Theatre veteran Satyadev Dubey dies
The enfant terrible of Hindi theatre, Satyadev Dubey, died on Sunday afternoon after a prolonged illness. Dubey suffered a seizure in September at the Prithvi Theatre Café and was comatose ever since.
Dubey, who was born in Bilaspur in present-day Chhattisgarh in 1936, had moved to Mumbai to become a cricketer. But he ended up in theatre. The multifaceted maverick that Dubey was, he excelled in theatre direction, acting, as a playwright, screenwriter, and film actor. He was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1971. He also won the 1978 National Film Award for Best Screenplay for Shyam Benegal’s Bhumika and 1980 Filmfare Best Dialogue Award for Junoon. In 2011, he was honoured with the Padma Bhushan. It was Dharamvir Bharti’s Andha Yug which established Dubey as an unparalleled authority in Hindi theatre.
In his career spanning four decades, he directed or produced plays of the prominent playwrights who shaped the modern Indian theatre: Girish Karnad (Yayati, Hayavadana), Badal Sarkar (Evam Indrajit, Pagla Ghoda), Mohan Rakesh (Aadhe Adhure), Vijay Tendulkar (Gidhade, Shantata! Court Chalu Aahe), Chandrashekhara Kambara (Aur Tota Bola).
A National School of Drama (NSD) product and an admirer of Dubey actor, Manoj Bajpai, said, “I had worked with Dubeyji on a film called Hanan which was directed by Makrand Deshpande. His contribution to the Hindi theatre is unparalleled. He respected actors with the ability to work hard on their craft. I will always miss him.”
Apart from being an undisputed authority on theatre, Dubey was also popular for his erratic behaviour but never with malice to anyone. Film director and a very close friend of the septuagenarian, Manmohan Shetty, said, “Dubey and I were never involved creatively but he was one of my closest friends. I know this for a fact that his death is probably Hindi theatre’s greatest loss.”
Dubey breathed his last in Mumbadevi Homeopathy Hospital at Andheri.
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