Avadhoot Gupte is an Indian music composer and singer who is popularly known for his work in the Marathi film and music industry. His career on television has included being a judge on the reality singing competition shows and anchoring his own chat showKhupte Tithe Gupte. He has also directed and produced three feature films. His family is from Bhor, Maharashtra and is the self declared brand ambassador of Kolhapur.
Gupte's first music album as a singer-composer Paus was launched by the Mumbai-based company Sagarika Music. He was awarded as the Best Composer at the 2002 Alpha Gaurav Puraskar for this album. His next Indi-pop album Aika Dajiba along with singer Vaishali Samant was also released by Sagarika. The album brought both Gupte and Samant to new fames. The video for the title song "Aika Dajiba" featured Milind Gunaji and Ishita Arun. After having sung for various remix songs, films and live shows, Aika Dajiba was Samant's first album. Avadhoot's singing career took off when he won the national level competition of TVS Saregama. Since then he has lent his voice to Hindi and Marathi songs. Avadhoot arranged a number of remixes albums. His next album came in 2003; Meri Madhubala which was popular and a hit. It included songs like "Bai Bai Manamoracha Kasa Pisara Fulala," and Ae Pori Jara Halu Halu Chal. "Jai Jai Maharashtra Maza" from album Dil Se Maratha and "Dhipadi Dhipang" are also some other popular songs of him. He also sang the Marathi version of the song "Jabraa Fan" from the movie Fan.
Television
He was one of the judges at a Marathi song competition Sa Re Ga Ma PaLittle Champions on with Vaishali Samant. The show was hosted by Pallavi Joshi. He is a singer who started off his singing career as a winner at Sa Re Ga Ma. He is a composer, lyricist and has arranged music for some albums. During his stint as a judge on Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Marathi L'il Champs he made it a point to use witty and catchy jargon to give constructive criticism to the young participants – not to run them down and instead encourage them. This was widely appreciated and his clever interpretation and treatment of participants soon caught attention with Marathi viewers, who lauded his efforts.
Avadhoot Gupte performed for the citizens of Thane at Tekdibangla, Thane at a concert organised by his guide and best friend Mangesh Puranik.
Films
Gupte moved to production and direction of feature films. His first venture was a 2010 Marathi film, Zenda, which created controversy. Zenda depicted a feud between two cousins in rival political parties, inspired by the real-life feud between Raj Thackeray, chief of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena and his cousin, Uddhav Thackeray, executive president of Shiv Sena. Gupte believes that it is more about the Marathi youth and the volunteers working in political parties, with just a couple of characters in the film representing Thackerays and that the film is "serious and not a political satire". Before the final release in public, the film was shown to the Thackerays and had received a green signal from them. The film was released in January 2010 in theatres across Maharashtra state. The release was delayed for protests against the film by "Swabhiman Organisation" headed by Nitesh Rane. Rane opposed a character in the film that resembled his father Narayan Rane, the ex-Chief Minister of Maharashtra and the then Minister of Revenue for the state. In his second venture, Morya, he touched the social subject of the famous Ganesh Festival in Mumbai, of grudges of two groups in a chawl. The subject dealt with various issues of collection of donations, noise pollution by loud speakers, involvement of political parties and Hindu-Muslim rivalry. The film was released on 19 August 2011. It mostly received positive response from critics and masses with critics commending Gupte's take on the dark side of the festival. His upcoming film set to release in 2013 is titled Jai Maharashtra Dhaba, Bhatinda. The film is romance story of an ambitious young man who opens a Maharashtrian dhaba in Punjab. The film features Prarthana Behere in her first lead role in films. Behere has previously done cameo roles in films and also worked on television. He made a cameo appearance in the 2014 Marathi movie, Rege. He played himself in the film and can be seen in the song “Shitti Vajali, Gadi Suthli.” He also provided the vocals for the song along with Anand Shinde.
