Stars are made here: Pune inter-collegiate one-act play competition

The inter-collegiate Purushottam Karandak one-act play competition organised by the Maharashtriya Kalopasak is renowned for providing a platform to undiscovered talent in theatre.

While many inter-collegiate competitions take place in the city every year, Purushottam Karandak stands apart for consistently producing a string of amateur actors, technicians and directors. Some of whom have gone on to make a name for themselves as outstanding actors, directors and playwrights.

Heard of Rohini Hattangadi, Jabbar Patel, Satish Alekar, Mohan Agashe? Their first achievements in theatre were in this competition as college students. There are many others who have made a mark such as the late Mohan Gokhale, Mohan Joshi, Sonali Kulkarni and Mrunal Kulkarni among scores of others. The list is endless...

Even music composers Salil Kulkarni and Kaushal Inamdar were discovered through this competition.

Maharashtriya Kalopasak's secretary Hemant Vaidya says Purushottam Karandak platform is such that college students get an opportunity to stage a play right from writing the script to set designing, lighting and direction.

"They do everything themselves and get to learn a lot. They might make mistakes but they get to learn. No other competition offers such a platform."

He points out that when an amateur artist is working in a professional play it's the director's image that comes forward. But at Purushottam, it is new talent which gets the chance to perform before society and get due recognition.

What sets this competition apart from others is its consistency and the rules and regulations are strictly followed.

Actor Sonali Kulkarni, who participated in Purushottam Karandak as a student from Fergusson College and helped her team win the top prize in 1994, agrees that it's the discipline in this competition that teaches you a lot. "You have to stage the entire play in one hour. This is extremely important and I hope the strict discipline that made me what I am today is still there. In those days, the prize for the winning team was just Rs500. Hence, for us, it was not the prize money but the victory that mattered. In fact, the winning team would feel they have won over the world," she says.

The competition is so prestigious that there is widespread curiosity about who will win the top prize. Actor Amey Wagh, who first made a mark at the Purushottam Karandak competition, says the competition is a great platform for experimentation by amateur artists. "When you are an amateur, it's not possible for you to stage the entire play alone.

Purushottam is the first step that prepares you for future challenges. I benefited a lot from Purushottam. One gets to explore various new subjects and interact with many talented people."

This competition also teaches you management and team spirit. Once you have made a mark in this competition, work starts flowing in from various quarters.