciated by audience for their quality, the presentation and not because they were known.

Madhurani is an actress and has also composed music. She conceptualized this program. Kaushal is a well known music composer, a good singer and had brains. Sharwari is an actress and an accomplished Kathak dancer. Her expressive dance, subtle expressions and skill were exceptional. She performed without rhythm. Her performance took the program to a different dimension making it exquisite. She was the icing on the cake. 

What was unique about the artists? None of them is uni dimensional. All of them are multi talented and multi faceted. That's why they were able to bring that additional X factor to the program. They delivered with conviction. Their pauses, semi pauses and repeats were timed perfectly. Their expressions emphasized all the important punches and delicate phrases. 

What was unique about the program? It's a niche thematic program. Poets don't present their poems but presenters select poems from various poets and present them. Although this program was not string into a theme, outs informal nature and brilliance of the actors made it a memorable one.

Special mention should go to audience.  Although the auditorium was not full, the ones who attended were good. Audience was knowledgeable, appreciative, understood the finer nuances and liked the performance. There was evident with wah-wah, kya-bat-hai, aa-ha and clapping. Artists crave for such applause. 

MMAD committee should be appreciated for having the creativity to request the artists to start performing this program live and conceptualizing a program dedicated to poems. Its rare to get to attend such literary programs. Committee deserves a big applause.

A memorable evening. 

Entertainment rating 9/10.