Theatre
In her stage career, Ila has played more than 25 roles. Her most popular plays are ‘Mi Majhya Mulancha’ with Vikram Gokhale and the widely acclaimed ‘U-Turn’ (2008) with Girish Oak. U-Turn, which treated the subject of companionship in the elderly age, has been played more than 500 times, which is rare for a drama that has only two characters. It received numerous awards including honour from the State Government of Maharashtra. In fact, we can proudly say the U-Turn is the only two character play to complete 500 shows with the same cast throughout.
Ila has been very selective in her choice of theatre roles. She played some roles for the challenge and learning that they presented. For her role in the Gujarati play Mahamanav, she handled the difficult task of performing in an unfamiliar language. Acting in the experimental Marathi play ‘Alvida’ provided her the excitement of working with a young and vibrant experimental theatre group. She has also acted in landmark plays such as ‘Tujhe Ahe Tujhpashi’ and ‘Barrister’, both known for their enriching and everlasting influence on the actors. She replaced Suhas Joshi in the play ‘Katha’ with Vikram Gokhale, a transition which she worked out carefully and meticulously.
She explored the crime genre more than once. Appearing with Pradeep Welankar in ‘Soksha Moksha’, she played a woman caught in the triple trap of police, politicians and criminals. The ‘Dial M for Murder’ inspired crime thriller ‘Ratra Udyachi, also with Pradeep Welankar was another portrayal of a helpless woman, betrayed by her husband.
Her tryst with comedy came through the humorous ‘Mishkili’, written and directed by Suresh Khare and again in the 2004 drama ‘Vatchal’. Directed by Vijay Kenkre, Vatchal was a story of the journey of an Indian couple, settled in the USA for 25 years. Playing the lead role with Dilip Prabhavalkar, Ila toured in the USA for 7 weeks, where the play garnered a lot of popularity with 16 shows.
Ila has taken some roles for the novelty of the script, like her role in ‘Sahakutumba Dot Com’, an intriguing story of a scientist taking a robot as his wife. She based her rendition of the scientist’s mother [a 70-year old lady] on keen observation of the ladies in her own house. This play, like a few others of her ventures, was short lived. ‘Whether the play runs for 500 shows or 50 shows, the preparation effort is the same. But every role is like a workshop ’, feels Ila, reflecting her philosophy of ever remaining a student.
Ila has also done some experimental plays like ‘Aani thodi oli paane’ with Rajan Bhise, directed by Vijay Kenkre and Rajju by Waman Tawde. Her role in Rajju was appreciated by Shri Mohan Tondwalkar of Kala Vaibhav - the most popular Marathi Drama company.
Television
In the 1990’s Marathi serial on Television started gaining popularity. Ila had an early outing with television shows in form of the 1995 Hindi serial Mr. Dhansukh on DD National with the versatile Kader Khan. But her first serious work came in form of the popular Marathi serial Damini. Ila was involved with Damini from 2000 till the close of the show in 2005. After Damini, she played various roles in serials like ‘Gharakul’, ‘Ha Khel Sanchitacha’ and ‘Mahadwar’ on established TV channels like Zee Marathi and ETv Marathi. But her first memorable role was her rendition of Vasudha Shastri in ‘Asambhav’.
Asambhav brought a new kind of audience to Marathi Television serials. The audience was so far considered as mainly composed of women in a senior age group. But the novelty of the subject brought young people in its fold. Ila’s role of a simple and naïve housewife was much appreciated. It was considered as an example of how an artist can fill colours in a relatively straightforward character.
The success of Asambhav was followed by another popular serial ‘Agnihotra’. A much wider acclaim and popularity however came Ila’s way with her role of ‘Ghanshyamchi Aai’ in ‘Eka Lagnachi Dusari Goshta’ – a character whose popularity is rivalled only by the legendary Shyamchi Aai, as jokingly described by a fellow artist. Her characterization of the hyper, over-expressive mother extra-sensitive for her son became an instant hit with the growing audience of the extremely popular serial.
Ila’s quest for exploring various human personalities through her roles continued on Television. She insisted on playing the negative character in ‘Sata Janmanchya Gaathi’, in which she even dawned a difficult to wear hair-do to bring conviction to her character. Her character of Mangalabai in ‘Kulavadhu’, a seasoned political manipulator spoke in a native dialect, something that Ila had to learn for the role. In the recent ‘Radha Hi Bawari’, she played Sai Pradhan, a thorough professional but vivacious and life loving doctor.