Books published by Mehta Publishing House

A LOT HAS BEEN WRITTEN IN MARATHI ABOUT V. S. KHANDEKAR AND HIS WORKS. YET THE HISTORY OF HIS CONTRIBUTION TO THE FILM INDUSTRY HAS REMAINED IN THE DARK. ONE OF THE MAIN REASONS FOR THIS IS THE DIFFICULTY IN FINDING HIS SCRIPTS. NOW FOR THE FIRST TIME, A COLLECTION, ‘ANTARICHA DIVA’ IS COMING THE WAY OF THE MARATHI READER. THIS LITERARY LAMP IS BEING LIT AT A TIME WHEN THE MARATHI FILM INDUSTRY IS AWAKENING FROM ITS LASSITUDE. LIGHTING THE LAMP OF AMBITIOUS FILMS, IT WILL ONCE AGAIN COMPLETELY TRANSFORM THE MARATHI FILM INDUSTRY! IF YOU WISH TO UNDERSTAND AS TO WHY V. S. KHANDEKAR IS CALLED THE MAXIM GORKY OR PREMCHAND OR SHARATCHANDRA OF MARATHI, THIS ‘ANTARICHA DIVA’ OUGHT TO SPREAD ITS GENTLE, WARM GLOW IN YOUR HEART.

It is a common picture today that the throne bearers do not initiate the writers. It seems that all the gods and goddesses are gone on a long leave. This leaves only the poor, downtrodden and the scientist to be the subject.Whenever these poor fight with their poverty it is indeed a heroic deed. They have to pay fine if they lose this fight. This fine comes in the form of imprisonment or death. Needless to say that a writer is drawn to the place where such fight is going on. Nowadays, he is finding the fighting spirit only in the poor.This book is a compilation of work by many writers and artists, from all over the world.

THE AGRICULTURE TENANCY ACT 1948 A LAW WAS PASSED IN FAVOUR OF THE PEASANTS. IT BROUGHT A DEVASTATING CHANGE IN THE SOCIETY. FOR HUNDRED YEARS, THE SOCIETY HAD DEVELOPED A PARTICULAR SYSTEM, BASED ON IT EVERYTHING WAS RUNNING SMOOTHLY. BUT THIS LAW SHATTERED EVERY THING IN EVERBODY`S LIFE. THE EFFECT ON THE SLOW AND SLEEPING MINDS WAS DEVASTATING. IT RESEMBLED THE BARREN LAND WHICH WAS PLOUGHED FOR THE FIRST TIME. EVERYTHING WAS CENTRED AROUND THE LAND AND EVERYTHING CHANGED. THE INAMDARS, THE WATANDARS, PEASANTS, POOJARI, BARA BALUTEDARS, DESAIS, DESHMUKHS, DESHPANDES, KULKARNI, KHOTS ALL WERE SHAKEN IN GOOD TERMS AS WELL AS BAD TERMS. LABOURES WHO WERE LIVING IN BIG CITIES HAD SAVED AMOUNT OVER YEARS, HAD BOUGHT LAND IN VILLAGES, HAD GIVEN IT TO THE PEASANTS FOR CULTIVATION, THEY ALSO LOST IT TO THE PEASANTS BECAUSE OF THE ACT. THESE WERE THE DAYS WHEN EVERYTHING AROUND WAS CHANGING FAST. THE DEMOCRACY CHANGED INDIA IN MANY WAYS. THE REFORMATION WAS TAKING PLACE ALL OVER, IN ALL CLASSES AND MASSES, AND AT ALL LEVELS. THE MOST SHATTERED WAS THE JOINT FAMILY SYSTEMS IN THE VILLAGES. THE TENANCY ACT GAVE RISE TO DIVISION THAT OF HOUSE, THAT OF LAND AND THAT OF HUMAN BEINGS. THERE WERE DISPUTES BETWEEN ALL POSSIBLE RELATIONS. NOBODY WAS SPARED. FATHERSON, BROTHERBROTHER, FAMILIES LOST THEIR LOVE AGAINST THE LUST. THE RURAL LIFE SUFFERED HEAVILY. THEIR LIFE WAS SHATTERED BEYOND MEASURES. THESE CHANGES ARE PENNED DOWN IN THE TWO LONG STORIES PERAUGAWALA & PANDHUR UTHALI. THEY WILL LEAVE YOU IN TURMOIL.

THE INTRINSICALLY TRAGIC STORY OF `KARNA` HAS ALWAYS INSPIRED CREATIVELY MANY A LITERATURERS. THIS IS ANOTHER SUCH OCCASSION. THE AUTHOR HAS ATTEMPTED TO UNIVERSALISE THE `KARMAKATHA` IN THIS NOVEL. HE TRIES TO SEE INTO IT THE ETERNAL PROBLEM OF VICTORY.

THIS COLLECTION OF SHORT STORIES ONCE AGAIN REVEALS THE STRENGTH DESAI`S WORDS POSSESS. IT REVEALS VARIOUS FEELINGS. THIS IS A COLLECTION OF HIS STORIES DURING HIS EARLY YEARS AS A WRITER WITH A MOSTLY A RURAL BACKGROUND. EGO, PRESTIGE, CLASS, HOSTILITY ARE BEAUTIFULLY WOVEN INTO EACH OTHER THROUGHOUT THE COLLECTION. THEY TOUCH OUR HEART LIKE NEVER BEFORE. WRITER IS SUCCESSFUL IN REVEALING SIMULTANEOUSLY TWO TOTALLY DIFFERENT ASPECTS OF LIFE; LOVE AND HATRED. IN HIS STORIES WE FIND PEOPLE WHO GIVE AWAY THEIR LIFE, SACRIFICE EVERYTHING THEY HAVE FOR THE PRESTIGE OF THEIR ANCESTRY AT THE SAME TIME WE COME ACROSS PEOPLE WHO DO NOT HESITATE TO TAKE AWAY SOMEBODY`S LIFE FOR THEIR SELFISHNESS.

