Me Nathuram Godse Boltoy
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2018}}
{{Use Indian English|date=July 2018}}
{{Short description|Marathi language play by Vinay Apte}}
{{Infobox play
| name = Me Nathuram Godse Boltoy
| image = Me Nathuram Godse Boltoy Cover.jpg
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| caption = Poster
| writer = Pradip Dalvi
| director = Vinay Apte
| chorus =
| characters = Nathuram Godse
| mute =
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| orig_lang = Marathi
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Me Nathuram Godse Boltoy is a two-act play written in the Marathi language. It has been written by Pradeep Dalvi (Mauli productions).{{cite web|url=http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/Mumbai/Political-drama-surrounds-play-on-Nathuram-Godse/Article1-658335.aspx|title=Political drama surrounds play on Nathuram Godse|last=Kurian|first=Susamma|date=2011-02-04|publisher=HT Media|accessdate=9 April 2012|location=New Delhi|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130324235733/http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/Mumbai/Political-drama-surrounds-play-on-Nathuram-Godse/Article1-658335.aspx|archivedate=24 March 2013}} It is based on the book May It Please You Honour written by Gopal Godse. According to Karline McLain the play enacts Godse's defense plea and thus explores the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi and the trial of Godse from Godse's point of view.{{cite book|author=Karline McLain|title=India's Immortal Comic Books: Gods, Kings, and Other Heroes|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V4-Su0whKa0C&pg=PA192|accessdate=10 April 2012|date=11 February 2009|publisher=Indiana University Press|isbn=978-0-253-22052-3|pages=192}}
Staging and controversies
In 1989, Dalvi was denied permission by the Government of Maharashtra to stage the play.{{cite web|url=http://www.rediff.com/news/1998/jul/22godse.htm|title=The Rediff Special/Pradeep Dalvi An assassin speaks|year=1998|publisher=Rediff On the Net|accessdate=9 April 2012}} The play was first staged in 1997. It ran 13 successful shows but was banned thereafter, by the governments of Maharashtra and Kerala.{{cite book|author=Ikram ul-Majeed Sehgal|title=Defence journal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D6XfAAAAMAAJ|accessdate=10 April 2012|date=1 May 2003|publisher=Ikram ul-Majeed Sehgal}} The producer approached the high court in 1998, which permitted staging the play in 2001. The Supreme Court upheld the high court's ruling.{{cite web|url=http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report_gandhi-savarkar-don-green-hats-on-stage_1327572|title=Gandhi, Savarkar don green hats on stage|last=Siddhaye |first= Ninad |date=2009-12-26|publisher=Diligent Media Corporation Ltd.|accessdate=9 April 2012|location=Mumbai}} It was staged in Thane's auditorium Gadkari Rangayatan in April 2001 facing opposition from parties like Indian National Congress and Nationalist Congress Party; it was not presented again in Thane until 2011. An Indian Express news story quotes director Vinay Apte regarding the intimidation that artists connected with the play faced, such as the incident when the bus used by the artists while touring was set on fire by Indian National Congress activists in Mulund a suburb of Mumbai. Despite this 627 shows were staged in other cities. In February 2011, the play re-opened to a packed house at the same Gadkari Rangayatan, in Thane. Two platoons of state reserve police and 350 regular policemen under the direction of senior officers provided security.{{cite web|url=http://www.indianexpress.com/news/day-after-clash-producers-cancel-sunday-show/746363/0|title=Day after clash, producers cancel Sunday show|date=2011-02-05|publisher=The Indian Express Limited|accessdate=9 April 2012|location=Mumbai}} According to Tushar Gandhi, Gandhi's great-grandson, the play creates martyrs of murderers who after "murdering him (Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi) are now trying to murder his memory".{{cite web|url=http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?205924|title=Villain As Hero|last=AKHTAR |first=SHAMEEM |date=1998-07-27|publisher=The Outlook Group|accessdate=9 April 2012|location=New Delhi}} It starred
Sharad Ponkshe as Nathuram Godse.
Criticism
Both the play and its ban have been criticized by Shriram Lagoo a view which was considered representative of the views of other theater workers such as Vijay Tendulkar, Satyadev Dubey and Amol Palekar by The Times of India in its article Banning a play is not the solution. Civil liberties activists have opposed the ban though they consider the play "vicious".{{cite web|url=http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2001-10-10/mumbai/27255466_1_nathuram-godse-boltoy-government-bans-sakharam-binder|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120913043205/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2001-10-10/mumbai/27255466_1_nathuram-godse-boltoy-government-bans-sakharam-binder|url-status=dead|archive-date=2012-09-13|title='Banning a play is not the solution|date=2001-10-10|accessdate=9 April 2012|work=The Times of India|location=Mumbai}}
=Nathuramayan=
Yashawant Dinkar Phadke in his book Nathuramayan has criticised Dalvi's play as presenting "distorted and falsified facts".{{cite web|url=http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/keyword/nathuram-godse/featured/5|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130527163408/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/keyword/nathuram-godse/featured/5|url-status=dead|archive-date=2013-05-27|title=Nathuram Godse|date=2002-08-02|accessdate=9 April 2012|work=The Times of India|location=Mumbai}} Political activists opposing the play have urged Dalvi to answer questions put forward by Phadke in Nathuramayan.
See also
References
{{reflist}}
{{Marathi Theatre}}
{{Mahatma Gandhi}}
Category:Entertainment in India
Category:Marathi-language plays