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YB WEB DESK. Dated: 4/19/2021 11:37:47 AM
Satish Vasant Alekar: Recipients of Padma Shri
Satish Vasant Alekar (born 30 January 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 various universities in US, at the Duke University, Durhum, NC (1994), Performance Studies, Tisch School of the Arts, New York University as a Fulbright Scholar (2003). and Dept. Theatre and Film Studies, University of Georgia, Athens, GA (2005) 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. He received the award "Padamshree" (पद्मश्री) conferred by the President of India in January 2012. Since 2013 Satish Alekar is nominated by Savitribai Phule Pune University as Distinguished Professor on the campus. Recently he is also known for his screen acting both i n Marathi and Hindi feature films. He is seen in the character roles of award-winning films like Ventilator (2016). Early life and education Alekar was born in Delhi, India, but grew up in Pune, a center of Marathi culture in Maharashtra. He studied in Marathi medium school 'New English School', Ramanbag which was established in 1880 by Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak. Further, he went to Fergusson College and completed his BSc He received his master's degree in biochemistry 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 Patel had started within the Progressive Dramatic Association.