The current Aamne Saamne natak cast is Leena Bhagwat, Mangesh Kadam, Tejas Raut and Rujuta Dharap. Tejas and Rujuta took over in late October 2026 from Rohan Gujar and Ketaki Palav, who said the producers dropped them from the Marathi play after they asked for a fee raise.
Leena Bhagwat and Mangesh Kadam, who produce the play and act in it, say it was the third raise the pair had sought and one they could not afford. Both sides have now said they will make no further statements.
Aamne Saamne natak cast, now and at the start
The play has four roles: an older married couple and the younger pair who rent the flat across the landing. The original line-up below is the one the Times of India listed in its January 2020 review, a few months after the play opened in October 2019.
| Role | Opening cast (2019-20) | Cast from 30 October 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Neelima, the older wife | Leena Bhagwat | Leena Bhagwat |
| Anant, her husband | Mangesh Kadam | Mangesh Kadam |
| Sahil Purohit, a writer | Rohan Gujar | Tejas Raut |
| Sameera Patkar, his partner | Madhura Deshpande, later Ketaki Palav | Rujuta Dharap |
Ketaki Palav, also credited as Ketaki Vilas in some Marathi reports, joined later and played the part for about four and a half years and 520 shows, by her own count, and Rohan Gujar put his own count at 670 shows.
What Aamne Saamne is about
Niraj Shirvaikar wrote and directed the play. In it, Neelima and Anant have been married for 38 years and rent out their second flat to what they take to be a newly married couple. Anant then learns that Sahil and Sameera are in a live-in relationship, the Times of India review explained.
The older couple tell the younger pair’s story in the first act, and the younger pair tell theirs in the second. The play “doesn’t take sides,” the reviewer wrote, presenting the good and bad of both kinds of relationship with humor.
It was not an instant hit.
ABP Majha reported in 2022 that it had won best play, writer, director, actor, actress and supporting actress at both the Zee Natya Gaurav and Maharashtra Times Sanman awards, but Maharashtra Times wrote in November 2026 that ticket sales stayed slow until about the 350th show. A marketing push built on short clips from the play then helped make it a regular sell-out, according to the agency that ran it.
Lockdown also hit early. Leena Bhagwat told Maharashtra Times in April 2026 that the play opened to a strong response in October 2019, then stopped within months for two to two and a half hard years before she and Mangesh revived it.
Why Rohan Gujar and Ketaki Palav were replaced
Rohan and Ketaki posted a video on Instagram in the last week of October. After a show at Ravindra Natya Mandir on 18 October, they said, a meeting was held and they were told it had been their last performance, ABP Majha reported.
Their complaint was about the manner as much as the decision. They said they had been given no notice and could not say goodbye to the audience or enjoy the final show. Rohan’s father had seen the play 11 times, they added, and the family would have come to that last show had they known.
They also said they had taken half fees when the play ran at 50 percent seating during the pandemic. Several Marathi actors, including Astad Kale and Apurva Nemlekar, commented in their support.
Leena Bhagwat and Mangesh Kadam’s side
The producers answered with their own video, which Maharashtra Times reported on 28 October. Leena Bhagwat said one word was missing from the actors’ account: this was the third time they had asked for more money.
The first request, she said, was modest and came when the play was not running, so they agreed. A second came within four or five months of the play picking up, and Mangesh Kadam said they accepted the figures at once. They have the messages in writing, she added.
The third request came during a Canada tour, less than a year later, along with an expectation of a raise every year. Not every Marathi producer could manage that, Leena said, and they could not. Because they could not pay it, they decided to stop working with the pair.
“A third raise in eight years”: the actors’ reply
Rohan and Ketaki posted a second video, reported by ABP Majha on 30 October. It was the third raise in eight years, they said, not the third in one year.
By their account the first raise came after four years and was small, which the producers had accepted. The second came after six years, once the restarted play had run to full houses for four months, and they said it was granted reluctantly. The third, a year later, was a raise of Rs 1,500, they said.
They said they had offered to work for less if audiences fell away, because they wanted to stay with the play to the end. After that video they said they would not comment again.
“Yes, they asked for a raise which, in my opinion, was a fair request… but instead, why were they fired?”
– r/marathinatak, October 2026 (13 upvotes, top comment under the 100-upvote post on the exit)
Who replaced them: Tejas Raut and Rujuta Dharap
Tejas Raut, known from the comedy show Maharashtrachi Hasyajatra, took Rohan’s role. It is his first commercial play. He has worked in Nana Patekar’s film Vanvaas and the web series Sankalp, and said the play’s habit of talking straight to the audience was what made him nervous.
Rujuta Dharap took Ketaki’s role in what she called her second commercial play. She had already seen Aamne Saamne twice, she told Maharashtra Times, so she knew how much the part carried. “In a play there is no room for a mistake,” she said in Marathi, as carried by Lokmat.
The new cast’s first show was set for 30 October, Lokmat reported. Veteran actor Ashok Saraf attended the first performance after the change, according to Maharashtra Times.
What Mahesh Manjrekar and others said
Mahesh Manjrekar, speaking to News18 Marathi, said he had watched both videos and felt removing the pair overnight was unfair after seven years. He did not know how much they had asked for, he added, and said the producers could have sat them down and agreed on a handover after a few more shows.
He was warm about both sides.
He called Mangesh a friend and Leena “the best actress in the world,” and said Rohan and Ketaki had matched them on stage. If possible, he said, they should all sit and talk.
Vandana Gupte made a similar point in a video, recalling how often she once had to ask for a raise from Rs 80 to Rs 100 a night. Prashant Damle took the middle line. It takes two hands to clap, he told Maharashtra Times, and both sides deserved a hearing.
Aamne Saamne natak cast: quick answers
Who is in the Aamne Saamne natak cast now?
The Aamne Saamne natak cast from 30 October 2026 is Leena Bhagwat, Mangesh Kadam, Tejas Raut and Rujuta Dharap. Tejas and Rujuta replaced Rohan Gujar and Ketaki Palav after a dispute over fees.
Why were Rohan Gujar and Ketaki Palav removed from Aamne Saamne?
Rohan Gujar and Ketaki Palav say they were dropped without notice after asking for a raise. The producers say it was a third raise they could not afford; the actors say it was the third in eight years.
Who wrote and directed Aamne Saamne?
Niraj Shirvaikar wrote and directed Aamne Saamne, a two-act Marathi comedy about a married couple and the live-in pair across the landing. It opened in October 2019, and Leena Bhagwat and Mangesh Kadam now produce it.
