Actress Prajakta Mali recently launched a collection of her poems in a book titled Prajaktprabha. The event was organized by Planet Marathi at a venue in the central suburbs of Mumbai.
Sharing her reaction after the event, Mali told Cinestaan.com, “I was happy. I was also overwhelmed thinking how vast Marathi literature is and I am taking a step in it. Questions like whether I am prepared and educated for this were going on in my mind. But there is no end to this. We keep learning throughout our lives. I went ahead when I realized I have enough poems to bring out a book.”
The book, published by Granthali Prakashan, contains poems written by Mali since the time she was in college. “I started at an adolescent age with poems on love," the actress said. "I started writing when I joined college. I had a lot of poems from the past. I hardly wrote four or five [fresh] poems for the purpose of the book.”
To test the quality of her poems, the actress sent them to some "knowledgeable people".
“I sent my poems to the heads of my school and college and asked whether these would be worth publishing," she said. "I got good feedback. I was in a dilemma and plagued by self-doubt. People are insecure, more so in the case of artistes. But Granthali themselves offered to publish them.”
Mali is happy that Planet Marathi and its founder, Akshay Bardapurkar, gave her a platform to launch the book.
“I am enrolled under Planet Talent, which is a sister company of Planet Marathi," she said. "All my arrangements are handled by them. We had started working four or five months ago, but it wasn’t announced officially. He then came to know about my book and thought we should keep a launch and do the announcement there itself.”
Mali is already getting feedback from readers. “I have got messages where people liked the poems we read out at the launch, which they saw live," she said. "Some have ordered the book online, for which they showed me the screenshots. I hope I get reactions from those who have read the entire book.”
On the work front, Mali has shot for a film titled Why? with popular actress Mukta Barve. “It was very good working with her," she said. "Actually, we don’t have many scenes together. But I am glad I got at least some experience of working with her. I have always loved her as an actress and a person. I hope I get to do a full-length role with her someday.”
She also has Luck Down opposite Ankush Chaudhari and a role in the historical war movie Pawankhind.