You never know, what destiny has in store you. Otherwise, an Electrical Engineer with MBA (Finance)  from USA, would never be trying his luck in Marathi film industry. Kshitij Zarapkar was well settled with his job in USA, till he came back to India few years ago, to stage his own drama group’s play ‘Sundara Manamadhye Bharali’ here in India. And, he became a part of this Marathi entertainment industry. Thereafter, he performed in 5 dramas and about 30-35 serials. Kshitij came into limelight as an actor with the show “Ghadlay Bighadlay’.

Today, Kshitij is in news for his new Marathi film ‘Golaberij’, based on the life and stories of P.L. Deshpande, noted Marathi writer known for his humour. This is the fifth film, Khsitij is associated with; and besides writing the screenplay, he is also directing this film. Prior to this, Khitij had written the story of ‘Ishya’, “Ideachi Kalpana’, ‘Karuya Udyachi Baat ( which he also directed), and ‘Thenga’( a commercial film, yet to be released).

For the past three and a half years, Kshitij was into extensive research, seriously planning to stage a play based on the incidences in the life of P.L. Deshpande. All that he wanted to present was some humour associated with people around P.L. and the important Characters created by him, through different stories. But, when the play could not be presented, Kshitij tried to use this collection, to make a film. When he found a producer, Kshitij really became serious about the project and completed this film, which is now ready for release. Today, he is all excited about this film, which has some popular names playing some important characters, either associated with Mr. P.L. Deshpande or part of his stories. But, he has opted for Nikhil Ratnaparakhi, a talented actor  to play the role of Mr. P.L Deshpande, as he perfectly fitted into all his requirements.

“Golaberij’ is neither a documentary nor a biopic. It is a story and not a history,” says Kshitij, when you ask him as to what exactly he has presented through his film. But, he has certainly generated a lot of interest through his film. The last time he tried his hands at ‘karuya Udyachi Baat’ a sensible film, which was the first film in the world on the issue of Global warming; but, couldn’t receive much success. When you ask Kshitij, the reason for the same, he blames the producer, who according to him did not promote the film properly, prior to its release.

Highlight of ‘Golaberij’, are the dialogues. Though the screenplay is written by Kshitij himself, he has taken special efforts to retain the original dialogues of P.L. Deshpande, in the script, giving due credit to the great writer. “ While seeking the permission to make this film on his stories, Sunitaji was particular about retaining originality and therefore, I made it a point to use even the comas and full stops in the dialogues,” says Kshitij.

“ Making a film on P.L. Deshpande and the people around him including some of his popular story characters, was itself a challenging job. But, I have worked very hard to present this story in a cinematic form, which I am sure will be appreciated by people from all age groups,” he concludes.  


by Ulhas Shirke © MMW