Gappashtak Feedback: Detroit: 4/1/06 (This was Sanjay s first Show in America) We have received nothing but compliments and good reviews about 'Gappashtak' from the Marathi community in Detroit. I am giving some of the comments here. I thoroughly enjoyed the Gudi Padwa program on Saturday. "Gappashtak" was such a different experience- it was really great!! It was a wonderful idea and a great event. It was eye-opening and humorous at the same time! I was even more touched when I learned Mr. Sanjay Upadhye works for the disabled children. Gappashtaka farach sundar!! Ajun 2 tas jari te bolale asate tari shrote tasech khurchila khilun basale asate... Gappashtak was great. Some members had talked about leaving earlier, but after Gappashtak started, they did not leave until end. Gappashtak was so good and enjoyable that a lot of people said that this kind of thoroughly enjoyable program took place after a long time Thanks again for giving us so much pleasure. Wish you best of luck for the rest of the US tour and for your future projects. Best Regards Suresh & Padma Nair Delaware: 4/21/06 It was a fantastic show-- We are so lucky to see & hear one of the greatest performers in a cozy environment-- Thanks for hosting such a wondeful show Gappashtak show was overall a very good program. I have tried to note down few things here which I liked about the program (personally)- Jokes / Commedy (VINOD)- I think the jokes were really good and very original. It made me laugh just like what the great Pu La Deshpande's jokes would have. I think that
Sanjay Upadhye has got terrific talent of presenting the day to day activities in form of commedy along with lot of acting. Perspective (DRUSHTIKON)- I love the way Sanjay looks at the things that are rapidly changing the Marathi society. He makes a good humor out of it and delegates his message to audience in very relaxed manner. Passion (TALMAL)- After seeing Gappashtak I feel Sanjay is more of a person with real passion, trying to help and better our society (sarva samanya marathi samaaj) and less of an artist who is worried about audience appreciation. I havent seen any other marathi artist with such passion and thinking and so for me he is the best. What I would like - I would like Sanjay to include some positive pointers in his Gappashtak, at the end especially when he summarizes the show. I think there are always some positive things happening in every society. One for instance might be pointing some great personality's in maharashtra doing some good work for poor, farmers or childrens etc. The impact of this will be that the audience will see that as an answer to the prevailing problems and will also contribute their kharicha vata by strengthing such ideas. I am sure Sanjay will definately like such outcome. We all know that there are lot of such problems around but any good show as Gappashtak with strong message and pointers to solution will have lasting effect on the samaaj (society). I think the bottom line and goal of Gappashtak is to reach to achieve such solutions and by providing some role models or pointers in that direction will be very helpfull. Dhanyavaad. Shriram Deshpande New Jersey: 4/23/06 On Sunday, April 24, 2006 Sanjay Upadhye mesmerized an audience of about 150 people by threading various topics ranging from literature to politics, from humor to culture, from music to social customs and from spirituality to poetry into a resplendent necklace. The event was held at the MVCC hall in New Jersey. The gathering was spell bound for two and a half hours and people were awe stricken with his depth of knowledge and varied and humorous view points on such diverse subjects. His easy style and fluency were very impressive. The response to the program was tremendous and well deserved. Mr. Upadhye has been on tour of the USA entertaining people with his gappashtak program for about a month and this was his 7th performance here; he has done 800+ performances so far. Mr. Sanjay Upadhye has accepted Shri Madgulkar as his guru and if his exceptional talent, which was on display in good measure during the program, is any indication, then he has indeed been able to procure his guru's blessings. The discourse was fluent, hilarious and at the same time thought provoking. Clever play on words provided for some real humorous moments; at the same time he was able to emotionally move us on some serious subjects; a
