Ghashiram Kotwal – Vijay Tendulkar is dead

It was the early ‘80s and the biggest cultural event of the time was the production of GHASHIRAM KOTWAL by Jabbar Patel. It was written by the great Vijay Tendulkar who died 2 days ago on 19 May 2008. It was a wonderful play and I remember seeing it in one of the Bombay theatres. My knowledge of Marathi was/is limited, but I still enjoyed the play. The opening scene, if I remember, was the chorus by the Pune Brahmana Mandali.

WIKIPAEDIA talks about the play :

Ghashiram Kotwal is a Marathi play written by playwright Vijay Tendulkar in 1972, as his response to the rise of a local political party, Shiv Sena, in Maharashta. The play is a political satire, written as historical drama. Based on the life of Nana Phadnavis(1741-1800), one of the prominent ministers in the court of the Peshwa of Pune. Its theme is how men in power give rise to ideologies to serve their purposes, and later destroy them when they become useless.It was first performed on 16 December 1972, by the Progressive Drama Association in Pune. Jabbar Patel’sJ's production of the play in 1973 is considered a classic in Modern Indian Theatre …The play stands out also for the use "Tamasha" Genre in the play so you have a lot of singing and dancing used here to good effect, here the "abhangas" (devotional songs) mixed in with the "Lavnis" (Love songs)…. This play caused a lot of controversy because some people believed that it hurt the feelings of the Brahmin community and that it showed the statesman Nana Phadnavis in a bad light. Hence it was temporarily banned in the state

The story (taken from an internet site) is as follows:

The Peshwa empire was run by the ageing, but extremely ruthless debauchee, Nana Phadnavis, on behalf of the minor Sawai Madhorao. The Brahmins who have the run of the city were a licentious lot, their days are equally divided between bhajans and lascivious tamashas, temples and gambling dens, pious wives and dancing girls.
Into this city, fabled for its prosperity and its powerful Brahmins, comes a poor Kannauj Brahmin from Aurangabad, Ghashiram Kotwal.
Ghashiram tries to make a living in the city when he is victimised by its xenophobic Brahmins. He is insulted and thrown out of Pune on false charges. Ghashiram vows revenge and returns with his daughter. He sets her on Nana, who is so besotted with her that he appoints Nana his kotwal, or city magistrate.
Ghashiram gets a work force mostly from the Ramoshi tribe and lets loose a regime of terrifyingly rigorous moral policing over Pune. He cracks down on the brothels, raids homes to catch out adulterers, stops all the money-spinning rackets and punishes the smallest crime of corruption with torture and death. Some poor Telengana Brahmins he jails on flimsy charges die a painful death in prison. The Brahmins of Pune rise up against the kotwal. By now Nana has no use for Ghashiram and he has had his fill of the kotwal’s daughter. The two are put to a painful death. The regime survives — and Pune returns to its colourful, venal ways.

This is from wikipaedia :

Vijay Tendulkar(1928-2008) was a leading Indian playwright, movie and television writer, literary essayist, political journalist, and social commentator primarily in Marāthi. He is best known for his plays, Shāntatā! Court Chālu Āhe (1967), Ghāshirām Kotwāl (1972), and Sakhārām Binder (1972).Many of Tendulkar's plays derived inspiration from real-life incidents or social upheavals, which provides clear light on harsh realities. For over five decades, Tendulkar had been a highly influential dramatist and theater personality in Mahārāshtra.