He’s a Padma Shri and Filmfare Award winner. But outside of the theatre circle, very few will be familiar with the name of Marathi playwright Vasant Kanetkar. Several of Kanetkar’s plays, though written years ago, still find social relevance and hence have many takers. One such play is Prema Tujha Ranga Kasa, which in its 50th year, is being adapted in Hindi by Yatri Theatre group, under the title, Yeh Jo Dil Hai Na.

“I have been a great fan of Kanetkar and the different forms of humour that he uses in his plays. We have earlier adapted his works such as Suryachi Pille, Gosht Janmantar Chi, Choo Mantar and Premacha Gav Jaave as Chinta Chod Chintamani. I wanted to adapt Prema Tujha Ranga Kasa and connected with Kanetkar’s daughter-in-law but someone else owned the play’s rights till 2012. Finally, after waiting for almost a year and a half, in March this year, I was able to start work on the play,” says Om Katare, the director who is also acting in it. Katare tells us that the play was adapted in Hindi several years back, but wasn’t a success then.