National award presented to Sharad Goyekar

President Pratibha Patil (L) presents the Best Indian Child Actor award to Sharad Goyekar for his role in the Marathi film Tingya at the 55th National Film Awards Function in New Delhi on October 21, 2009. President Patil presented the awards for best feature film, actors and director of national cinema.

Tarannum still Uncovered

After one and half years Tingya released, Sharad Goyekar still making Tingya alive in awards ceremonies. National award winner getting all praises from all over India for his great achievement. Everyone is now curious about this ‘Small town wonder’. All the news channel & other media giving him hype he deserves. But all in this process we are forgetting about one cute little girl Tarannum Pathan who played Rasheeda (Tingya’s friend in movie). A 13 years old, studying in 8^th standard is still uncovered to public who done brilliant acting with Sharad Goyekar in movie Tingya. As we know Tingya is central character on which film is based and played by Sharad Goyekar. So, it may be natural we remember Sharad in this movie. But on contrary we should not forget about outstanding performance by Tarannum. Sharad was selected to play character of Tingya from 1200 boys in audition; Tarannum also was selected from 900 girls.

On interview with her she looked positive, Tarannum said “I want to be an actress & I will take more efforts for it”. She looked more positive, but a bit amazed with injustice with her. Now she is hoping for getting recognition from audience & making gold of next opportunities to come.

Tarannum is not recognized by media for her role. I hope she will get covered by media & get recognized by people as well….

Tingya – an experience to behold - Passionforcinema

By Dr. Mandar V. Bichu

Tingya belongs to that rare category of films, which not only touches your heart but also stirs your soul deep within! Watching this film is realizing how little do we know or care for the lives of millions of poor and underprivileged Indian farmers and their families.

After being rejected by 40 producers, (some of whom wanted item songs and celebrity names to spruce up the film!), writer-director Mangesh Hadawale finally succeeded in convincing producer Ravi Rai to finance his Marathi film- venture. In just Rs. 27 lacs ( a price even less than a glitzy music video- production!), he made a film that has already won many awards, narrowly missed being India’s Oscar-entry (losing to TZP) and is certain to be accorded the status of a classic in years to come!

Tingya is a tale of a poor farmer’s 7- year old son Tingya (Sharad Goekar) and his unique bond with the family’s pet bullock – Chitangya. Injured in an accident, the bullock becomes useless for the farming work. The harrowed, debt-ridden farmer now faces the dilemma of buying a new bullock for the harvesting season. The only way he can raise money for that purpose is to sell Chitangya to the slaughterhouse. The boy – so deeply attached to his animal friend – is shattered by his father’s decision. Praying to the Gods, requesting to the Godmen, running to the vet – Tingya tries everything in his capacity to save his pet bullock from the butcher’s knife. His best friend and neighbour- Rashida tries her best to help him in his endeavor. Repeatedly Tingya just asks one question, “If you don’t send the sick people to slaughterhouse, then why send sick animals there?” Does he get his answer? Is he able to save his dear Chitangya?

Mangesh Hadwale’s story was apparently based on his own experiences and the reality shows in every frame of the film. Sharad Goekar’s Tingya and Sunil Deo’s Karbhari (Tingya’s father) leave their mark with their intense heartfelt portrayals. But then almost every significant character in this film is memorable!Tingya’s innocent impetuosity, his father’s helplessness, his mother’s resilience, his brother’s indifference, Rashida’s unquestioning friendship, her grandmother’s unconditional love – every emotion, every feeling comes through so spontaneously and naturally, without ever becoming melodramatic. The camera-work superbly brings to life the inner Maharashtra’s beautiful terrains and captures in detail, the farmers’ simple yet complex lives. Even the single repetitive theme-song – ‘Maaza Zulaa’ perfectly echoes the region’s ethos. Such is the magic of this film that Shyam Benegal was moved to call it ‘Poem’!

The film’s greatest strength is its ability to transcend the tale it tells. Tingya just doesn’t remain a story of a young child’s desperate bid to save his pet. It becomes a tragedy of lives having no control of over their destinies. It shows us how humanity and compassion come second best to poverty and the need for survival. At the same time, it also shows that the circle of life moves on despite all the difficulties and hardships!

