Satish Alekar
Encyclopedia
Satish Alekar (born 1949) is a Marathi
playwright, actor, and theatre director. A founder member of the Theatre Academy of Pune
, and most known for his plays Mahanirvan (1974), Mahapoor (1975), Atirekee (1990), Pidhijat (2003), Mickey ani Memsahib (1973), and Begum Barve (1979), all of which he also directed for the Academy. Today, along with Mahesh Elkunchwar
and Vijay Tendulkar
he is one of the most influential and progressive playwrights not just in modern Marathi theatre, but also larger modern Indian theatre.
He has also remained the head of Centre for Performing Arts, University of Pune
(1996–2009), which he founded, after forgoing the Directorship of NSD
and previously remained an adjunct professor at Performance Studies, Tisch School of the Arts
, New York University
as a Fulbright Scholar.
He was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award
in Playwriting (Marathi) in 1994, by Sangeet Natak Akademi
, India's National Academy of Music, Dance and Drama.
, India
, but grew up in Pune
, a center of Marathi
culture in Maharashtra
. He received his masters degree in biochemistry
from University of Pune in 1972
had started within the Progressive Dramatic Association.
This group split with the parent body in 1973 and set up Theater Academy in Pune
. The split was over Vijay Tendulkar
`s play Ghashiram Kotwal
. The senior members decided against its premiere in 1972, and Patel's group decided to produce it under the auspices of its own Theater Academy. Alekar assisted Patel in the direction of Ghashiram Kotwal , and the group has since mounted over 35 plays by him and manage to establish its foothold in experimental Marathi theatre.
Alekar conceived of and implemented Playwrights Development Scheme and Regional Theater Group Development. The Ford Foundation
for Theater Academy, Pune
supported these programs during 1985-1994.
Alekar has collaborated in several international play translation projects. The Tisch School of Arts at New York University
invited him in 2003 to teach a course on Indian Theater. The Theater and Films Studies Department of University of Georgia
invited him in 2005 to direct an English production of his play Begum Barve.
The Holy Cow Performing Arts Group in Edinburgh
, Scotland
performed an English version of Alekar's Micky And Memsahib on 27 and 28 August 2009 at Riddle's Court in Edinburgh Fringe Festival '09.
During July 1996 - January 2009, Alekar worked as a professor and the Head of the Center for Performing Arts(Lalit Kala Kendra) at Pune University. Previously he was a research officer in Biochemistry at the government-run B. J. Medical College, Pune. Currently he is working as the Honorary Director for a program supported by Ratan Tata Trust at the Pune University.
Brahmin
society, highlighting their narrow mindedness and subsequently he ventured into small town politics with Doosra Samna (1989). Mahanirvan (1973) (The Dread Departure) finds black humour through Hindu death rites in Brahmins and its overt seriousness is today Alekar's best-known early work and has since been performed in Bengali, Hindi, Dongri, Konkani and Gujarati. It was originally a one-act play and he had later expanded it at Patel's insistence. It was first staged on November 22, 1974 at the Bharat Natya Mandir, by the Theatre Academy, Pune and was revived in 1999 for its 25th anniversary, and was performed at the same venue, with most of the original cast intact.
Mickey Ani Memsaheb (1974) was his first full-length script. With the exception of his Mahapoor (1975), he directed all of his own plays. Alekar's Begum Barve (1979) is regarded as a classic of contemporary Marathi theater. It deals with the eponymous female impersonator's memories and fantasies. After his musical company closed down, a minor singer-actor starts selling incense sticks on the street and gets exploited by his employer. One day his fantasies get enmeshed with those of a pair of clerks who were his regular customers, and those fantasies get almost fulfilled. The play staged in Rajasthani, Punjabi, Gujarati, Bengali, Konkani, Tamil and Kannada
. In 2009, 30 years after its first production, the play returned to Mumbai with its original cast of Chandrakant Kale, and Mohan Aghashe.
Alekar's other plays are Bhajan, Bhinta, Walan, Shanivar-Ravivar (1982), Dusra Samna (1987), and Atireki (1990). The first three are one-act plays. Atireki is marked by irony, wit, and tangential take-offs from absurd premises. In January 2011 a book of short plays translated/adapted in to Marathi by Satish Alekar published by M/s Neelkanth Prakashan, Pune under the title "Adharit Ekankika".
