Jayaram Shiledar

Jayaram Shiledar is a name that went into the history books for some of the legendary Marathi actors and singers. 1916 was the year in which Shiledar was born, and he died in 1992. Even though he was born in Karnataka’s Belgaum city, he had his career and life blew up in the state of Maharashtra, Pune, to be precise. He began his career as a theatre artist and vocalist. He did plenty of dramas, Natya Sangeet concerts, etc, and got himself a name in the industry. In the 1940s, Shiledar was a famous theatre artist, and people always loved to watch him perform on stage. In 1949, he introduced “Marathi Rangabhoomi,” a Pune-based troupe with whom Shiledar had performed some exceptional concerts, and one of the most classic of all is the “Sangeet Saubhadra”.

This fame from theatre paved Shiledar a way into Bollywood, where he gave a few box office hits like “Ram Joshi,” in which he played the lead role. There were also films like Meethbhakar and Jivacha Sakha which, gave him good milage in Bollywood. With a few of these hits, Shiledar became an influential actor in the Bollywood industry, but since his love was always the theatre and the live audience, he came back to performing live on stage for the rest of his career. He has done shows for Housefull of audiences, and he has also done shows for a very few; that is how much he loved to live performing in theatres. Shiledar was married twice; his first wife, unfortunately, died with whom he had three children. Then he married Jayamala Shiledar, who was then known as Parimala Jadhav. They married in the 1950s and had two daughters.

Fortunately for Shiledar, he and his wife shared a similar love for theatre and live audiences. This love led to the formation of the before-mentioned “Marathi Rangabhoomi.” For decades the couple’s company produced so many dramas and musical concerts, which were loved by many people. Now years later, to carry their father’s legacy, his daughters are continuing to run this company.