Films like Tingya make us uneasy. Suddenly our cushy air-conditioned New World lives centered round a rat-race of promotions and bank-balances; week-end parties and Bollywood gossips seem so meaningless. It shows us an old and tired world out there that still revolves round a day-to-day struggle to just live and let live! There bare-footed children walk for miles to go to school; tired housewives plow in the fields and penniless farmers take their own lives!

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`Tingya` star Sharad Goyekar: Namad to National Award winner - Zee News

Mumbai: From growing up in hilly forests to starring in the acclaimed film `Tingya` to topping at one of Maharashtra`s best educational institutes, 11-year-old National Award winning actor Sharad Goyekar`s has been a life-changing journey.

Sharad`s transformation from a rustic lad who was born and brought up in Rajuri village, around 100 km from Pune, is like a fairytale.

Hailing from a nomadic gypsy tribe, the Goyekar family lives in a hamlet of around 30-35 shanties, nearly four kilometres from Rajuri, along with their three horses, around 150 goats and sheep and a few hens.

"The place is infested with leopards, snakes, scorpions and other wild creatures. Sharad grew in their midst, grazing the flock in thick forests," said Mangesh Hadawale, the proud director of the film.

"Tingya", for which Sharad won the National Award for best child actor this week, is a semi-autobiographical film penned by 29-year-old Hadawale who ventured into direction with the multiple award-winning movie.

Released in 2007, "Tingya" is the story of a seven-year-old boy who unsuccessfully tries to save his injured and handicapped bull from the butcher`s knife to pay off the family`s debts. After the bull is slaughtered to save the family, a cow gives birth to a female calf; Tingya treats him as a bull and life goes on...

The realistic and touching film has bagged nearly four dozen national and international awards.

"In fact, when his name was sounded for the first major award in Pune two years ago, we had to send two people to the jungles to search for him. After many hours, they found him grazing his flock. With great difficulty, we convinced him to go on stage to receive the award," Hadawale told reporters.

A leading academic family of Pune that was present at the function was so moved by Sharad`s life story that it immediately offered to `adopt` him and provide him with a good life.

Prakash and Priya Patil, who run the reputed Sinhagad group of educational institutions in and around Pune, finally managed to convince Sharad`s shocked parents - Yeshwant and Yamuna - to `loan` their younger son to them.

"Initially, Sharad was defiant and tried to run away to his parents. He had lived freely in the forests with animals and a handful of friends, moving from place to place. So, this city life was a different world for the simple boy," Priya Patil told IANS.

Gradually, with a lot of love, patience and counselling, they made him stay there, but he preferred to watch television all day, a gadget he had never seen before.

Worried about his future, the Patils, whose son Rohit, 25, studies engineering in the US, decided to admit Sharad to a leading residential public school near Pune.

It was the Sinhagad Springdale Residential Public School at Wadgaon-Budruk, on the outskirts of the city, offering a CBSE syllabus in English medium.

Until then, Sharad had barely completed primary education in a rural Marathi school which he bunked five days each week to play in the forests with his animals.

"We had watched the movie `Tingya` and when I met the child, I felt he had a great potential. So, for the first time, we admitted a Marathi-medium student in the Class 5, CBSE English medium," said the school principal Sunny Mathew.

Not willing to stake its reputation, the school management deployed an army of teachers, counsellors and experts to help Sharad pick up and progress.

"He did remarkably well, given his background. For a child who didn`t know the English alphabet, he ended up scoring 70 percent in Class 5, this year (in Class 6), he topped the school in Sanskrit which he has taken as an optional subject. I am truly proud of this boy," beamed Mathew.

Both Priya Patil and Mathew said Sharad has adjusted extremely well to the rigours of urban life and the boarding school where students from a higher strata of society study - the minimum annual fee is Rs.125,000 per student.

"In fact, Sharad is considered an idol among the students, and he now converses in reasonably good English with everybody. We made it compulsory for all to communicate with him only in English," Mathew said.

Even though the child`s future is secure, his parents continue their simple, nomadic existence outside Rajuri village.

