Review of Literary Works

The Threshold Perspective

Ambika Shaligram, June, 2021

Ashutosh Potdar, one of the significant names in contemporary Marathi experimental theatre, started writing when he was in college. Building a play line by line, scene by scene, engaging with characters, sounds, dialogues, art, sets apart a brilliant theatre from a mediocre one. All those who have read Ashutosh Potdar’s works and watched them on the stage can testify that he brings together all the artistic elements in one seamless whole. Interestingly, his poetic expressions and dramatic work go hand in hand, complementing and responding to each other. One of his biggest contributions to Marathi theatre and writing is his work in archiving and documenting its roots. He represents the contemporary generation of writers who, with their diverse perspectives of seeing the world and nuanced understanding of forms of expression, tell their stories.

When you look at Potdar’s oeuvre, what stands out is his exploration of the in-between spaces in people’s lives as he seeks the greys and examines the past through critical engagement and contemplation. The award-winning playwright and poet, who likes his plays to be provocative at all times, has an abiding interest in uncovering the layers of the relationship between partners—in marriage, amongst friends, and so on—exploring alternate forms of domesticity, sexuality, love. The researcher, as an outside voice, also keeps popping up in Potdar’s works.

However, for Potdar, the form of poetry is more personal. “Poetry is me talking to myself; till I find my own sound and until I find my own rhythm within a poem, I don’t stop.”

The poems in his recent collection, Khel Khelat Rahato Umbra, cover the landscape of his personal space from the past to the present and then expand to look beyond. Potdar’s friend, Mangesh Narayanrao Kale, a prominent Marathi poet, nudged him to bring out this collection of poems. Over the years, and especially during his college days, Potdar has been supported by writers, Rajan Gavas, Atul Pethe, Rafiq Suraj, and several others. His interactions with the late Govind Pansare, whom he met while living in Kolhapur, also deeply influenced him.  

“This collection of poems was in progress for the last two decades or so. Kale trusted my writing. He connected me with the publisher, Sarabjit Garcha of Copper Coin, who brought out Khel Khelat Rahato Umbra. Kale helped me look at my collection because I never wrote the poems intending to publish them someday. You write because you have the urge,” explains Potdar, currently faculty of Literature and Drama at FLAME University, Pune.

Does he relive the urge when he reads his poems long after writing them?

“Yes, very much,” he says. “Memory plays a very important part in the writing process. It builds a connection, and you can also see how you are doing today, what are your views and ways of looking at life now as opposed to how it used to be earlier. Past is not just a moment; it’s a form. A poem on Mami Aaji, my grandmother, is about voices. I can still hear her. I grew up in a joint family, and the voices I heard in my childhood help me relate to the rhythm of the language, to the culture. In poems, I love exploring the naadbhasha.”Potdar, who is the recipient of the Maharashtra Foundation’s R. C. Datar award, has written two poems on his grandmother; Mami Aaji: One and Mami Aaji: Two.

Source: https://bangalorereview.com/2021/06/the-threshold-perspective/

(Archived on January 01, 2024)