Acharya P K Atre's daily....

1) Acharya P K Atre's daily MARATHA created history during fifties & sixties (around 40/45 years back) & set an exemplary roll model of activist crusading journalism but readers who loved Atre's Maratha r now around 60/70 of age so how Raj Thakare -a leader representing generation of youth in twenties thirties - will CONNECT 'Maratha' of yesteryears with them will be interesting to watch.

2) Daily 'Maratha' was a brand closely associated with name & personality of 'Acharya Atre' so after his death even his daughter Shirish Pai could not continue d legacy & 'Maratha' was closed down & afterwards many stalwarts tried to revive it but all efforts failed miserably so Raj Thakare venturing in to a often failed mission is a challenging job.

3) It is a mythic in Marathi that Dailies Weeklies which r  identified with a powerful personality have a 'curse of destiny' that after d legendary editor expires no amount of money or support can make d publication survive or maintain d status popularity circulation influence. Not only Maratha but many more like SOBAT of G V Behare suffered d stroke of destiny so Raj Thakare's decision to revive Maratha is not a easy one to succeed.

4) Narayan Rane tried his best to establish his daily Prahar but he could not get an firebrand editor like Sanjay Raut for Prahar so failed to make impact & it is now just published regularly that d only thing can be said about Prahar. A lost opportunity due to confusion of what identity d Prahar should hv : A professional daily or Rane's 'Mukhpatra' & finally failed as both so Raj must first decide that his daily would be Mukhpatra or Vartamanpatra.

5) Even Shivsena's mouthpiece SAMANA is not a commercially successful venture & it's loss making unit since beginning with limited circulation & poor advt. revenue but due to Balasaheb's personal reflections SAMANA's political impact remained unprecedented & Sanjay Raut made Samana a focused daily in media news so Sanjay's editorials in name of Balasaheb made headlines in national media which is a unique phenomena. Raj needs to find out a new "Sanjay Raut" for him. In Marathi there is scarcity of firebrand editors like Sanjay & most editors r happily playing role of PRO for their proprietors.

6) Pawars hv SAKAL; Dardas hv LOKMAT; Ranes hv Prahar; Thakares hv SAMANA so it's natural that Raj Thakare feels need to hv his mouth piece MARATHA before BMC election campaign but as on today every daily or news channel is willingly voluntarily enthusiastically covering his every statement but once he starts his own daily then Raj would be treated as their media competitor & he will hv to give preference to his daily while making sensational statements depriving him of wider publicity which is a loss but any way Raj's Maratha is coming let us wish him "All d Best".

(VastMedia)