Two Crtique published on plays Mahanirvan (Dread Departure) and Begum Barve in Marathi :
1) "Mahanirvan: Sameeksha aani Sansmarne" (A volume of critique in Marathi on the play ' Mahanirvan'-Dread Departure Edited by Dr. Rekha Inmadar-Sane published by M/s Rajhans Prakashan, Pune , I Edition Dec 1999, II Edition March 2008, ISBN 81-7434-165-X, Pages: 254, Price Rs.250/-) The volume first published in 1999 to mark the 25th year run of the production of the play produced by Theatre Academy, Pune directed by Satish Alekar. Volume included 90 pages of the extensive interview of the playwright Satish Alekar.
2) "Begum Barve Vishayee" (About the play Begum Barve) Edited by Dr. Rekha Inamdar-Sane published in June 2010 ISBN 987-81-7434-501-1 by M/s Rajhans Prakashan, Pune,
Pages 169, Prove: Rs. 200/- The books has nine articles analysing the text and the performance written by well-known theatre scholars.
winning Marathi feature film Jait Re Jait
in 1977, directed by Jabbar Patel, and later he directed a 13-part Hindi TV serial Dekho Magar Pyarse for Doordarshan
in 1985. He scripted the dialogues for the Marathi feature film Katha Don Ganpatravanchi in 1995-96.
, Bengali
, Tamil
, Dogri
, Kannada
, Gujarati
, Rajasthani
, Punjabi
, and Konkani
. His plays have been included in the National Anthologies published in 2000-01 by the National School of Drama
and Sahitya Akademi
, Delhi.
Alekar is the recipient of several national and state awards for his contribution to the field of Theater and Literature. He received Nandikar Sanman at Calcutta in 1992. He received fellowships from the Asian Cultural Council
, New York
in 1983 to study theater in the U.S., and from the Ford Foundation to study Theater of South Asia in 1988. He received in 1994 a Sangeet Natak Akademi Award
for playwriting from Sangeet Natak Akademi
, Delhi.
Natakkar Satish Alekar (Playwright Satish Alekar), a 90 minute film by Atul Pethe about Alekar's life and work was released in 2008.
http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/LiteratureEnglish/Drama/?view=usa&ci=9780198060239
(http://www.cultureunplugged.com/play/2003/Satish-Alekar--The-Playwright)
Marathi people
The Marathi people or Maharashtrians are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group, that inhabit the Maharashtra region and state of western India. Their language Marathi is part of the southern group of Indo-Aryan languages...
playwright, actor, and theatre director. A founder member of the Theatre Academy of Pune
Pune
Pune , is the eighth largest metropolis in India, the second largest in the state of Maharashtra after Mumbai, and the largest city in the Western Ghats. Once the centre of power of the Maratha Empire, it is situated 560 metres above sea level on the Deccan plateau at the confluence of the Mula ...
, and most known for his plays Mahanirvan (1974), Mahapoor (1975), Atirekee (1990), Pidhijat (2003), Mickey ani Memsahib (1973), and Begum Barve (1979), all of which he also directed for the Academy. Today, along with Mahesh Elkunchwar
Mahesh Elkunchwar
Mahesh Elkunchwar is an Indian playwright with more than 15 plays to his name, in addition to his theoretical writings, critical works, and his active work in India's Parallel Cinema as actor and screenwriter....
and Vijay Tendulkar
Vijay Tendulkar
Vijay Tendulkar was a leading Indian playwright, movie and television writer, literary essayist, political journalist, and social commentator primarily in Marāthi...
he is one of the most influential and progressive playwrights not just in modern Marathi theatre, but also larger modern Indian theatre.
He has also remained the head of Centre for Performing Arts, University of Pune
University of Pune
The University of Pune , is a university located in northwestern Pune, India. It was founded in 1949. Spread over a campus, the university is home to 46 academic departments...
(1996–2009), which he founded, after forgoing the Directorship of NSD
National School of Drama
National School of Drama is a theatre training institute situated at New Delhi, India, established . It is an autonomous organization under Ministry of Culture, Government of India. It was set up in 1959 by the Sangeet Natak Akademi, and became an independent school in 1975...
and previously remained an adjunct professor at Performance Studies, Tisch School of the Arts
Tisch School of the Arts
Tisch School of the Arts is one of the 15 schools that make up New York University ....
, New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
as a Fulbright Scholar.
He was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award
Sangeet Natak Akademi Award
Sangeet Natak Akademi Puraskar is an award given by the Sangeet Natak Akademi, India's National Academy of Music, Dance & Drama. It is the highest Indian recognition given to practicing artists. The award consists since 2003 of Rs. 50,000, a citation, an angavastram , and a tamrapatra...
in Playwriting (Marathi) in 1994, by Sangeet Natak Akademi
Sangeet Natak Akademi
Sangeet Natak Akademi is the national level academy for performing arts set up by the Government of India.-History:...
