Mahesh Elkunchwar

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Mahesh Elkunchwar (born October 9, 1939) 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 Middle Cinema as actor and screenwriter.

Born to a Brahmin family in Parwa, Maharashtra and raised outside of Indian urban centers, Elkunchwar has experimented with many forms of dramatic expression, ranging from the realistic to symbolic, expressionist to absurd. Having influenced modern Indian theatre for more than three decades, Elkunchwar emerged onto the national theatre scene with his play Sultan in 1967. A number of commercial hits followed such as Holi (1969), Raktapushpa (1971), Party (1972), Virasat (1982), and Atamkatha (1987). Elkunchwar's plays are written in the Indian language that is spoken by some seventy-five million people called Marathi. The plays have been subsequently translated into multiple Indian and Western languages (including English, French and German). His plays have gained national and international critical attention, and his growing body of work has become part of India's post-colonial theatrical canon. He has been honored in India with the Homi Bhabha Fellowship (1976-78), the Sangeet Natak Akademi annual award for best playwright (given by the National Academy of the Performing Arts, 1989), Nandika (1989), Maharashta Gaurav (1990), the Maharashtra Foundation Award (1997), the Sahitya Akademi Award (given by the National Academy of Letters, 2002), and the Saraswathi Samman, one of India's highest literary awards (2003), and internationally with the Brittingham Fellowship (2005).