Shrikrishna Janam
Kansa was Krishna's uncle, brother of his mother, Devaki, who might have been a good man, but for trying to find out his future. Once the soothsayer spoke, the decree of death was out there.. One of his beloved sister, Devaki's children was going to kill him.
Unable to kill his sister, Kansa imprisoned her with her husband Vasudeva and killed every child that came forth, hurling it to the ground. Thus each birth added to his evil.
Krishna was born on a night made blue by the sudden strokes of lightning that flashed across the sky. The rains poured down, and Devaki's husband saw the prison door open in an unmistakable sign. He put the baby in a small kitchen basket used to seperate wheat from chaff, he waded across a raging river with the child on his head, and left him in Gokul, at his sisters'.
Mandakini Athavale ( Mai)
I did roles in Dadasaheb’ s two films, Krishna Janma and Kaliamardan. In Kaliamardan, he gave me the central role of Krishna. I was only six or seven years old, yet Dadasaheb said that only my maternal uncle should do my makeup, no one else. He did not like it if I mixed too much with the boys. He lovingly called me Sonu.
Dadasaheb got a short film made showing him, mother and us ( children) sauntering in a park. Before actually acting in films, he taught me how to show emotions like anger, love, joy, fear etc. and made me act accordingly. He would do it himself for me to see. At the time of actual shooting, he would do the acting and I would imitate him. When he said, ‘Go on,’ the camera would start and I would act out the scene. When he said ‘Stop’, the camera and my acting would stop. However I was not allowed to enter the studio at other times. After I got married at the age of fourteen, my association with the studio became less and less, even though I lived in Nashik!
