Dada Kondke (1932-1998)

Krishna Kondke aka Dada Kondke was one of the most successful personalities in Indian Marathi cinema. Born in a mill worker’s family in Naigaum, Mumbai; Dada had a rough life. After losing all his near ones to unfortunate events, Dada initially began working in the local retail chain Apna Bazaar and then became a member of a local band to become famous as ‘Bandwale Dada’. He then became involved in cultural activities of ‘Seva Dal’ and later teamed up with Vasant Sabnis, a well known Marathi writer to start his own drama company and produce a drama titled ‘Vichha Majhi Puri Kara’ that completed over 1500 shows and gained him immense popularity. He entered the Marathi cinema with films like Bhalji Pendharkar's ‘Tambdi Maati’ and ‘Songadya’. Delivering hits after hits Dada retained his team from ‘Songadya’ for almost all his future projects. Dada’s films focused on the masses over classes and he knew exactly what to deliver in his films to entertain the local Marathi population. His movies were produced under the banner of Kamakshi Pictures. After producing movies in Hindi, Marathi and Gujarati, Dada breathed his last suffering from a cardiac arrest in 1998.