"We have been promised a piece of land to build a permanent home and settle down here by the village authorities, but it has still not come," said Yeshwant Goyekar, Sharad`s father, sitting outside his shanty made of rags and covered with plastic to protect it from the ongoing monsoon.

The only modern technology he uses is the mobile phone, which Hadawale said is more common than proper roads or toilets in the remote parts of the state.

Hadawale said it was sad that despite Sharad bagging the National Award and so many other honours for his performance, the state government had not taken any note of him - unlike the Mumbai slum children who acted in the Oscar-winning movie, "Slumdog Millionaire."

However, Priya Patil said she and her family would strive to provide Tingya - that`s how everybody calls Sharad now - with a good life, the best of education and a promising future.

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Tingya star wants to help his parents - NDTV movies

By Imtiaz Jaleel

From a poor nomadic hamlet to the national stage to winning the National Award for Best Child Artist 2009, Sharad Goekar's life has been as stunning as his acting abilities.

The 11-year-old who recently won the National Award for his performance in Tingya, a film about a poor farmer boy's desperate struggle to save his bull from the butcher's knife, was found by director Mangesh Hadawale in a tribal hamle 90 kilometres from Pune.

Sharad is from the nomadic Shangar community, and spent his early years tending herds of sheep and had never been to a city. Today, he is not only in a big city, but is also getting the best education and living a life no less than a celebrity.

NDTV caught up with his parents and his teachers for their responses to his recent achievements.

''I remember when he came he had no idea about English. But now he has adjusted himself very well and has become very confident too,'' said Sunny Mathew, Principal, Springdale Public School, Pune, where Sharad is now studying.

Sharad, who is happy about his success has, however, not forgotten those back in the village. He said, "I am very happy here. Then I remember the hard times my parents faced in the village, and that makes me cry.''

His parents still live in a roadside shanty, and it is Sharad's dream to become a bureaucrat or an actor. He says once that happens, he will build a house for his parents.

For the time being, he is grooming himself to meet the President in New Delhi to recieve the National Award.

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With Tingya’s National Award comes hope of a decent place to live in - ExpressIndia

By Manoj More

Eleven-year-old Sharad Goekar might have won a national award for his reel-life histrionics in Marathi film Tingya, but in real life his family is fighting for a place to live in. The family, comprising parents and six children, has been moving from one temporary shelter to another for years and currently stays in a ramshackle tent erected along the Mumbai-Vishakapatnam highway at Rajuri village in Junar taluka of Pune district. “Sharad has received many awards for Tingya, one from President Pratibha Patil. We don’t have a permanent place to eat and sleep; where will we keep this latest award?” asks his mother Yamunabai.

Sharad belongs to the Dhangar community, a nomadic tribe originally from Ahmednagar district. After the success of Tingya, he was taken into Sinhagad Spring Dale English medium school and adopted by a family. “We continue to live in pathetic conditions. Only when our financial condition improves will we be really happy. Otherwise, more awards will only pose the problem of finding a safe place to keep them,” says his father Yeshwant Goekar.

The search for finding a proper living place has already begun. Shirur MP Shivajirao Adhalrao-Patil, in whose parliamentary constituency Ale Phata falls, says he is determined to provide Sharad and his family a decent dwelling place.

“Sharad has brought glory to Maharashtra. The entire nation is singing his praises. Despite hailing from a very poor family, Sharad has shown his class to the world. But it is painful to see a skilled child with no place to live,” he says, adding that he will try to get a readymade house or build one from the MP’s fund.

The other possibility, says the MP, is a flat for Sharad in Pimpri-Chinchwad where many have been earmarked for the poor under the Centre’s Basic Services For Urban Poor (BSUP) policy. “Pimpri-Chinchwad is part of my Shirur constituency. I have every right to demand a house for Sharad. I will talk to civic officials,” he said, adding that he will personally meet the PCMC chief on Thursday.

The Manav Suraksha Haqq Samiti too is getting into the act, writing to Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Commissioner Asheesh Sharma for a house for the Goekars. “The family lives in Pune district. Either the PMC or PCMC should take the initiative,” said Manav Kamble of the samiti.

