| Mohan Rakesh | |
|---|---|
| Born | Madan Mohan Guglani[1] January 8, 1925 Amritsar, Undivided India |
| Died | January 3, 1972 (aged 46) Delhi |
| Occupation | Novelist, Playwright |
Mohan Rakesh (मोहन राकेश; January 8, 1925 – January 3, 1972) was one of the pioneers of the Nai Kahani ("New Story") literary movement of the Hindi literature in the 1950s. He wrote the first modern Hindi play, Ashadh Ka Ek Din (One Day in Aashad) (1958), which won a competition organized by the Sangeet Natak Akademi. He made significant contribution to novel, short story, travelogue, criticism, memoirs and drama.[1]
He was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1968.[2]
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Born as Madan Mohan Guglani on January 8, 1925 in Amritsar, Punjab. His father a lawyer died when he was sixteen.[1] He did his M.A. in English and Hindi from Punjab University, Lahore.[3][4]
His started his career as a teacher, and he taught in two colleges and a school, edited a short story magazine before deciding to write full-time.[1] His noted novels are "Andhere Band Kamare" (Closed Dark Rooms) and Na Aane Wala Kal. His plays "Ashadh Ka Ek Din" (One Day in Aashad) (1958), play a major role in reviving Hindi theatre in 1960s[5] and Adhe Adhure (The Incomplete Ones or Halfway House) (1959) are highly regarded. His debut play Ashadh Ka Ek Din was first performed by Kolkata-based Hindi theatre group Anamika, under director, Shyamanand Jalan (1960)[6] and subsequently by Ebrahim Alkazi at National School of Drama Delhi in 1962, which established Mohan Rakesh as the first modern Hindi playwright.[1]
"Leheron Ke Raj Hans' (The Swans of the Waves), the most noted play of Mohan Rakesh,an ancient Buddhist tale on the renunciation of the Buddha, and its after affects on his close family, was first written as short story and later turned it into a radio play for All India Radio Jalandhar, and broadcast under the title "Sundri", though his struggle over different versions of the play lasted for nearly 20 years, before creating his masterpiece.[7] Prominent Indian directors Om Shivpuri, Shyamanand Jalan, Arvind Gaur and Ram Gopal Bajaj directed this play.[8] In 2005, this very writing process of the play, and Mohan Rakesh’s diary, writings, letters about the play, was recreated in play titled “Manuscript”, by a Delhi theater group.
His story, Uski Roti (A Day's Bread) was made into an eponymous film, by Mani Kaul in 1971, for which he also wrote the screenplay.[9]