Natsamrat

Natasamrat
Poster of the 2016 Marathi film Natasamrat. It depicts the protagonist looking downwards, wearing a white kurta and black Gandhi cap, against a lit background. The poster reads "Natsamrat" with its tagline in Marathi, which translates to "Such an actor will never be again" followed by the words "A Mahesh Manjrekar film".
Theatrical release poster
Directed byMahesh Manjrekar
Written byKiran Yadnopavit
Screenplay byMahesh Manjrekar, Abhijeet Deshpande and Kiran Yadnopavit
Story byV. V. Shirwadkar
Based on
Natasamrat (drama)
by V. V. Shirwadkar
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyAjith V. Reddy
Edited byParesh Manjrekar
Music byAjit Parab
Production
companies
  • Fincraft Media and Entertainment Pvt. Ltd.
  • Gajanan Chitra
  • Great Maratha Entertainment
Distributed byZee Studios
Release date
  • 1 January 2016 (2016-01-01) (India)
Running time
166 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageMarathi
Budgetest.₹7 crore[1]
Box officeest.₹50 crore[2]

Natasamrat (transl. The King of Theater or The Emperor of Actors) is a 2016 Indian Marathi-language drama film starring Nana Patekar in the leading role. Based on a play of the same name written by playwright Kusumagraj, the film depicts the tragic family life of a stage actor who has retired from acting but is unable to forget his fond memories of theatre and the stage.[3]

It is directed by Mahesh Manjrekar and produced by Nana Patekar and Vishwas Joshi under the banner of Great Maratha Entertainment, Gajanan Chitra and Fincraft Media and Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. The film was officially released in India on 1 January 2016 and became the highest-grossing Marathi film at the time, until Sairat occupied that place.[4][5] The film was remade in Gujarati in 2018 as Natsamrat, and in Telugu in 2023 as Rangamarthanda.[6][7]

Plot

Ganpat Ramchandra Belwalkar aka Appa, an acclaimed veteran theatre actor, has earned immense fortune, fame, and the prestigious title of Natsamrat (transl.  The Emperor of Actors). Following his retirement, he bequeaths his entire wealth and property to his children, keeping nothing for himself. Appa's outspoken nature and frequent use of expletives to express himself alienate his son, Makrand, and daughter-in-law, Neha. After Makrand's daughter performs a folk dance taught by Appa at a school function, Neha expresses her embarrassment and resentment towards Appa, demanding household separation. Recognizing her intent, Appa voluntarily moves out with his wife, Kaveri.

The couple relocates to the home of their daughter, Vidya, and her supportive engineer husband, Rahul. While Rahul tolerates Appa's erratic behaviour and appreciates his recitals, his alcoholism and unfiltered nature irk Vidya. Meanwhile, Appa visits his close friend Rambhau, who is hospitalised and devastated following the death of his wife, Kumud. Rambhau lashes out at Appa for abandoning him in his final days. While lying on his hospital bed, Rambhau enacts a heart-touching conversation between Karna and Krishna, with Appa performing alongside him, and urges Appa to end his pain. Upon returning home, Kaveri informs Appa about Rambhau's death, and he quietly admits to supplying the sleeping pills to assist in his friend's mercy killing.

After Appa insults the son of Rahul's boss over a weak theatrical adaption of Othello, an embarrassed Vidya moves her parents to an outhouse on the property. Later, she misplaces a sum of money and falsely accuses her parents of theft. Though she finds the misplaced cash and apologizes, a deeply hurt Appa and Kaveri leave during the night for their ancestral village. En route, they take shelter in a small village, where Kaveri succumbs to a severe fever.

Devastated by Kaveri's demise, Appa drifts into poverty and mental decline. He befriends Raja, a homeless shoe shiner living under a bridge. To survive, Appa takes a job serving tea at a local tea stall, where he occasionally entertains the customers with dramatic monologues. A young theatre enthusiast named Siddharth recognizes Appa and relentlessly follows him, though Appa denies his identity.

Upon reading that his favourite theatre has been destroyed in a fire, Appa rushes to the site, shattered to find it reduced to ashes. Siddharth, along with Appa's estranged family and Raja, arrives at the ruins to find him. Appa finally acknowledges his true identity to Siddharth and refuses his family's pleas to return home. Delusional, he steps on the burnt stage, delivers a passionate monologue about the burden of existence and the essence of acting before suddenly collapsing and dying on the stage.

Cast

Synopsis

The film is the screen adaptation of noted Marathi playwright Kusumagraj’s iconic Marathi play "Natsamrat"[8] which was first staged in 1970. Dr. Shriram Lagoo has acted in the Marathi play in the role of Natsamrat for a very long time[9].

Soundtrack

Music for this film is composed by Ajit Parab. Lyrics are by V.V. Shirwadkar a.k.a. Kusumagraj and Guru Thakur.

