Marathi actors join hands to battle female foeticide

Kishore Sharma - Televisionpoint.com | Mumbai

When celebrated names from the Marathi film and television industry like Surekha Punekar, Ashwini Bhave, Kishori Godbole, Resham Tipnis and Varsha Usgaonkar take to the stage for a social cause, one is compelled to sit up and watch.

Making use of their popular show 'Marathi Taraka', 22 actors from the Marathi film and television fraternity have taken up the objective of saving the girl child through a special fiveminute dance ballet. The ballet, based on the theme of female foeticide, has been written by director Mahesh Tilekar, who was instrumental in starting 'Marathi Taraka'.

"The alarming sex ratios in states like Rajasthan and Punjab compelled us to do our bit so that Maharashtra does not reach a situation like that. Since the show ('Marathi Taraka') is being performed in small towns, other than in big cities, we thought of adding this ballet," said Tilekar.

The first show of the ballet, in Kolhapur received a positive response from the 15,000 strong audience, he said. The ballet, to be performed at the end of every show of 'Marathi Taraka', talks about the importance of women in society and the tragic trend of killing the girl child either at birth or as a foetus. With references to women achievers like Rani Laxmibai, Kalpana Chawla and various goddesses, the producers hope to make the people pay heed.

Actor Varsha Usgaonkar, who is part of the initiative, said the actors were more than happy to lend their names to this noble cause. "The sex ratio in India is alarming, and the root cause obviously is female foeticide. Since entertainment is common to all people, we thought that using this mode to spread the message for the girl child would be ideal. It is very sad that even educated people show a high preference for a male child," she stressed.

Tilekar said there would soon be a play based on the same theme. "We are, for the first time, going to have 20 leading actors and 20 actresses from the Marathi film industry perform on the same stage in Pune on November 1, at the Ganesh Kala Krida Rangmanch," said Tilekar.

Actors like Nilu Phule, Bharat Jadhav, Kuldip Pawar, Ramesh Bhatkar, Avinash Nadkar and Tushar Dalvi will perform at the show.