Mumbai, Jan 7: Well-known Marathi actor and comedian Prashant Damle is set to enter the Guinness World Records with a staggering 10,700th show, staged here Saturday night.
Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, Home Minister R.R. Patil, Cultural Affairs Minister Sanjay Deotale, and Mumbai Mayor Sunil Prabhu witnessed the performance and later felicitated Damle in the presence of top names from Marathi cinema.
"The present record is being held by a Japanese actor with 10,288 shows to his credit, now I have surpassed that with 10,700 performances in the past 30 years," an excited Damle, 52, told IANS here Sunday.
Last night's record-breaking performance was in his popular comedy play "Gela Madhav Kunikade" at the jampacked Ravindra Auditorium, which ended with a thunderous applause.
"This has become possible due to positive thinking, complete sincerity in my work and attempting to exceed my own expectations with each performance," Damle said when asked about how he achieved the record-breaking feat.
Starting his acting career in February 1983 with Purushottam Berde's "Tur-Tur" play, Damle has worked in 26 plays, 24 Marathi tele-serials and 37 Marathi films in the past three decades.
Some of the acclaimed ones he acted in include "Eka Lagnachi Goshta", "Moruchi Maushi", "Char Divas Premache", and his debut as a lead comedy actor, "Brahmachari."
Besides, he hosts a culinary show on Zee Marathi since four years and is a brand ambassador for some corporates.
Damle, who idolises late Bollywood actors like Dev Anand, Sanjeev Kumar, Madhubala and Nutan, besides singer Mohammed Rafi, has bagged the Maharashtra State Award as best actor six times, besides notching four records for the Limca Book of Records.