No.TitleSinger(s)Length
1."Mituni Lochane"Vijay Prakash04:07
2."Natyaasa Naav Apulya"Vibhavari Apte Joshi04:32
Total length:08:39

Release

The film was released on 1 January 2016, which is also the birthday of Nana Patekar.[10] Apart from Maharashtra, Natsamrat released in Gujarat, Goa, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Delhi, Telangana and West Bengal with nearly 1,600 shows across more than 400 screens in the country daily.[5][11] It also had special screenings in countries like UK, Singapore, Canada, USA till March 2016. Even in its 6th week it was running successfully in 174 theaters with 2,225 daily shows all over Maharashtra.[12]

Reception

The film received praise for its portrayal of the angst of an aged veteran theater actor. Film critics praised the movie for acting skills, direction, cinematography and script.[13][14] The film received overwhelming response at the box office, and ran for more than 50 days across Maharashtra.

Box office

Natsamrat collected ₹10.25 Crore in first weekend [5] and ₹16.50 Crore in 1st week.[15] It collected ₹22 Crore in 10 days,[16][17] ₹36 Crore till the 4th week [18] and became the highest-grossing film in Marathi, by collecting ₹40 Crore in 15 weeks. The film grossed over ₹39 Crore in India and ₹48 Crore worldwide.[19]

Accolades

Best Marathi Film Award
Filmfare Marathi Awards[20]

Zee Gaurav Puraskar[21]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "६ मराठी सिनेमे ज्यांनी बॉक्स ऑफिसवर केली तुफान कमाई, बॉलिवूडवर भारी पडलेला तिसरा सिनेमा". Maharashtra Times. Retrieved 26 July 2023.
  2. ↑ "Reclaiming the box office". Frontline. The Hindu Group. 21 June 2017. Retrieved 3 August 2024.
  3. ↑ Subhash K Jha. "Natsamrat Review: Nana Patekar brilliance reminds us what Bollywood is missing out on". FirstPost. Archived from the original on 10 January 2016. Retrieved 10 January 2016.
  4. ↑ Ankita Mehta (6 January 2016). "Natsamrat box office collection: Nana Patekar starrer Marathi film records biggest opening weekend". International Business Times. No. India. Archived from the original on 9 January 2016. Retrieved 17 January 2016.
  5. 1 2 3 Yogesh Pawar (5 January 2016). "Nana Patekar starrer Natsamrat gets biggest ever opening weekend in Marathi cinema". DNA India. Archived from the original on 8 January 2016. Retrieved 17 January 2016.
  6. ↑ "Prakash Raj turns into an AD for Krishna Vamsi's "Ranga Marthanda"". Archived from the original on 4 July 2023. Retrieved 18 October 2020.
  7. ↑ "Natsamrat Movie Review {4.0/5}: Critic Review of Natsamrat by Times of India" – via timesofindia.indiatimes.com.
  8. ↑ "Nana Patekar breathes life into 'Natsamrat'". The Times of India. 13 January 2017. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 8 March 2026.
  9. ↑ "When Natsamrat met Natsamrat". The Times of India. 13 January 2017. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 8 March 2026.
  10. ↑ Ajay Kulye. "Nana Patekar's Natsamrat to release on 1 January 2016". Archived from the original on 17 November 2015. Retrieved 15 November 2015.
  11. ↑ Ajay Kulye. "Natsamrat gets biggest release for a Marathi Movie". Archived from the original on 6 January 2016. Retrieved 5 January 2016.
  12. ↑ "Amitabh could play second fiddle to me: Nana Patekar". dna. 15 February 2016. Archived from the original on 18 February 2016. Retrieved 16 February 2016.
  13. ↑ "Natsamrat Review: Nana Patekar brilliance reminds us what Bollywood is missing out on". Firstpost. Archived from the original on 10 January 2016. Retrieved 10 January 2016.
  14. ↑ "Natsamrat movie review: Nana Patekar's award winning performance will usher in the New Year with a BANG!". Archived from the original on 1 January 2016. Retrieved 1 January 2016.
  15. ↑ "Nana Patekar steals the show again". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 15 March 2016. Retrieved 18 January 2016.
  16. ↑ "Box office: 'Wazir' rakes in Rs 21 crore in its opening weekend". mid-day. 12 January 2016. Archived from the original on 14 January 2016. Retrieved 12 January 2016.
  17. ↑ sunil desale. "Natasamrat movie earns approx 10 crore in first 3 days – 'नटसम्राट' सिनेमाची बॉक्स ऑफीसवर धुम". India.com. Archived from the original on 6 January 2016. Retrieved 14 January 2016.
  18. ↑ Amit Ingole. "Nana Patekar's Natasamrat creates history at Box Office! – नानाच्या 'नटसम्राट'ने रचला इतिहास, केली रेकॉर्ड ब्रेक कमाई – Latest News & Updates in Marathi at India.com Marathi". India.com. Archived from the original on 28 January 2016. Retrieved 27 January 2016.
  19. ↑ "'Sairat' to 'Baipan Bhari Deva'; FIVE Top highest grossing Marathi films at the Indian box Office'". The Times of India. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 12 August 2023.
  20. ↑ "Filmfare Awards Marathi 2017 Winners – List of Marathi Filmfare Award Winners". filmfare.com. Archived from the original on 21 July 2018. Retrieved 24 January 2020.
  21. ↑ "And The Winners are: 'Zee Chitra Gaurav Awards 2016' – MarathiCineyug.com | Marathi Movie News | TV Serials | Theater". marathicineyug.com. Archived from the original on 16 January 2020. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
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