Vasant Shankar Kanetkar (Devanagari: वसंत शंकर कानेटकर) (March 20, 1920 - January 31, 2000) was a Marathi playwright and novelist from Maharashtra, India.
He was born in the town of Rahimatpur in Satara District, Maharashtra. His father, Shankar Keshav Kanetkar, was a poet who wrote poetry under the pen name Kavi Girish and was a founding member of a circle of poets named Ravikiran Mandal.
Kanetkar spent most of his early life in Pune, and later, Sangli, where his father was a professor at Willingdon College. After acquiring a master's degree in Arts from Willingdon College, Kanetkar joined H.P.T. College in Nashik as a professor.
Kanetkar wrote 40 three-act plays, all of which were performed on the professional stage. Many of his plays became high commercial successes. He has been credited with rejuvenating the Marathi theater when it was in decline, the age of Sangeet Natak --stage musicals—having had come to an end.
Some time in the 1970s, Kanetkar resigned from his post as a professor at H.P.T. College, and devoted his time exclusively to writing plays.
The following is a partial list of Kanetkar's plays:
Kanetkar's plays covered a wide range of subject matters. His favorite subject matters were the life of warrior-king Shivaji from Maharashtra, the cultural reformation in late nineteenth-century Maharashtra, human relationships, and the decline of morality in post-independence India.
Kanetkar wrote four novels.
In 1970, Kanetkar received a Filmfare Award for Best Story for the Hindi movie Aansoo Ban Gaye Phool, the story having been an adaptation of his Marathi play Ashrunchi Jhali Phule.
He presided over Marathi Sahitya Sammelan in 1988.
Kanetkar received a Padma Shri award in 1992 for his literary accomplishments.
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