
ABOUT SNEH
Few people who met through a 15 days acting workshop started a group of there own. Initially this group was formed in Pune, but today it has become a well recognised organization all over Maharashtra. Sonali Kullkarni, Chakorkumar Doshi, Nilesh Kumbhojkar, Vishwas Dhiwar, Milind Kumkalle, Makarand Kulkarni, Nikhil Ratnaparkhi, Yogesh Jadhav, Jyoti Kulkarni, Mangesh Limaye and Yogesh Soman are the founding members of this group.Many other people became part of this group and has contributed to it's success as the group strated growing. In first 2-3 years all the members of this group used to gather on every sunday and used to read and perform different One act plays and conduct thoughtful discussions on recently seen plays. Groups first big programme was a singing programme. The first anniversary of this group was celebrated at Bharat Natya Mandir by performing four One Act Plays.On the occasion of second anniversary at Tilak Smarak Mandir, a full Length Play called "AAKHYAN" written by P.L. Deshpande was performed by all the members of this group. This play got a huge appreciation from viewers. Along with this to gain financial support SNEH performed in Ganesh Festival, Society Gatherings and many Colleges.Yogesh Soman, Nikhil Ratnaparkhi, Sonali Kullkarni, Nilesh Kumbhojkar, Madhavi Gadgil etc. were the main part of these activities.
After two years Yogesh Soman and few other members decided to test their writing skills through different One Act competitions.So from 1989 SNEH started participating in many One Act competitions and till today this religion is continued. Through this competitions Yogesh Soman started testing his writing skills and with its success the group started to expand. SNEH started winning many prizes for plays like "SAUDA" and "RING AGAIN".
In 1991 SNEH started an out of the box activity because of which it acheived a milestone in Pune's Experimental theatre . In Snehsadan hall a full length play called "Naata" written by C.P. Deshpande, directed by Yogesh Soman and acted by Chandrashekhar Kulkarni, Yogesh Soman and Sonali Kulkarni was performed. Because of this activity SNEH received one more platform along with competitions. Not only members of Sneh, but also many other artists and groups from pune who had weak financial support got inspiration from this activity. Before this the group was struggling for this type of activities which incudes a Full length play "AAPULE MARAN" written by C.T. Khanolkar and directed by Yogesh Soman performed at Padmagi Hall at Tilak Road.
In 1990 "NAATA" and "AAPULE MARAN" both received huge appreciation from the audiance, critics and media. Along with "NAATA", plays like "Involvement Fantasy", "Baby Birth", "Ring Again" were winning prizes through different One Act competitions and through that, members of SNEH won many prizes. After "Naata" , palys like "Chakra" written by Vidyadhar Pundalik, "Saamna" and "Zulta Pool" written by Satish Aalekar, "Udyasaathi" and "Gappa" written by Yogesh Soman were performed by Sneh as a part of Snehsadan activity. In 1997 Sneh oraganized its first 'One Act Play Festival' in which various one act plays written by renowned writers like Atul Pethe, Hemant Edlabadkar, Satish Aalekar etc were performed. A similar festival was arranged in an ampitheatre of Fergussan college in which 12 different one act plays written by Yogesh Soman were performed.
In 1995 -96 Sneh performed a full length play called "Checkmate" for the first time in 'RajyaNatya'. In this period an Hindi play "Ek Aur Dronacharya" written by Shri Shankar Shekh was performed by Sneh. This paly won many prizes in Hindi 'RajyaNatya' competition. During this period Yogesh Soman received a fellowship of 'Sangeet Natak Akadami' and thorugh this he directed a play "Jokumar Swami". It was also performed in the National Play Festival in Goa. In 1996 Sneh presented "Janmathep" a play based on the life of Savarkar. Audiance loved this play because of the Set, music and grand presentation.In this period many new artists from Sneh were participating in One Act competitions through palys like "Gunhegaar", "One Seconds Life", "Gappa", "Bolat", "Gaandhi Kadhi yenar?" written by Yogesh Soman. In 2000 SNEH started conducting acting workshops inspired by the workshop by Pandit Satyadev Dubey. Today also these workshops are arranged under the guidance of Yogesh Soman.
In 2003 - 2004 Yogesh Soman directed a Dirghank "Songati" based on a novel 'Songati' by Vijaya waad. This production of SNEH received a 'Natya Gaurav ' award. Pratibha Daate, Madhuri Maate, Madhavi Soman and Anjali Dharu has done more than 150 shows of "Songati".
In 2000-2010 new artists like Dnyanesh Wadekar, Rashmi Dev, Pooja Dharne, Anjali Dharu, Sanket Londhe shown a remarkable performances in 'RajyaNatya' competitions through plays like "Sangharsha", "Achanak", "Supari dot Com" and "Ishwarsaksha". They also shown an outstanding performances in different one act competitions through plays like "Aagantuk", "Ganapati Bappa Morya", "Aashil" and "Drushti". In this period Sneh produced two grand 'BaalNatya' called "Gopal Krushan" and "Shivba" and did more than 100 shows. Dnyanesh Wadekar and Rashmi Dev, the next generation of Sneh has started Direction through various One Act competitions.In 2010 Sneh produced "Aanad doh". A play based on the life of Sant Tukaram Maharaj has been appreciated on national and international level. Today many artists are getting trained through the workshops conducted by Sneh and are becoming a part of Sneh's Moto.