Balgandharva Theatre of Pune is a hallowed place for Marathi theatre people. On 23rd June 2008 it celebrated its 40th anniversary. Naturally many personalities attended the event to commemorate the theatre whose history goes back to 1968. BJ Shirke paid 18 lakhs to build it then.
The theatre came at a time when Marathi theatre desperately needed to overcome the lull which was a result of a new generation of theatre artistes who could not match up to the old masters like Master Dattaram and Master Naresh. The legendary Pu La Deshpande concentrated on the theatre’s architecture and he and Suneeta Deshpande took good care of its facilities over the years.

On the occasion of the anniversary a short film ‘Gandharva Te Gandharva’ was released by the actor Sharad Gokhale. It is based on the book ‘Gandharvanagari’ by Shirke.