bal gandharva

Narayanrao Bodas aka Bal Gandharva was the doyen of theatre in Maharashtra at the beginning of the last century.At that time women did not perform on stage and men used to play female parts.Gandharva used to stage musicals with contemporary themes and excelled in female roles.
Gandharva refused to compromise on quality and spared no expense on costumes or props to raise the 'play' to an extremely high standard.His troup would travel from village to village creating an awareness about Indian culture in the masses.
Women used to flock to see him and try to imitate his style of wearing the saree.
Despite his immense popularity Gandharva had to suffer immense hardships throughout his life and died in penury.