G. D. Madgulkar

Gajānan Digambar Mādguḷkar (1 October 1919 – 14 December 1977) was a Marāthi poet, lyricist, writer and actor from India. He is popularly known in his home state of Mahārāshtra by just his initials as Ga Di Mā (गदिमा). He was awarded Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1951 and Padma Shri in 1969. He has written 157 screen plays and over 2000 songs in his career. He was called Ādhunik Valmiki (the modern Valmiki) of current era due to his composition of Geet Rāmāyan (lit. Ramayana in Songs) as the most notable work. 2019 is celebrated as his Birth Century year. Government of Maharashtra hosts various events and festivals to grace the occasion.

Career
Madgulkar wrote poetry, short stories, novels, autobiographies and scripts, dialogues and lyrics for Marathi as well as Hindi movies. His poems have been adapted to a wide range of musical forms such as Sugam-Sangeet (light music), Bhāwa-Geet (emotional songs), Bhakti-Geet (devotional songs), and Lāwani (a genre of folk songs in Maharashtra). Madgulkar entered the world of movies in 1938 at Kolhāpur. He contributed to 157 Marathi and 23 Hindi movies. He was also an artist. He loved to draw nature scenes.

He had knowledge of 10 languages including Marathi, Hindi, English, Urdu, Bengali, Gujarati, Punjabi, Kannada, Tamil and Telugu.

He was the elder brother of Marathi writer of poetry and novels Vyankatesh Madgulkar.

Collections of poems

 * Sugandhi Veena
 * Jogiya
 * Char sangitika
 * Geet Ramayan
 * Kavykatha
 * Chaitraban
 * Geetgopal
 * Geetsaubhadra
 * Vaishakhi
 * Pooriya
 * Ajun Gagima
 * Naach re mora

Collection of short stories

 * Laplele ogh
 * Bandhavarchya babhali
 * Krushnachi karangali
 * Bolka shankh
 * Veg ani itar katha
 * Thorli pati
 * Tupacha nandadeep
 * Chandani udbatti
 * Bhatache phool
 * Sone ani mati
 * Teen chitrakatha
 * Kalavantanche anand paryatan
 * Teel ani tandul

Autobiographies

 * Vatevarlya savlya
 * Mantarlele diwas

Novels

 * De tali ga ghe tali
 * Mini
 * Shashank manjiri
 * Naach re mora
 * Tulsi ramayan
 * Shabdranjan
 * Aakashachi phale
 * Ubhe dhage aadve dhage

Plays

 * Aakashachi phale
 * Parachakra

Monthly magazines

 * Akshar
 * Dharti

Geet Ramayan
Geet Rāmāyan (lit. Ramayana in Songs) is considered his most notable work. A lyrical version of the Valmiki Ramayana in Marathi, it consists of 56 songs chronologically describing events from Ramayana. Sudhir Phadke composed the music for Geet Ramayan. Though it is based on sage Valmiki's epic Ramayana, Madgulkar chose a different narrative format and was praised for the lyrics, and was called Ādhunik Valmiki (the modern Valmiki).

Screenwriting

 * जीवनज्योती Jeewan Jyoti 1953: Screenplay and Dialogs
 * तूफान और दीया Toofān Aur Deeyā 1956: Story
 * दो आंखे बारह हाथ Do Ānkhen Bārah Hāth 1957: Story, Screenplay, and Dialogs - the movie won recognition at Berlin International Film Festival.

Popular Songs
The following is a short list of some of the popular Marathi songs which "गदिमा" wrote:


 * इंद्रायणीकाठी देवाची आळंदी (Indrāyani Kāthi Dewāchi Ālandi)
 * उद्धवा, अजब तुझे सरकार (Uddhawā, Ajab Tujhze Sarkār)
 * तुझ्या उसाला लागल कोल्हा (Tujhyā Usaālā Lāgel Kolhā)
 * या चिमण्यानो, परत फिरा रे (Yā Chimanyāno, Parat Phirā Re)
 * हे काम ने तडीला, हाजी मलंग बाबा (He Kām Ne Tadilā, Hāji Malang Bābā)
 * विठ्ठला,तू वेडा कुंभार (Viththalā, Tu Wedā Kumbhār)

Awards and recognitions

 * Sangeet Natak Akademi Award – 1951
 * Padma Shri – 1969
 * Vishnudas Bhave gold medal -1971

Personal life
Madgulkar was born in a Deshastha Brahmin family. He was married to Vidya (née Patankar, from Kolhapur) and they had 3 sons (Shridhar, Anand, Sharatkumar) and 4 daughters (Varsha, Kalpalata, Deepa, Shubhada). The popular Marathi writer, Vyankatesh Madgulkar was his younger brother.

His home in Pune ('Panchavati Bungalow') has become a place of attraction for his fans.