Actress, teacher, director and writer Radhika Deshpande has composed a book of children’s plays by making the best and artistic use of lockdown time. The book of these three one-act plays, written in three languages, Marathi, Hindi and English, was recently published in Pune.
Sanjay Pendse, Director, Balaranjan Kala Mandir, Cover page Designer Satish Pendse, and Secretary, Mahavir Jain College, Pune and former journalist and writer Yuvraj Shah, were present on the occasion.
Radhika Deshpande is the daughter of Sanjay Pendse and Sarika Pendse, who are directors of popular Balaranjan Kala Mandir, Nagpur. Radhika has continued the legacy of drama inherited from her parents and decided to pursue a career in it. Radhika is currently settled in Pune. She has acted in many dramas like Durga Jhali Gauri, Achat Gaavchi Afat Mavshi, Janhvi, Choice is Yours and Tee Doghe. She was also seen in TV serials Honar sun mi Hya Gharchi, Swarajya Rakshak Sambhaji, Lakshya, Aaie kuthe kaay karte. . Currently, the role of ‘Devika’ in Aaie kuthe kaay karte is gaining popularity.
During the Corona period, all kinds of cultural events, dramas, series saw severe setback. It also caused a lot of artistic and financial loss to the artists. Radhika has written one-act plays for children using this lockdown time in a by utilizing lockdown period in a very positive way.
Radhika says that combining the best words, thoughts and feelings to achieve the best equation of writing and make it your own by the children is a difficult thing to do anfd love doing that. My father Sanjay Pendse, mother Sarika, uncle Satish Pendse, husband Neeraj Deshpande and many others helped me a lot while writing this book. I want to thank all of them for this opportunity. ‘
Trikut is Special – Earlier, Radhika’s Katipatang and 3 children’s plays, Mungale Char and Balnatye 3 and Magish have been published. This is her fourth book children’s drama. Three of these one-act plays are in Marathi, Hindi and English and the heroes in these one-act plays are real life heroes. ‘Selfie’ is an inspiring and sensitive one-act play based on internationally renowned chef Vishnu Manohar, while ‘Tira’ is based on renowned photographer Rita Kalmankar. ‘Password’ is the third one-act play based on professional hacker Sumit Prabhune. Another feature of the book is the children’s section, which includes stories written by children and drawings based on one-act plays written by Radhika.
Basically there are less children’s drama books. It lacks many of the current issues, and the one that address the issues. The teachers and parents I met agreed that there should be good children’s plays for in English and Hindi. So I wrote plays in Hindi and English along with Marathi.
– Radhika Deshpande ‘Rani’, actress, writer, teacher, director
