Purushottam Vyankatesh Darwhekar

Purushottam Vyankatesh Darwhekar was a dramatist of Marathi theatre born in 1926, Bhandara. He first acted in 1936. Darwhekar was highly educated, with degrees in science, law, and education to his name. He taught at Kuway`s New Model High School for a few years. He joined All India Radio (AIR) at Nagpur as a scriptwriter in 1954. he also worked at Doordarshan, Delhi, from 1961 to 1963 as assistant director. After that Purushottam Vyankatesh Darwhekar was transferred to Nagpur as producer of Hindi drama on AIR. He moved to Bombay in 1973 and retired as senior producer there. For some time, he shouldered the responsibility of the Fine Arts Department at Nagpur University as well.

In 1950, he established the Ranjan Kala Mandir. This was an amateur group that dominated the Bombay theatre competitions for almost a decade and won many awards. He also engaged in the task of reviving Sangitnatak. He wrote and directed several plays of which Katyar kaljat ghusli i.e. `Dagger Pierced the Heart` in 1967 was prominent. This was based on the conflict between two classical musicians, running for 700 shows. The other one was Chandra nabhicha dhalala i.e. `The Moon Is Down` in 1972. This won critical acclaim and great appreciation from spectators for their music. Trendsetting drama like Kanetkar`s Ashrunchijhaliphule i.e. `Tears Have Become Flowers` in 1966 and Shirwadkar`s Natasamrat i.e. `The Actor-Emperor` in 1970, directed by Darwhekar, also proved very successful. Purushottam Vyankatesh Darwhekar died in the year of 1999 at the age of 73.

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