Shankar Moro Ranade

To add to his cup of woes, he lost his wife in the plague of Godhra in 1900. Naturally it was a great blow to him. As he did not like to continue in Godhra, he returned to Baroda. At Baroda[[Nyay Mandir, Baroda (1890) [1], he restarted his photography business. He did not earn enough to make a living and so started the business of painting the stage curtains for drama companies. This led to his getting acquainted with Professor Shankar Moreshwar Ranade, a knowledgable person in the field of drama. He acquainted Dadasaheb with full details of the dramatic arts and drama production. Not only that, he also gave Dadasaheb the hero’s role in Shakespeare’s plays [2]The Winter’s Tale and Cymbeline and got him to do the roles properly. When acting in plays, Dadasaheb very carefully observed how make-up and costume were done. He would discuss the subject with the make-up man. Later he started doing the make-up for children’s plays according to his own ideas. He achieved mastery in this art as well. Many guardians of the children said that Dadasaheb transformed their wards so completely that they could not recognize them. Prof. Ranade had trained Dadasaheb in facial expression, movements on the stage and delivery of dialogues. He gradually began giving this training to amateur artists. If an artist failed to turn up for a show, Dadasaheb would often tide over the difficulty by doing the absentee’s role himself. If a producer so requested, he would sometimes direct the play or make changes in the script as desired. He would also assist in stage settings. To facilitate the training of new artistes in acting, he had thoughtfully diplayed in his studio, photographs of artistes in foreign films showing their various facial expressions. Many amateur artistes visited his studio to see these photographs. It was at this time that he presented the Sanskrit play Veni Sanhaar referred to earlier. [ shankar more ranade in phalke's journey] Flickr - Photo Sharing! www.flickr.com/photos/campwala/471896634/,