“I have already spoken to the commissioner about this. He said he will have to seek the government’s permission before allotting a flat,” adds Maruti Bhapkar, also of the samiti. The PCMC is constructing over 30,000 flats for the poor.

Sharma said though there was no provision under BSUP to provide housing to someone for having received a national film award, something could be done if the state government agreed. Mayor Aparna Doke said there should no objection from anybody to giving a flat from the thousands that PCMC is constructing.

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'Tingya' ban gaya gentleman! - Times of India

By Quaid Najmi

From growing up in hilly forests to starring in the acclaimed film "Tingya" to topping at one of Maharashtra's best Sharad Goyekar(Tingya) educational institutes, Sharad Goyekar(Tingya) 11-year-old National Award winning actor Sharad Goyekar's has been a life-changing journey.

Sharad's transformation from a rustic lad who was born and brought up in Rajuri village, around 100 km from Pune, is like a fairytale.

Hailing from a nomadic gypsy tribe, the Goyekar family lives in a hamlet of around 30-35 shanties, nearly four kilometres from Rajuri, along with their three horses, around 150 goats and sheep and a few hens.

"The place is infested with leopards, snakes, scorpions and other wild creatures. Sharad grew in their midst, grazing the flock in thick forests," said Mangesh Hadawale, the proud director of the film.

"Tingya", for which Sharad won the National Award for best child actor this week, is a semi-autobiographical film penned by 29-year-old Hadawale who ventured into direction with the multiple award-winning movie.

Released in 2007, "Tingya" is the story of a seven-year-old boy who unsuccessfully tries to save his injured and handicapped bull from the butcher's knife to pay off the family's debts. After the bull is slaughtered to save the family, a cow gives birth to a female calf; Tingya treats him as a bull and life goes on...

The realistic and touching film has bagged nearly four dozen national and international awards.

"In fact, when his name was sounded for the first major award in Pune two years ago, we had to send two people to the jungles to search for him. After many hours, they found him grazing his flock. With great difficulty, we convinced him to go on stage to receive the award," Hadawale told IANS.

A leading academic family of Pune that was present at the function was so moved by Sharad's life story that it immediately offered to 'adopt' him and provide him with a good life.

Prakash and Priya Patil, who run the reputed Sinhagad group of educational institutions in and around Pune, finally managed to convince Sharad's shocked parents - Yeshwant and Yamuna - to 'loan' their younger son to them.

"Initially, Sharad was defiant and tried to run away to his parents. He had lived freely in the forests with animals and a handful of friends, moving from place to place. So, this city life was a different world for the simple boy," Priya Patil told IANS.

Gradually, with a lot of love, patience and counselling, they made him stay there, but he preferred to watch television all day, a gadget he had never seen before.

Worried about his future, the Patils, whose son Rohit, 25, studies engineering in the US, decided to admit Sharad to a leading residential public school near Pune.

It was the Sinhagad Springdale Residential Public School at Wadgaon-Budruk, on the outskirts of the city, offering a CBSE syllabus in English medium.

Until then, Sharad had barely completed primary education in a rural Marathi school which he bunked five days each week to play in the forests with his animals.

"We had watched the movie 'Tingya' and when I met the child, I felt he had a great potential. So, for the first time, we admitted a Marathi-medium student in the Class 5, CBSE English medium," said the school principal Sunny Mathew.

Not willing to stake its reputation, the school management deployed an army of teachers, counsellors and experts to help Sharad pick up and progress.

"He did remarkably well, given his background. For a child who didn't know the English alphabet, he ended up scoring 70 percent in Class 5, this year (in Class 6), he topped the school in Sanskrit which he has taken as an optional subject. I am truly proud of this boy," beamed Mathew.

Both Priya Patil and Mathew said Sharad has adjusted extremely well to the rigours of urban life and the boarding school where students from a higher strata of society study - the minimum annual fee is Rs.125,000 per student.

"In fact, Sharad is considered an idol among the students, and he now converses in reasonably good English with everybody. We made it compulsory for all to communicate with him only in English," Mathew said.