case in point would be his poignant poetry about the plight of the farmers in Maharashtra. He made quite a few telling points as when he said that the way to keep Marathi alive was to encourage and help the next generation in realizing its power and beauty; English he said was the language of tuition while Marathi was the language intuition! The program was a huge success and we would like to extend our genuine thanks to Mr. Upadhye for such an entertaining, enlightening and thought provoking discourse. President & Organising commitee I must congratulate you and manging commitee for organising program Of Mr sanjay Upadhye in USA... I am sure that organisers will be complimented by all maharashtrians who attend the program. I attended in last week at NY on 10th April and at Marathivishwa,NJ on 23rd April. I was thrilled by the all his presentations from Vedic examples to modern Jokes.New thought receipeis also embedded by Mr Upadhye in my mind and also in minds of many maharsastrian. It is admirable his capabilities to hold audiance for 2.5 hours. Being maharashtrian...i got an different perspective about looking at oneself towards maharashtra.my sincere thanks to Mr Upadhye for Real Life Injection thru thought process for coming years. Currently I am on assignment in NY for 2/3 months and will return to pune at june End. All the best for the BMM Regards shirish Deshpande,of Pune Cleaveland: 4/29/06 The Gappashtak Program here in Cleveland was a grand success. I have received tons and tons of compliments for this program. I had to extend the program by 1/2 an hr due to the increasing pressure from the audience, even after the original program was over. I could see both - tears due to laughter as well as overwhelming emotions in the eyes of audience. Nitin Gokhale Never have had such a great program in past 11 years Mr. President, try and top this program during the rest two programs
Extremely thought provoking program. Never thought about helping India and Maharashtra this way. This gives me a great tool to be close to my marathi ppl. Always thought of helping India and ppl in Maharashtra did not know a right channel to do so. Sanjay Upadhye is a great channel to help less fortunate ppl in India and Maharashtra.. Thank you very much for getting yesterday's program to Cleveland on the auspicious day of Maharashtra Din. Not only was the program hugely entertaining, but it was also a rare pleasure to hear a strong and muscular defence of what is good about Maharashtra and India. In most of the traditional media, it is fashionable to constantly criticize our culture and tradition without giving the other side. When I retold some of the jokes to my non-maharashtrian friends they were just rolling on the floor with laughter. Sincerely, Sudarshan Washington: 5/6/06 The Gappashatak by Mr. Sanjay Uppadhye is a MUST see Marathi one act talk show. I thoroughly enjoyed the marvelous Marathi cultural journey Sanajay took the audience through filled with laughter, joy and indeed thought provoking hints. Sanjay s knowledge on the various subjects he handles through out the talk show is unquestionable. It is great to feel the experience of Gappashatak which takes you back to where we all belong which is our Marathi Culture. Regards, Shashank Boston: 5/7/06 My wife and I tremendously enjoyed Sanjay Upadhye's Gappashtaka program. It covered a wide range of topics in humorous as well as a sensitive manner. Mr. Upadhye's mastery and original thinking in these topics came out clearly. In addition to the numerous excellent humorous notes, the one viewpoint that left an impression on me was the concept that Hindu religion exhibits "democracy" in faith (much more liberal than democracy in politics). Sincere thanks to Sanjay Upadhye for a wonderful gappa program, and looking forward to future visits. Also, thanks to NEMM for organizing this stimulating program. Regards, Uday and Snehal Kashalikar