, India's National Academy of Music, Dance and Drama.
Early life and education
Alekar was born in DelhiDelhi
Delhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, but grew up in Pune
Pune
Pune , is the eighth largest metropolis in India, the second largest in the state of Maharashtra after Mumbai, and the largest city in the Western Ghats. Once the centre of power of the Maratha Empire, it is situated 560 metres above sea level on the Deccan plateau at the confluence of the Mula ...
, a center of Marathi
Marathi people
The Marathi people or Maharashtrians are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group, that inhabit the Maharashtra region and state of western India. Their language Marathi is part of the southern group of Indo-Aryan languages...
culture in Maharashtra
Maharashtra
Maharashtra is a state located in India. It is the second most populous after Uttar Pradesh and third largest state by area in India...
. He received his masters degree in biochemistry
Biochemistry
Biochemistry, sometimes called biological chemistry, is the study of chemical processes in living organisms, including, but not limited to, living matter. Biochemistry governs all living organisms and living processes...
from University of Pune in 1972
Career
Alekar gained his first stage experience as an actor in a college play. Impressed by his performance, director Bhalba Kelkar, who had set up the Progressive Dramatic Association, invited him to join it. Alekar wrote and directed his first one-act play Jhulta Pool in 1969. He became a part of a young circle that Jabbar PatelJabbar Patel
Dr. Jabbar Patel is a theatre and film director of India. His production of the play Vijay Tendulkar's play Ghashiram Kotwal, in 1973 is considered a classic in Modern Indian Theatre....
had started within the Progressive Dramatic Association.
This group split with the parent body in 1973 and set up Theater Academy in Pune
Pune
Pune , is the eighth largest metropolis in India, the second largest in the state of Maharashtra after Mumbai, and the largest city in the Western Ghats. Once the centre of power of the Maratha Empire, it is situated 560 metres above sea level on the Deccan plateau at the confluence of the Mula ...
. The split was over Vijay Tendulkar
Vijay Tendulkar
Vijay Tendulkar was a leading Indian playwright, movie and television writer, literary essayist, political journalist, and social commentator primarily in Marāthi...
`s play Ghashiram Kotwal
Ghashiram Kotwal
Ghashiram Kotwal is a Marathi play written by playwright Vijay Tendulkar in 1972 , as his response to the rise of a local political party, Shiv Sena, in Maharashta . The play is a political satire, written as historical drama. Based on the life of Nana Phadnavis , one of the prominent minister in...
. The senior members decided against its premiere in 1972, and Patel's group decided to produce it under the auspices of its own Theater Academy. Alekar assisted Patel in the direction of Ghashiram Kotwal , and the group has since mounted over 35 plays by him and manage to establish its foothold in experimental Marathi theatre.
Alekar conceived of and implemented Playwrights Development Scheme and Regional Theater Group Development. The Ford Foundation
Ford Foundation
The Ford Foundation is a private foundation incorporated in Michigan and based in New York City created to fund programs that were chartered in 1936 by Edsel Ford and Henry Ford....
for Theater Academy, Pune
Pune
Pune , is the eighth largest metropolis in India, the second largest in the state of Maharashtra after Mumbai, and the largest city in the Western Ghats. Once the centre of power of the Maratha Empire, it is situated 560 metres above sea level on the Deccan plateau at the confluence of the Mula ...
supported these programs during 1985-1994.
Alekar has collaborated in several international play translation projects. The Tisch School of Arts at New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
invited him in 2003 to teach a course on Indian Theater. The Theater and Films Studies Department of University of Georgia
University of Georgia
The University of Georgia is a public research university located in Athens, Georgia, United States. Founded in 1785, it is the oldest and largest of the state's institutions of higher learning and is one of multiple schools to claim the title of the oldest public university in the United States...
invited him in 2005 to direct an English production of his play Begum Barve.
The Holy Cow Performing Arts Group in Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
performed an English version of Alekar's Micky And Memsahib on 27 and 28 August 2009 at Riddle's Court in Edinburgh Fringe Festival '09.
During July 1996 - January 2009, Alekar worked as a professor and the Head of the Center for Performing Arts(Lalit Kala Kendra) at Pune University. Previously he was a research officer in Biochemistry at the government-run B. J. Medical College, Pune. Currently he is working as the Honorary Director for a program supported by Ratan Tata Trust at the Pune University.
