Marathi theatre

Today, it continues to have a marked presence in the State of Maharashtra with a loyal audience base, when most theatre in other parts of India have had tough time facing the onslaught of cinema and television.

[4][5] The region of Maharashtra, has had long theatrical tradition, one of the early references is found in the cave inscriptions at Nashik by Gautami Balashri, the mother of 1st-century Satavahana ruler, Gautamiputra Satakarni.

[6] There are sources mentioning plays from 17th-century like Lakshmaikalyanam, and Ganga-Kaveri Samvad, in the Marathi-language staged for the Bhosale ruler of Tanjore in present-day Tamil Nadu state.

It is during this era of the Marathi theatre that great singer-actors like Bal Gandharva, Keshavrao Bhole, Bhaurao Kolhatkar and Deenanath Mangeshkar thrived.

In the 1970s, the tamasha form was employed as narrative device and style in several notable plays like Ghashiram Kotwal by Vijay Tendulkar, Vijaya Mehta's Marathi adaptations of Bertolt Brecht's The Good Woman of Setzuan as Devajine Karuna Keli (1972) and Caucasian Chalk Circle as Ajab Nyaya Vartulacha (1974), Bashir Momin Kavathekar's historical "Bhangale Swapna Maharastra" (1976)[1]& "Vedat Marathe Veer Daudale Saat"(1977),[12] P. L. Deshpande's Teen paishacha Tamasha (1978), an adaptation of Brecht's The Threepenny Opera.