We failed to keep our connect alive with them!

 

 

 

The city of Nagpur and Vidarbha region did not have much to offer by way of professional achievement to all those iconic personalities from the field of art, all right, but it also failed to maintain a continued strong connect with them in later years as they kept scaling newer peaks of performance in their chosen domains. Only occasionally, some Nagpurians and Vidarbhites do talk of all those great persons, but the city and the region did little to keep not just the memory alive but also their bonds intact in a real sense. That is the reason few have rued that a film on the Nagpur’s very own legendary classical music maestro Dr. Vasantrao Deshpande -- Mee Vasantrao -- got only scanty attention by film distribution system.

 

Though the young Vasantrao spent his creative young years in the city, the city almost forgot him, except that it does boast of a good auditorium in his name. If Dr. Vasantrao Deshpande’s is one case, there is a long list of personalities from the field of art having done the city and the nation proud by their sterling performances. Sensing that the city did not have much scope for their talent to flourish, these people made their way to the lucrative pastures such as Mumbai, Pune, Kolhapur and elsewhere in the country. Let us know the name of a few of them: Dr. Vasantrao Deshpande, Padma Vibhushan Dr. Prabha Atre, playwright and director Purshottam Darwhekar, litterateur and director Vishram Bedekar (Amravati), poetess Shanta Shelke (Amravati), lyricist Yashwant Deo, poet Raja Badhe, music director C. Ramchandra, music director Annasaheb Deulgaonkar, music director Ram-Laxman (Vijay Patil), actor Johny Walker (Amravati), actor Ashok Kumar, actor Anup kumar, actor-singer Kishor Kumar, actor Dilip Kumar, actor Jaya Bhaduri, classical dancer Padma Vibhushan Dr. Sonal Mansingh.

 

There may be many more who left Nagpur and the region to cope with life’s challenges and changes. All of them made great name for themselves not just in the country but also elsewhere in the world. However, the city of Nagpur -- the virtual capital of Vidarbha -- did little to keep their connect with these personalities intact. In fact, a systematic effort should have been made to ensure that all these personalities returned to their roots every now and then and refresh not just memories but also help the city and the region flourish as sanctuaries of art. The region’s socio-political leadership lacked such a vision and verve to take up such an initiative. They did not even try to form an artistic hub to which most such personalities could gravitate time and again through an annual festival celebrating the region’s art as well as the success of some its legendary sons and daughters. Of course, persons like Annasaheb Deulgaonkar and Purshottam Darwhekar returned to the city to honour their familial bonds. But frankly, the city did little to honour them in a true sense.

 

Of course, the city and the region do have many more big names in their folds -- like litterateur Mahesh Elkunchwar, Poet Grace, poet Suresh Bhat, father of Marathi ghazal and shayar Bhausaheb Patankar (Yavatmal), Sanskrit litterateur Dr. Shridhar Bhaskar Varnekar, Sanskrit scholar and litterateur Dr. Madhusudan Penna, author-orator Ram Shewalkar, litterateur Maruti Chitampalli (who gave Marathi lexicon nearly one lakh new words through his writings on forest and wildlife). Chitampalli later left Nagpur to be with his relatives in Western Maharashtra, to cope with old age. Most of these legends have already made their way to heavenly abode. But those who are still around need to be integrated into region’s public life in whatever manner. Many young Vidarbhites in the field of cinematic art are making name for themselves elsewhere, though the city and the region do not have any specific plan or agenda for them to integrate more strongly in the public life here. Some of the notable names in this field include director Rajkumar Hirani, director Tejas Deoskar, actor Vaibhav Tatwawadi, Sanjay Surkar (alas, no more!), actor Sarika Nilatkar, actor-singer Ketaki Mategaonkar, actor Dr. Vilas Ujawane. This list, too, can be quite long, and we request our readers to help us with the names missing from this. The names can be many, and the city and the region need to keep a strong connect with all of them from now on -- which was not done in the past.