''Lokshahir Ram Joshi'' (People's Poet Ram Joshi) also called ''Matawala Shair Ram Joshi'' in

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

, is a 1947

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India **Marathi people (Uttar Pradesh), the Marathi people in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Mar ...

biopic film of the poet Ram Joshi, written by G. D. Madgulkar, directed by

Baburao Painter Baburao Krishnarao Mestry, popularly known as Baburao Painter (3 June 1890 – 16 January 1954) was an Indian Filmmaking, filmmaker and artist. He was a man of many talents with proficiency in painting, sculpture, film production, photography, ...

and co-directed by V. Shantaram. Shantaram had given the direction to Painter but had to complete the film when Painter fell ill during production. Produced under the Rajkamal Kalamandir banner, it is also referred to as ''Lok Shahir Ramjoshi''. The story writer was G.D. Madgulkar, who is cited as the "first specialist film writer" in

Marathi cinema Marathi cinema is the segment of Cinema of India, Indian cinema dedicated to the production of motion pictures in the Marathi language, which is widely spoken in the state of Maharashtra. It is based out of Mumbai. It is the oldest film ind ...

. This film was his first "full-fledged writing assignment", wherein he wrote the story, screenplay, dialogue and lyrics. It was also his debut as a screenplay writer. The film starred Jayaram Shiledar as Ram Joshi and

Hansa Wadkar Hansa Wadkar (1923–1971) was a Marathi language, Marathi and Hindi film and stage actress of Indian cinema. She started her acting career at the age of thirteen years, as a heroine in the bilingual film ''Vijaychi Lagne'' (1936). Wadkar we ...

as Baya. The rest of the cast included Shakuntala Paranjpye, Parashuram, Sudha Apte and G. D. Madgulkar. The film, termed as the "Classic Marathi

Tamasha Tamasha () is a traditional form of Marathi theatre, often with singing and dancing, widely performed by local or travelling theatre groups within the state of Maharashtra, India."Tamasha", in James R. Brandon and Martin Banham (eds), ''The Cambr ...

musical" was a biopic of the poet, Kirtan, and

lavani Lavani is a genre of music popular in Maharashtra, India. Lavani is a combination of traditional song and dance, which particularly performed to the beats of ''Dholki'', a percussion instrument. Lavani is noted for its powerful rhythm. Lavani h ...

performer Ram Joshi (1758-1812), set in the

Peshwa The Peshwa was the second highest office in the Maratha Empire, next in rank and prestige only to that of the Chhatrapati. Initially serving as the appointed prime minister in the Maratha Kingdom, the office became hereditary when Shahu gave t ...

period.

Plot

Ram Joshi is a Brahmin poet, who through his love of poetry and dance starts associating with the tamasha artists. He falls in love with the tamasha dancer Baya (Hansa Wadkar). The artists are of low-caste, and Joshi's interacting with them brings censure and he is outlawed by the other members of his caste. The film follows his descent into alcoholism and his redemption from it through poetry.

Cast

Marathi

* Jayaram Shiledar as Ram Joshi *

as Baya * Shakuntala Paranjpye * Parashuram * G. D. Madgulkar * Sudha Apte * Samant * Gundopant Walavalkar * Jayaram Desai * Kanase * Sawalram * Vaidya * Abhyankar

Hindi

* Manmohan Krishan * Hansa Wadkar * Shakuntala Paranjpye * Sudha Apte * Jairam Desai

Review and Box Office

''Lokshahir Ram Joshi'' in Marathi Cinema became one of the "biggest post-war successes", starting the trend for the "tamasha genre" films. One of the reasons cited for the success of the film in both Marathi and Hindi, were the songs written by Madgulkar. He went on to work for other major Marathi film-makers like Raja Paranjpye,

Ram Gabale Ram Gabale (died 9 January 2009) was an Indian filmmaker. He is well known for a number of cinematic works including social documentaries, children's films, and television serials. He started directing films in 1947. Gabale worked with critica ...

, Datta Dharmadhikari and Anant Mane. V. Shantaram later used him as a story writer for ''

Do Aankhen Barah Haath ''Do Aankhen Barah Haath'' () is a 1957 Indian Hindi-language drama film directed by V. Shantaram, who also starred. It is considered to be one of the classics of Hindi cinema and is based on humanistic psychology. It won a Silver Bear at the 8 ...

'' (1957). The film made use of the "vibrant lavnis" and "sawaal-jawabs" (musical question and answers), which is stated to have become a "trend-setter".Shodhganga, p.118 As cited by Narwekar and Kul, the music and dances "enthralled" the audiences.

Soundtrack

The music was composed by

Vasant Desai Vasant Desai (1912–1975) was an Indian film music composer, most remembered for his score in V. Shantaram films like '' Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baaje'' (1955), ''Do Aankhen Barah Haath'' (1957), Vijay Bhatt's '' Goonj Uthi Shehnai'' (1959), ''Samp ...

, with lyrics by the poet Ram Joshi and Madgulkar.

Song List

Remakes

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of South India ** Telugu literature, is the body of works written in the Telugu language. * Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Tel ...

and

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

version, produced by Vasireddy Narayana Rao and directed by P. Pullaiah was made in 1957 called ''

Jayabheri ''Jayabheri'' () is a 1959 Indian Telugu-language biographical film directed by P. Pullayya who co-wrote the script with Acharya Aatreya. The film is based on the life of poet Kaasinath and stars Akkineni Nageswara Rao and Anjali Devi. The ...

''. The Telugu version won the 1959 Certificate of Merit for Best Feature Film in Telugu

References

External links

*
Songs Audio
at Sounds of Sonawade-Vasant Desai {{V. Shantaram 1940s Marathi-language films 1947 films 1940s Hindi-language films 1940s Indian films Indian black-and-white films Films directed by V. Shantaram Films scored by Vasant Desai 1940s multilingual films Indian multilingual films Tamasha films