MAHARASHTRA, THE STATE IN WESTERN INDIA, HAD BEEN UNDER THE RULE OF THE MUSLIMS SINCE THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY. FOR ABOUT FOUR HUNDRED YEARS IT HAD TYRANNICAL AND INTOLERANT KINGS FROM OUTSIDE WHO NEVER ALLOWED THE LOCAL POPULATION TO LIVE IN PEACE. LOOT, EXPLOITATION IN THE NAME OF RELIGION, RAPE AND VIOLENCE WERE RAMPANT UNTIL CHHATRAPATI SHIVAJI MAHARAJ CHALLENGED THE RULERS AND SET UP A MARATHA EMPIRE IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. HIS MISSION WAS NOT A CAKEWALK: HE HAD ENEMIES FROM WITHIN, OUTSIDE THE STATE AS WELL AS THOSE FROM OTHER COUNTRIES (THE PORTUGUESE AND THE BRITISH HAD MADE THEIR PRESENT FELT BY THEN.) LOYALTY OF HIS FOLLOWERS WAS ONE MAJOR FACTOR THAT HELPED CHHATRAPATI SHIVAJI MAHARAJ BUILD AN EMPIRE WHICH WAS HELD IN AWE. PAVANKHIND IS A HISTORICAL NOVEL THAT COVERS THE EVENTS LEADING TO THE WAR OF PAVANKHIND. (PAVANKHIND IS A PASS NEAR KOLHAPUR.) THE KING SUCCESSFULLY MADE HIS WAY THROUGH A SIEGE OF THE PASS; THANKS TO BAJI PRABHU DESHPANDE WHO MADE THE BREAK THROUGH POSSIBLE.

`LITTLE WOMEN` WAS PUBLISHED FIRST IN THE YEAR 1868, IT WAS WRITTEN BY THE FAMOUS AMERICAN AUTHOR LOUISA MAY ALCOTT. IT WAS A BEST SELLER. IT WAS TRANSLATED IN MANY LANGUAGES. HOLLYWOOD USED THE THEME FOR TWO OF ITS MOVIES. `LITTLE WOMEN` IS THE STORY OF THE MARCH FAMILY; ESPECIALLY OF THE FOUR SISTERS NAMELY MEG, JYO, BETH, AND AMY, IN AMERICA. THESE CHARACTERS ARE BASED ON THE ORIGINAL AUTHOR`S REAL SISTERS. THIS STORY IS VERY TOUCHY AND MAGNIFICENT. WE GET INVOLVED IN IT WITH THE OTHER CHARACTERS, THE OLD, HANDSOME NEIGHBOUR LAWRENCE AND HIS EQUALLY HANDSOME AND LOVING GRANDSON LORRY. THESE MARCH SISTERS ARE TOTALLY DIFFERENT FROM EACH OTHER. BUT THEY LOVE EACH OTHER TRULY. THEY ARE VERY MUCH FOND OF EACH OTHER. THIS NOVEL IS BECOME READABLE BECAUSE OF THE NATURAL ASPECTS OF A FAMILY; WHILE READING WE COME ACROSS WITH THE HOPES, AMBITIONS, HAPPINESS, SADNESS, THEIR PLANS FOR FUTURE, THE HUMOUR IN THEIR LIFE, THE TOUCHING AND MELTING MOMENTS IN THEIR LIFE; EVERYTHING MAKES THE STORY VERY COMMON, AS IF IT IS HAPPENING IN OUR LIVES, AS IF SOMEONE IS REVEALING OUR FAMILY LIFE. THIS CLOSENESS INVOLVES US MORE AND MORE IN THE LIVES OF MARCH SISTERS AND THIS SIMPLICITY IS THE SECRET OF THE SUCCESS OF THIS NOVEL.

VOTED AS "INDIA'S MOST ADMIRED" AND "MOST TRUSTED WOMAN" KIRAN BEDI IS A RECOGNISED FACE IN INDIA. SHE HAS BEEN A RECIPIENT OF PRESTIGIOUS DECORATIONS, MOST NOTABLE BEING, THE RAMON MAGSAYSAY AWARD IN GOVERNMENT SERVICE, AND THE PRESIDENT'S POLICE MEDAL FOR GALLANTRY.

'SANGEET RANKACHE RAJYA' IS A MUSICAL DRAMA WRITTEN BY V.S.KHANDEKAR. IT PORTRAITS THE POLITICS AT MUNICIPAL LEVEL & LOCAL POLITICAL BODIES. IT DESCRIBES THE CONTEMPORARY SOCIAL CONDITIONS TOO. EVERY CHARACTER IN THE DRAMA APTLY COMMENT ON CORRUPTNESS OF THE SYSTEM.

WHY DOES MAN CHANGE WHEN HE GAINS WEALTH? WEALTH EXPOSED THE HIDDEN VICES AND VIRTUES. THE VICES WHICH GENERALLY ARE ROOTED DEEP WITHIN, SURFACE IN THE PRESENCE OF WEALTH. WEALTH CHANGES HUMANS. A MISER BECOMES GREEDY WHEN HE BECOMES RICH. AN AVARICIOUS SPENDS A LOT IN BUYING VAST PROPERTY. A SELFISH BECOMES LUXURIOUS. A GENEROUS PERSON BECOMES ENDOWER. THOSE WHO HAVE NO LUST FOR MONEY ARE LEAST BOTHERED BY THE PRESENCE OR ABSENCE OF MONEY. WEALTH TRULY REVEALS THE COLOURS OF HUMAN NATURE AND RELATIONS