Jija Ausaheb started the ‘Swarajya’ movement : Mrinal Kulkarni

Ever beautiful Mrinal Kulkarni has done multifarious roles in her multi-lingual acting career. In fact this multitalented actress took the mantle of direction and has directed quarter of dozens of films. Mrinal is still busy in her acting profession and her role in Fatehshikst released last year is still fondly remembered. She portrayed Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj’s mother Jija, referred to as Jijau, with much elan. The same film is having a world television premiere on Zee Talkies and on that occasion Mrinal Kulkarni spoke to Cine Buster. Excerpts…

History is my favorite subject. My maternal grandfather G N Dandekar (In marathi literature circle he is referred as Go Ni Da) was a famous novelist, historian and his favourite character has always been Shivaji Maharaj. In fact he is instrumental in popularising it in youngsters. I think I have inherited his quality. I have played Jijau multiple times and am grateful for that. It has always been a great honour to play such a great personality. I was more than happy to portray Jijau in Fatehshikst. I personally learnt a lot from this personality, as a leader, as a mother etc. I won’t mind playing Jijau umpteen number of times as I’ll get to learn more and more. I am proud of director Digpal Lanjekar as he researched meticulously and presented Shivaji Maharaj in an authentic way.

Like I mentioned earlier I have played Jijau many times. I had read a lot during those times but as I am always on the look out for new aspect in the same character, I approached it in different manner. I am very happy that I got to reprise this role. Jijau was such a woman and never thought twice to pick up a sword. She used look after the routine ongoings of the organisation. She used to encourage the Mavlas (Maratha empire soldiers) keeping their morale high, always. I felt energetic while doing this film and I got the opportunity to show Jijau Ausaheb’s war prowess and skill in politics through Fatehshikast.

We did the shooting at Fort Rajgad. An unforgettable incident happened. I have visited this fort in my childhood along with my grandfather and many more times later too. The fort was the capital of the Swarajya for about 25 years. The opportunity to shoot at this fort was a difficult task, nail biting too. It was a really beautiful experience to relive that era. Everyone agreed that this is going to be a lifelong memory. While climbing this difficult terrain many questions got raised in mind. How was it built? How Shivaji Maharaj managed work from here? How many times Mavlas went up and down the fort ? We all had to climb it with all our luggage on our back. Crew was climbing with shoot material. But at the end there’s satisfaction that we were to bring a piece of history on celluloid.

The audience reaction was fabulous. As far as my role was concerned, they could relate to the maternal instincts and teachings imbibed by Jijau in her son Shivaji, in growing up years. She stressed on independence and good governance. A photo of Jijau scrolled at the end was a thrilling experience for me. I realised that the beginning of this Swarajya movement was started Jijau Ausaheb.

I appeal to all the viewers that we should not only applaud Shivaji Maharaj but we should all understand the character of Maharaj and learn many things from him. Even in the crisis of Corona virus, we should be as positive as Maharaj’s teachings and get rid of this crisis. We should always learn from all those who laid their lives for independence. We will always try to convey the history of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj through movies like Farzand, Fatteshikast and upcoming Jangjauhar. Audience help is invaluable. It is only because of their backing and positive response that we could present the history of the Shivaji Maharaj in front of everyone.