Dada Kondke - Film Career

Film Career

Songadya (1971): Dada's first venture in movie production was based on a story written by Vasant Sabnis, and was directed by Govind Kulkarni. Dada cast himself as Namya, the simpleton who falls to the glamour of Kalavati (played by Usha Chavan) who is a dancer in Tamasha. Namya's mother gets annoyed on knowing his visits to Tamasha and throws him out of house. Kalavati provides shelter to Dada and starts his career at Tamasha. The movie was a big hit and made Dada's simpleton image a huge success. Dada kept his simpleton image intact all the following movies. Even though the movie was big hit the movie, it's screening in Mumbai took a controversial turn when the owner of Kohinoor Theater in Dadar decided to screen Dev Anand's Teen Deviyan in spite of Dada booking the theater 4 weeks in advance. Dada then approached Shiv Sena supremo, Balasaheb Thackeray for help. Soon Shiv Sainiks gathered and started protesting outside the theater. Eventually Songadya was released in Kohinoor and was a big hit. Some of the other people, who played major characters in this movie, were Nilu Phule, Ganpat Patil, Sampat Nikam and Ratnamala.