Vasant Shankar Kanetkar

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. He was born in a Karhade Brahmin family.

List of plays

The following is a partial list of Kanetkar's plays:

• ″ Devanche Manorajya″
• Mala kahi Sangaychay!
• Beiman (बेइमान)
• Vedyache Ghar Unhat (वेड्याचे घर ऊन्हात)
• Prema, Tujha Ranga Kasa? (प्रेमा, तुझा रंग कसा?)
• Ashrunchi Jhali Phule (अश्रूंची झाली फुले)
• Raigadala Jewha Jag Yete (रायगडाला जेंव्हा जाग येते)
• Himalayachi Sawali (हिमालयाची सावली)
• Wishawrukshachi Chhaya (विषवृक्षाची छाया)
• Lekure Udanda Jahali (लेकुरे उदंड जाहली)
• Premachya Gawa Jawe (प्रेमाच्या गावा जावे)
• Jithe Gawatas Bhale Phutatat (जिथे गवतास भाले फुटतात)
• Suryachi Pille(सूर्याची पिल्ले)
• Ithe Oshalala Mrutyu (इथे ओशाळला मृत्यु)
• Matsyagandha (मत्स्यगंधा)
• Akhercha sawal
• ' Rang Umalatya Manache ' ( रंग उमलत्या मनाचे )
• ' Kasturimrug ' ( कस्तुरीमृग )
• ' Fakta Ekach Karan ' ( फक्त एकच कारण )

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.

List of Novels

Kanetkar wrote four novels.

• Ghar (घर)
• Pankha (पंख)
• Porka (पोरका)
• Tethe Chal Raani (तेथे चल राणी) (Translation of Jean-Paul Sartre's "Les Jeux Sont Faites")

Recognition

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.