Phoenix: 5/13/06 फ नक समध य र गल स जय उप ध य य च गप प क गप प टप प म ह टल य क सवर स ध रणपण च र मऽम डळ एकऽ जमल ल आह त आ ण हसण खदळण च ल आह अस चऽ आपल य ड ळ य सम र य त. पण गप प क ह क यर बम य सगळ य अ द ज न छ द द ऊन ज त. स जय उप ध य आपल य य क यर बम त सलग अड च त स एकट हसवत असत त. पण हसवत हसवत अन तम र ख कध करत त ह त मच त म ह ल च कळत न ह. क व य, स हत य, र जक रण, सम जक रण, स क त, अध य त म, स ग त, आ ण वन द ह आठ वषय थ लम न न ठरवल ल असल तर ब क क ठल य च वषय ल य क यर बम त ब द न ह. आपल य कडच य न ब य ह त च लल ल य स श क षत मध यमवग य सम ज ल खडबड न ज ग करण ह म झ य क यर बम च ह त आह अस नकळत वत उप ध य च म हणत त आ ण त य च ह तळमळ ह क यर बम ऐकत न ज णवल य शव य र हवत न ह. १३ म २००६ र ज फ नक सच य मह र म डळ त स पन न झ ल ल गप प क ह उप ध य च ७८५ व य ग ह त. य स य व नच क यर बम च ल क यत लक ष त य ईल. य च म य क रण म हणज य क यर बम ल ठर वक अस बप टच न ह. उत फ तर त ह च य क यर बम च म य प य असल य म ळ त क यम त ज तव न च व टत. उप ध य व य सप ठ व न एकट च ब लत असत त तर द ख ल त त य क क षक ल इतक आपल स क न घ त त क त फ आपल य श च गप प म रत आह त अस त य क ल व टत र ह त आ ण क षक च द द मळत त न मक य य च व गळ पण ल. जवळजवळ द न त स त म ह ल हसवत ठ वण र गप प क श वटच अध र त स म ऽ अन तम र ख क न ज त. आ ई न कर ल ज त म हण न प ळण घर त र ह व ल गण ढय छ ट च क वत अस क व स ख म हणज नक क क य ह वच रल ल अस आपण आपल य ह नकळत य च उ र श ध यल ल गत. य क यर बम च य न मत न एकप ऽ क यर बम च एक व गळ प बघ यल मळ ल आ ण म हण नच ह गप प क फ नक सव सय च य क यम मरण त र हल ह नक क. --- न ऽ अ नह ऽ Minneapolis: 5/20/06 I want to appeal to everyone who has chance to attend the program to please not miss it. I want to tell you what happened in our city. I think we had an event that would probably go down in the history of Marathi Associations in U.S. Our program was on Saturday May 20th from 3:00pm to 7:00 pm. After the first half of the program we had a short interval. Before I could get off my chair I had people approaching me saying the program was absolutely fantastic and asking me if we could book a second show.
I talked to Sanjay and after discussing his itinerary for remaining programs we realized that there was no way we could book another program. However Sanjay then said that he will be willing to do another show same day from 8:00pm to 10:00pm. I actually ran to check with the auditorium people. Once they Okayed it I then announced it to make sure everyone in the audience was okay with it. We had a pretty good response. So we then did have a second show from 8:00pm to 10:00pm. In this program Sanjay had yet different material. He gave a glimpse of Pravachan and connection of Adhyatma to Vinod. And it was just as enjoyable as the first show. This was first time in history of Minnesota's Mararthi association that people have asked for a second show and were willing to sit for stay for almost 7 hours and yet walked out refreshed and felt it was worth it. Sanjay's knowledge, and ability to mesmerize the audience was amazing. His intelligent humor, poetry, and way of finding humor in all phases of life is outstanding. People were holding their stomachs and rolling in their chairs with laughter. His compassionate way of bringing some of the real issues with farmers in India and poor and handicapped children was phenomenal and his passion for doing something for this cause brought tears to everyone's eyes. His ability to reach the audience and establish connection with the audience is just unbelievable. His study and research of Dnyaneshwari, Geeta, Politics, Literature, Art to name a few subjects is tremendous. His command on Marathi Language leaves you in absolute awe. This was a program that will be engraved in all of our memory for a very long time. English language just does not do justice to express what I want to say.our members have already told Sanjay that the program is already booked for next time he is in U.S. Again I am glad I had opportunity to bring a program like this one to our town for our members. And thank you Mayur and BMM for sponsoring Sanjay Upadhye. Priya Shilotri President Marathi Association of Minnesota Cincinnati: 5/21/06 Gappashtak program was very well received by our audience. Even the few sceptics who wondered about the one man show for 2 1/2 hours, enjoyed it. They complimented and thanked us for arranging such an entertaining program. People like to laugh. Mr. Upadhye has a tact to touch that inner side of people. His out of the box thinking enables him to observe things that we in our normal daily busy lives do not notice. Everyone knows at least one person depicted in his portraits. It reminds us of them and it becomes very personal.
Upadhye said families should make a rule to tell jokes to each other first thing in the morning. That will set the day on a right path. I am sure we will remember his jokes often which will make us chuckle. Kirti Rege Triveni Mitra Mandal Cincinnati