Plays
Alekar started writing at the age of 19 as a chemistry graduation, though most of his early work were short plays. Many of his plays are set around PunePune
Pune , is the eighth largest metropolis in India, the second largest in the state of Maharashtra after Mumbai, and the largest city in the Western Ghats. Once the centre of power of the Maratha Empire, it is situated 560 metres above sea level on the Deccan plateau at the confluence of the Mula ...
Brahmin
Brahmin
Brahmin Brahman, Brahma and Brahmin.Brahman, Brahmin and Brahma have different meanings. Brahman refers to the Supreme Self...
society, highlighting their narrow mindedness and subsequently he ventured into small town politics with Doosra Samna (1989). Mahanirvan (1973) (The Dread Departure) finds black humour through Hindu death rites in Brahmins and its overt seriousness is today Alekar's best-known early work and has since been performed in Bengali, Hindi, Dongri, Konkani and Gujarati. It was originally a one-act play and he had later expanded it at Patel's insistence. It was first staged on November 22, 1974 at the Bharat Natya Mandir, by the Theatre Academy, Pune and was revived in 1999 for its 25th anniversary, and was performed at the same venue, with most of the original cast intact.
Mickey Ani Memsaheb (1974) was his first full-length script. With the exception of his Mahapoor (1975), he directed all of his own plays. Alekar's Begum Barve (1979) is regarded as a classic of contemporary Marathi theater. It deals with the eponymous female impersonator's memories and fantasies. After his musical company closed down, a minor singer-actor starts selling incense sticks on the street and gets exploited by his employer. One day his fantasies get enmeshed with those of a pair of clerks who were his regular customers, and those fantasies get almost fulfilled. The play staged in Rajasthani, Punjabi, Gujarati, Bengali, Konkani, Tamil and Kannada
Kannada language
Kannada or , is a language spoken in India predominantly in the state of Karnataka. Kannada, whose native speakers are called Kannadigas and number roughly 50 million, is one of the 30 most spoken languages in the world...
. In 2009, 30 years after its first production, the play returned to Mumbai with its original cast of Chandrakant Kale, and Mohan Aghashe.
Alekar's other plays are Bhajan, Bhinta, Walan, Shanivar-Ravivar (1982), Dusra Samna (1987), and Atireki (1990). The first three are one-act plays. Atireki is marked by irony, wit, and tangential take-offs from absurd premises. In January 2011 a book of short plays translated/adapted in to Marathi by Satish Alekar published by M/s Neelkanth Prakashan, Pune under the title "Adharit Ekankika".
Two Crtique published on plays Mahanirvan (Dread Departure) and Begum Barve in Marathi :
1) "Mahanirvan: Sameeksha aani Sansmarne" (A volume of critique in Marathi on the play ' Mahanirvan'-Dread Departure Edited by Dr. Rekha Inmadar-Sane published by M/s Rajhans Prakashan, Pune , I Edition Dec 1999, II Edition March 2008, ISBN 81-7434-165-X, Pages: 254, Price Rs.250/-) The volume first published in 1999 to mark the 25th year run of the production of the play produced by Theatre Academy, Pune directed by Satish Alekar. Volume included 90 pages of the extensive interview of the playwright Satish Alekar.
2) "Begum Barve Vishayee" (About the play Begum Barve) Edited by Dr. Rekha Inamdar-Sane published in June 2010 ISBN 987-81-7434-501-1 by M/s Rajhans Prakashan, Pune,
Pages 169, Prove: Rs. 200/- The books has nine articles analysing the text and the performance written by well-known theatre scholars.
Scripts
Alekar scripted the National Film AwardNational Film Award for Best Feature Film in Marathi
The National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Marathi winners:...
winning Marathi feature film Jait Re Jait
Jait Re Jait
Jait Re Jait is 1977 Marathi film directed by Jabbar Patel and won Best Feature Film in Marathi at National Film Award.It is considered to be one of the greatest musical hits of all time in Marathi cinema. This movie was produced by Usha Mangeshkar & Hridaynath Mangeshkar, under the banner,...
in 1977, directed by Jabbar Patel, and later he directed a 13-part Hindi TV serial Dekho Magar Pyarse for Doordarshan
DoorDarshan
Doordarshan is an Indian public service broadcaster, a division of Prasar Bharati. It is one of the largest broadcasting organizations in India in terms of the infrastructure of studios and transmitters. Recently, it has also started Digital Terrestrial Transmitters. On September 15, 2009,...
in 1985. He scripted the dialogues for the Marathi feature film Katha Don Ganpatravanchi in 1995-96.
