Joining All India Radio in 1936, Mehta helped to develop the concept of broadcasting in Gujarat, writing and producing innumerable documentaries and radio drama. Special mention can be given to the biographical plays on Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Patel, and Mahadev Desai for more than a decade, with director Adi Marzban and others. He initiated theatre degree and diploma courses at M. S. University, Vadodara. This was the first of their kind in India. While guiding its drama department, he represented the country abroad, chairing various fora of the International Theatre Institute. He fought relentlessly for an ideal playhouse as a centre of culture, literature, and proper training for theatre, while condemning vulgar commercialization wherever he noticed it. His later plays include Sita in 1943, Mazammt i.e. 'Dark Midnight' in 1955, the Bhavai-influenced Hoholika in 1956, and a dramatization of Sri Aurobindo's Savitri. As a researcher and theorist he wrote extensively on Gujarati stage history and production techniques. His twelve-part autobiographical Gathariyan i.e. 'Travel Bags', variously tided Natya or Theatre gathariyan and so on, exemplifies his atypical prose and use of spoken language in print. |