Dada Kondke

Dada Kondke was born in Mumbai on August 8, 1932. His birth name is Krishna Kondke. He was born near Lalbaug in a place called Naigaon in Mumbai. He was born to a mill workers family. His native is Ingavali. It is in Bohr in Maharashtra in Pune district. They migrated to Mumbai in search of jobs in cotton mills. Dada is a Marathi film producer and actor, writer and lyricist. He was born on Gokulashtami, and so he got named as Krishna. He was popularly known as Dada which means elder brother in Marathi. He also worked on Hindi and Gujarati films. But he is famous for his roles in Marathi films.

Dada’s movie is based on his society. Marathi entertainment industry consists of stage drama and tamasha. Banding and stage actor is how Kondke began his career in entertainment industry. To understand the entertainment of local population he explored Maharashtra while he was acting. His movies were mostly targeted towards the masses instead of a particular society. He spent his childhood in Chawls in Naigaon. Dada was a rough kid. Later he worked in Apna Bazaar, a grocery retailer. Due to some luckless events, Kondke lost his family. This changed him and the recovery procedure him to concentrate on his brighter career of his life. That was when he decided he wanted to make people around him laugh and happy.

Kondke got named nicknamed as ‘Bandwale Dada’ because he joined a local band. The name means a senior brother who is a member of a band. Kondhe began working in dramas and took part in cultural happenings at Seva Dal. He gained contact with many drama individualities. Kondke then began his private drama company and contacted Vasant Sabnis to write him a script. He was a famous Marathi writer. Kondke’s performance and personality in Khankhanpurcha Raja impressed Sabnis. So he wrote the drama Vichha Majhi Puri Kara. It was a breakthrough in his career. The drama made him a star, and he got into Marathi film industry. It got played in more than 1500 shows. Kondke’s first Marathi film was ‘Tambdi Maati’.

In ‘Songadya’ he played the lead role. Then he went on giving hits. He was the one to introduce animals in his songs. He always played a poor character in films like Dhobi, a poor farmer, etc. He always followed the Marathi tradition and custom in his movies. His storyline was always simple. He used the same actors, technicians, singers in his movie to continue the success. He married Nalini in 1960 and then divorced her in 1967. Later he did not remarry. Kondke died at the age of 65 on March 14, 1998.