Awards and recognition
Some of Alekar's plays have been translated and produced in HindiHindi
Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...
, Bengali
Bengali language
Bengali or Bangla is an eastern Indo-Aryan language. It is native to the region of eastern South Asia known as Bengal, which comprises present day Bangladesh, the Indian state of West Bengal, and parts of the Indian states of Tripura and Assam. It is written with the Bengali script...
, Tamil
Tamil language
Tamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and in the Indian union territory of Pondicherry. Tamil is also an official language of Sri Lanka and Singapore...
, Dogri
Dogri language
Dogri is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by about five million people in Pakistan and India, chiefly in the Jammu region of Jammu and Kashmir, but also in northern Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, other parts of Jammu and Kashmir, and elsewhere. Dogri speakers are called Dogras, and the Dogri-speaking...
, Kannada
Kannada language
Kannada or , is a language spoken in India predominantly in the state of Karnataka. Kannada, whose native speakers are called Kannadigas and number roughly 50 million, is one of the 30 most spoken languages in the world...
, Gujarati
Gujarati language
Gujarati is an Indo-Aryan language, and part of the greater Indo-European language family. It is derived from a language called Old Gujarati which is the ancestor language of the modern Gujarati and Rajasthani languages...
, Rajasthani
Rajasthani language
Rajasthani Rajasthani Rajasthani (Devanagari: , Perso-Arabic: is a language of the Indo-Aryan languages family. It is spoken by 50 million people in Rajasthan and other states of India and in some areas of Pakistan. The number of speakers may be up to 80 million worldwide...
, Punjabi
Punjabi language
Punjabi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by inhabitants of the historical Punjab region . For Sikhs, the Punjabi language stands as the official language in which all ceremonies take place. In Pakistan, Punjabi is the most widely spoken language...
, and Konkani
Konkani language
KonkaniKonkani is a name given to a group of several cognate dialects spoken along the narrow strip of land called Konkan, on the west coast of India. This is, however, somewhat an over-generalisation. Geographically, Konkan is defined roughly as the area between the river Damanganga to the north...
. His plays have been included in the National Anthologies published in 2000-01 by the National School of Drama
National School of Drama
National School of Drama is a theatre training institute situated at New Delhi, India, established . It is an autonomous organization under Ministry of Culture, Government of India. It was set up in 1959 by the Sangeet Natak Akademi, and became an independent school in 1975...
and Sahitya Akademi
Sahitya Akademi
The Sahitya Akademi ', India's National Academy of Letters, is an organisation dedicated to the promotion of literature in the languages of India...
, Delhi.
Alekar is the recipient of several national and state awards for his contribution to the field of Theater and Literature. He received Nandikar Sanman at Calcutta in 1992. He received fellowships from the Asian Cultural Council
Asian Cultural Council
The Asian Cultural Council is an American non-profit organization dedicated to providing support to Asian-American cultural exchange in the areas of visual and performing arts.- History :...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
in 1983 to study theater in the U.S., and from the Ford Foundation to study Theater of South Asia in 1988. He received in 1994 a Sangeet Natak Akademi Award
Sangeet Natak Akademi Award
Sangeet Natak Akademi Puraskar is an award given by the Sangeet Natak Akademi, India's National Academy of Music, Dance & Drama. It is the highest Indian recognition given to practicing artists. The award consists since 2003 of Rs. 50,000, a citation, an angavastram , and a tamrapatra...
for playwriting from Sangeet Natak Akademi
Sangeet Natak Akademi
Sangeet Natak Akademi is the national level academy for performing arts set up by the Government of India.-History:...
, Delhi.
Natakkar Satish Alekar (Playwright Satish Alekar), a 90 minute film by Atul Pethe about Alekar's life and work was released in 2008.
Works
- The dread departure (Mahanirvan), tr. by Gauri Deshpande. Seagull Books, 1989. ISBN 817046059X.
- Begum Barve. Seagull Books, 1994. ISBN 8170461049.
- "Collected Plays of Satish Alekar. OUP, Delhi 2009, ISBN 978-0-19-806023-9"
http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/LiteratureEnglish/Drama/?view=usa&ci=9780198060239
External links
- Satish Alekar website
- Memory by Satish Alekar at Little magazine
- Documentary film on Satish Alekar directed by Atul Pethe (2008,90 mints)
(http://www.cultureunplugged.com/play/2003/Satish-Alekar--The-Playwright)