Dada Kondke Birthday Special: He used to laugh, cry and expose lies

It will be interesting in this age of biopics if the most ambitious and intelligent director and a very talented actor can succeed in making a biopic on the life and times of Dada Kondke who has worked for V.Shantaram, Dr.Jabbar Patel, Amol Palekar and others in Marathi films. Like other well-known producers, had established authority over the Marathi film industry. Dada Kondke started a school of filmmaking on his own and reached a stage when he directed nine Golden Jubilee films in a row which earned him a place in The Guinness Book of Records.

Dada Kondke, a comedian and an actor and filmmaker who rose from the bylanes of Naigaon in central Mumbai to reach a position when he found himself recognized by the entire film industry and the public saw him as the guru they were looking for. What kind of entertainment can he give them which no other filmmaker can give in Hindi or Marathi. It certainly was not an easy ride for a man who was born in a family of mill workers and who himself worked in a mill until the mills were closed in Bombay.

He had no formal education in lower middle-class personality and personality and Marathi, even his mother tongue, though had a flair for entertainment. He started playing in a local band (Band Pathak) in the areas around Dadar and Parel and soon became known as "Bandwale Dada", after which he directed popular Marathi plays, mainly in Maharashtra. was based on social issues, with his own double entender words and dialogues, attracted audiences of thousands, and his brand of theater was a major blow to traditional Marathi theatre.

Dada Kondke as he was now known then made a big difference on Marathi films and made about twenty films in ten years and ruled the world of Marathi entertainment. He was the typical idiot type character who always wore "chaddis" (striped shorts, a type of vest worn by farmers or mill workers in Maharashtra, and a Gandhi cap on his head). But it was a silly or Chaplin-like or Raj Kapoor-like character who took on government, order, religion, corruption and fake standards of life. His character forced the public and even the people of classes and even high places to take him seriously as he talked about the real problems of the people in his popular style, which became a rage and He was the hero of every section of the media. He was so indifference to the High and Mighty that he

He faced several battles with the censors due to his double-meaning dialogues and the way he portrayed women in his films, but he saw to it that all his films were released and not only made a lot of money, but also set a trend Also established, which many people tried to follow after him, but no one could go anywhere near him and committed suicide.

Dada Kondke became ambitious and began producing, directing and acting in Hindi films such as "Tere Mere Beech Mein", "Kholde Zabaan Meri" and "Aage Ki Soch" with stars like Mehmood and Amjad Khan. Although the Hindi films he made did not do as well as his Marathi films and he did not live long enough to fulfill many of his ambitions, his acting and filmmaking is a chapter that is written only once. It is against this backdrop of a man who was a legend that I challenge anyone to make a genuine bio-pic about this exceptionally prodigious genius. I think it is a huge challenge for the best of actors because it is for any actor to re-live the life and times of another prodigious talent like Kishore Kumar.

Take my challenge seriously and come to your own conclusions before taking your next step while thinking or planning about movies.

na tum hamen jaane, na ham tum jaane

mainne unakee sabhee philmen dekheen, jinamen hindee philmen bhee shaamil theen

I came across such unusual legends and it was only natural that I happened to meet this man who gave people sleepless nights with his hard-hitting and stinging comedy.

I knew Mr. Kalguatkar who was a prominent PR person in the Marathi industry and Dada Kondke's PR man. I asked Kalguatkar to arrange a meeting with him and he fixed the meeting for the next day at 4 pm at the Mumbai Air Conditioned Market in Tardeo.

It was time for the meeting and as usual, I made it 15 minutes before the scheduled time. I found a strange-looking man sitting on the floor, dressed only in a white pyjama and a similar loose kurta with Kolhapuri chappals on his feet and making no effort to show that he was wearing a very cheap wig.

I sat opposite the man and we started talking in Marathi as I overheard him speaking to an audience of ten people, who I later learned were distributors and exhibitors of films. We talked about a wide range of topics and he kept me aloof with his non-stop dialogues which were a commentary on the state of Marathi films and he told me that he hardly watched Marathi films because he considered them very bad. It was more than an hour and he didn't even ask me who I was and looking at him, I didn't feel like asking him who he was.

It was around 5:30 and I was getting very restless and kept checking my 150 rupees wrist watch and they asked me if I was waiting for someone. I told him that I was looking for Dada Kondke, the comedian and filmmaker who changed the face of Marathi films. And he asked me if my name was Ali Peter John. We both laughed for the next 15 minutes when we realized that we were two strangers looking for each other.

Getting up from the mat he was sitting on, he took me with him to a spacious hall where he had a fully decorated office of his own. He sat down on a chair with his legs up and ordered "two teas" and that was exactly what I was getting after waiting for this mysterious man called Dada Kondke.

We talked about all his early experiences and street theatre, public theater and then films and he said that he never thought that his films would be accepted on such a large scale, in which he proved how to masala entertain Starring Marathi film audience.

He was also against all forms of hypocrisy and did not spare even the Mangeshkar family, saying that he refused to sing in his films because he felt that the songs were of very bad taste. For a change, he switched to Hindi, and said, “These people don't have the courage to tolerate even a little joke, I had written a song in which Pandu means main uske banana wali girlfriend se kehta hai ki tere blouse ke insider jo Hai, woh mujhe dede” This song was sung by Usha Mangeshkar, who refused to sing even after coming to the recording studio. He said that he openly said that he had filth and dirty thoughts in his mind. He was only demanding the purse that the banana seller had kept inside her blouse. After this incident, the Mangeshkar sisters had stopped singing for him and he told me, “Kya farak patta hai, Are you Usha Mangeshkar or Usha Iyer? If the song is good, then anyone will sing, even on the way there are so many singers who are waiting for a chance.

The evening meeting between Kondke and I led to a long relationship and he made it a point to invite me to all his functions and parties, which were mostly held at the West End Hotel near the Mumbai hospital. It became such a phenomenon that "India Today", the leading magazine of that time, decided to bid him farewell at the Oberoi Sheraton Hotel (now known as The Trident). The entire hall was packed with journalists from the daily, the fortnightly and the magazine in different languages. On one hand, I asked him how he would handle the situation, especially with the English press and he very clearly said, “Mera naam dada aise hi nahi hai, woh angrezi saheb aur memsaab log meri bhasha bolne par will be forced

It was one of the most extravagant press meets of my long career.

Finally, Dada Kondke began to fall ill several times and to add to his misery, one of his brothers who had been looking after his financial affairs and in whom he had put all his trust cheated him of lakhs of rupees and his wealth. He was no longer that Dada Kondke. Kondke was admitted to the National Hospital (now Hinduja Hospital) and died in front of his wife or as some called her his girlfriend and heroine of most of the films, Usha Chavan. Many critics called him "the Manmohan Desai of Marathi films", which he did not like very much and said that he was a big fan of Manmohan Desai, but "he would never like to compare himself with anyone, not even God".

Many people who made us laugh came and went like this, but Dada, no one leaves like you, even today people cry for your beauty.