Even though the child's future is secure, his parents continue their simple, nomadic existence outside Rajuri village.

"We have been promised a piece of land to build a permanent home and settle down here by the village authorities, but it has still not come," said Yeshwant Goyekar, Sharad's father, sitting outside his shanty made of rags and covered with plastic to protect it from the ongoing monsoon.

The only modern technology he uses is the mobile phone, which Hadawale said is more common than proper roads or toilets in the remote parts of the state.

Hadawale said it was sad that despite Sharad bagging the National Award and so many other honours for his performance, the state government had not taken any note of him - unlike the Mumbai slum children who acted in the Oscar-winning movie, "Slumdog Millionaire."

However, Priya Patil said she and her family would strive to provide Tingya - that's how everybody calls Sharad now - with a good life, the best of education and a promising future.

Original Links

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'Tingya' Sharad Goyekar is now National Award Winner

'Tingya' boy Sharad Goyekar has his feets on the sky after he adjudged the Best Child Actor national award for year 2007. There was a great compitition for catagory of best child actor like Darsheel for Taare Zameen Par,but Sharad elected with one voice. One of committe member Paranjape said he elected because of his innocense adn great acting skills. He was delighted by this news when he comes to know that he is now national award winner for great movie. He said "I got lots of awards for this movie but it is a special one".Director Mangesh Hadwale said "I am very happy with this honour ,for his acting Sharad deserves this award."

Mangesh's new project coming soon...

"Special reward for Mangesh Hadawale-Shivneri Bhushan"

On a special occasion of 'ShivaJayanti' at birthplace of great maratha king Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Junnar,Mangesh Hadawale felicited by 'Shivneri Bhushan' award.Forest Minister Mr.Babanrao pachpute and Junnar taluka MLA Mr.Vallabhsheth Benke honoured him.Mangesh looked emotional on receiving this award said"receiving such great reward on my own soil is great honour!". As his debut film misses trip to Oscars as official entry,he promised his village people that he will again create new projects to give India Oscars every year.

Shyam Benegal told me 'Tingya' is like a poem: Director

Marathi film 'Tingya' might have lost out to Aamir Khan's 'Taare Zameen Par' as the official entry to the Oscars, but the film has no dearth of critical acclaim with ace filmmaker Shyam Benegal appreciating it and comparing it to a poem.

'I felt so nice that a veteran like Shyam Benegal told me that my film 'Tingya' is like a poem,' Mangesh Hadawale, the 26-year-old director, told IANS over phone from Mumbai.

'Tingya' made its debut at the 38th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) is a sensitive tale about a boy and his love for his bull, set against the politically charged background of farmers' suicides and life in rural Maharasthra.

' 'Tingya' has done better than my expectations. I never thought that such a small film would do so well,' said Hadawale.

'It is a very realistic film. What children do, what they feel and their antics, which are universal. It's very easy to relate to the film since you can relate with the emotions. That's why people have liked the film so much, and language did not pose a barrier. It is truly a human story.'

The film, which stands out from the clutter of big films, has won various awards and might also be sent as an independent entry to the 81st Academy Awards.

'Right now it's not decided whether we will send the film as an independent category for Oscars or not. This is a call that the producer has to take; so right now I am not very sure,' said Hadawale.

The MTV Youth Icon award was recently conferred on Hadawale, a debutant director.

'I never knew the concept of youth icon before. This is the fifth year when MTV has organised this. In earlier years they have been awarding people of the likes of Anil Ambani, Shah Rukh Khan, etc., but this year they have decided to award people who have made a standing for themselves in spite of problems and without anyone's help,' said Hadawale.

'It felt really nice.'

After the success of his debut film, the director has diverted his energies towards making a Hindi film.

'I am working on a Hindi film now. The working title of the film is 'Circus' and it will be made around the background of the Lok Sabha.

'I want to make a film which is viewed globally and appeals to the sensibilities of people the world over. It should be real with a streak of entertainment,' he said.

The young director is excited by his newfound success and would like to work with the Khan trio (Salman Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan) apart from Hrithik Roshan, Naseeruddin Shah and Yashpal Yadav.