Written by Bhushan Korgaonkar, Sangeet Bari, a completely researched show on Lavani has been performed in many prestigious festivals in the country, right from a festival at National School of Drama, New Delhi to Pune Heritage Festival. A brainchild of Korgaonkar, he always wished to take Lavani at a completely different platform.

A Chartered Accountant by professional, Korgaonkar happened to like lavani at a festival in the year 2000. It was not always that he wanted to work in this field rather hated Lavani.

“Coming from a different family background and profession, initially, I hated Lavani. I found Lavani as an art form vulgar and cheap. It actually changed my perception of Lavani after I saw Lavani performed by Maya Khutegaonkar at a festival in Mumbai.”

“I loved her performance and wrote a feature on her performance. They say that Lavani is addictive. I realized it soon after I saw that performance and started following this gracious yet seditious dance form,” he added.

It was during these visits of the Lavani performances that Korgaonkar met Savitri Medhatul who wanted to make a documentary on Lavani. They both started working together wherein Korgaonkar met Lavani dancers and wrote their personality sketches.

Their research on Lavani field was about Sangeet Bari a kind of Lavani performed at the folk theatres in different parts of Maharashtra. Lavani is a part of Tamasha a folk-art form of Maharashtra which are of two types, Sangeet Bari which is better known Art for classes and Dholki Fadacha Tamasha which means art for masses.

Their research widened once they met lavani doyenes like Mohanabai, Shakuntalabai. Their documentary named as Natale Tumchyasathi  is one well-researched documentary on the topic Lavani that explore this altogether different world of Maharashtra’s famous folk form.

The duo soon wrote and directed a show taking these authentic lavani artistes. Sangeet Bari show on Lavani is one of the most applauded shows performed at various elite theatres in the country.

Its detailed research on Lavani, authentic and traditional dancers has made everyone love this artform and received respect for this art form which was before looked down by the society.

About the social stigma Korgaonkar said, “Stigma is still there but it has reduced to a major extent.  Because of its nature, Lavani has always been a topic of curiosity for middle class people but never actually received an opportunity to see Lavani in a respectable platform. Our show has given this opportunity for the common man to come see Lavani and enjoy it. It has been performed in a various platforms like Prithvi theatre, Shivaji Mandir, NCPA, Sathe Hall. All these platforms are known for its crisp and elite classical dance performances but hardly gave any space for this rustic, seditious yet elegant dance form.”

Government of India’s Sangeet Natak Alademi award winner Shakuntalabai Nagarkar is a part of Sangeet Bari program who takes the centre-stage in the show. Her expression, traditional moves, authentic attire is what enjoyed by the audience.

Korgaonkar informed, “There are people who have seen our performance for more than 10 times but still would like to see it over again. Lavani has always been beautiful if seen in its purest form and our show just portray the same.”

Korgaonkar has also written a book named Sangeet Bari which is detailed work on the topic Lavani.