26 Facts About Vijay Tendulkar

Vijay Dhondopant Tendulkar was an Indian playwright, movie and television writer, literary essayist, political journalist, and social commentator primarily in Marathi.

Vijay Tendulkar's Marathi plays established him as a writer of plays with contemporary, unconventional themes.

Vijay Tendulkar has provided guidance to students studying "play writing" in US universities.

Vijay Tendulkar was a dramatist and theatre personality in Maharashtra for over five decades.

Vijay Tendulkar was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1984, and Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship, the highest award of Sangeet Natak Akademi in 1998.

Vijay Tendulkar won National Film Award for Best Screenplay for Hindi film, Manthan, 1977.

Vijay Dhondopant Tendulkar was born in a Gaud Saraswat Brahmin family on 6 January 1928 in Girgaon, Mumbai, Maharashtra, where his father held a clerical job and ran a small publishing business.

The literary environment at home prompted young Vijay Tendulkar to take up writing.

Vijay Tendulkar grew up watching western plays and felt inspired to write plays himself.

Vijay Tendulkar said that he liked the sense of sacrifice and discipline of the communists.

Vijay Tendulkar thus brought new authenticity to their depiction in Marathi theatre.

Vijay Tendulkar has written eleven movies in Hindi and eight movies in Marathi.

In 1991, Vijay Tendulkar wrote a metaphorical play, Safar, and in 2001 he wrote the play, The Masseur.

Vijay Tendulkar was the brother of acclaimed cartoonist and humourist Mangesh Tendulkar.

Vijay Tendulkar died in Pune on 19 May 2008, battling the effects of the rare autoimmune disease myasthenia gravis.

Vijay Tendulkar's plays have been translated and performed in many Indian languages.

Many of Vijay Tendulkar's plays derived inspiration from real-life incidents or social upheavals.

The real-life story of an actress whose acting career got ruined after her same-sex affair became public knowledge inspired Vijay Tendulkar to write Mitrachi Goshta.

Vijay Tendulkar has translated nine novels, two biographies, and five plays by other authors into Marathi.

Besides the foregoing, Vijay Tendulkar's oeuvre includes a biography; two novels; five anthologies of short stories; 16 plays for children, including Bale Miltat and Patlachya Poriche Lagin ; and five volumes of literary essays and social criticism, including Ratrani, Kowali Unhe, and Phuge Sobanche.

All in all, Vijay Tendulkar's writings have contributed to a significant transformation of the modern literary landscape in Marathi and other Indian languages.

In 2007, a short film about Vijay Tendulkar, Ankahin, was released.

Vijay Tendulkar won Maharashtra State government awards in 1969 and 1972; and Maharashtra Gaurav Puraskar in 1999.

Vijay Tendulkar was honoured with the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1970, and again in 1998 with the academy's highest award for "lifetime contribution", the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship.

In 1977, Vijay Tendulkar won the National Film Award for Best Screenplay for his screenplay of Shyam Benegals movie, Manthan.

Vijay Tendulkar has written screenplays for many significant art movies, such as Nishant, Akrosh, Ardh Satya and Aghaat.