Shanta Gokhale

Shanta Gokhale (born 14 August 1939) is an Indian writer, translator, journalist and theatre critic. She is best known for her works Rita Welinkar and Tya Varshi.

Shanta Gokhale
Shanta Gokhale in 2018
Born (1939-08-14) 14 August 1939
Dahanu, Bombay Presidency, British India
Occupation
  • Writer
  • translator
  • journalist
  • theatre critic
  • playwright
NationalityIndian
Notable works
  • Rita Welinkar
  • Tya Varshi (Crowfall)
Spouses
  • Lt. Cdr. Vijaykumar Shahane
  • Arun Khopkar
ChildrenGirish Shahane
Renuka Shahane
Website
shantagokhale.com

Early life and education

Born in Dahanu in Palghar district of Maharashtra, Gokhale's family moved to Shivaji Park neighbourhood in Mumbai in 1941 when her father, GG Gokahle, joined a newspaper, Searchlight. Her father later joined the Bennett and Coleman Group.[1] She did her schooling from Bombay Scottish School, Mahim. At the age of 15 she left for England where she did her B. A. (Hons) in English literature at Bristol University. Returning to India, at the age of 21, she did her M. A. (Hons) degree in English literature from University of Mumbai. Subsequently, she joined Xavier's Institute of Communication, Mumbai, where she studied Communications and Video Production.[2][3]

Career

Shanta Gokhale has previously worked as a part-time teacher at Elphinstone College,[4] and as a public relations executive at Glaxo Laboratories.[5]

Writing and journalism

Gokhale initially published stories, in both English and Marathi, in various publications, and eventually in the 1970s, she started publishing novels. She published her first book, Rita Welinkar, in Marathi (and later in English in the year 1995). She credits a letter from Nissim Ezekiel for encouraging her to write in Marathi.[6] She wrote the book while she still worked at Glaxo, formulating the ideas during her bus journeys and writing during her lunch breaks.[3] Her second book, Tya Varshi, was published seventeen years later, in 2008.[7] It was later translated and published by her in English as Crowfall, in 2013.[8][9] In 2018, she released an anthology of her writings over the decades, titled The Engaged Observer, which was edited by her close friend, Jerry Pinto.[10] She planned to release her memoirs with the tentative title of Here’s Looking at You, Body in 2018.[11] It was later released as One Foot On The Ground: A Life Told Through The Body in 2019.[12] In March 2020, she released Shivaji Park: Dadar 28: History, Places, People, a book that traced the history of the Mumbai neighbourhood where she lives.[13]

She has written screenplays for several films and documentaries. She wrote the screenplay for the Hindi film, Haathi Ka Anda (2002) directed by Arun Khopkar for whom she has written many documentary scripts. She wrote the screenplay for the 2011 Marathi film, Ti Ani Itar, adapted from Manjula Padmanabhan’s 1986 play, Lights Out.[14] As an actor, she appeared in the parallel cinema classic, film, Ardh Satya (1983), directed by Govind Nihalani, and in a 13-part TV series directed by Amol Palekar.[15]

Her daughter, Renuka Shahane, made her directorial debut adapting Gokhale's novel Rita Welinkar into a Marathi film, Rita (2009). It featured her (Shahane), Pallavi Joshi and Jackie Shroff in the cast.[16][17]

Gokhale has formerly been Arts Editor with The Times of India, Mumbai, and Sub-Editor at Femina. Hard-nosed journalism wasn't meant for her, as she didn't like to intrude on people’s privacy or push for attention.[6] She has previously been a columnist for newspapers like The Sunday Times of India and The Independent, for tabloids like Mid Day and Mumbai Mirror and for websites like Scroll.in.[4][7]

Theatre and its criticism

Gokhale's journey into theatre began with her study of English literature and theatre, as part of her studies in London. Soon after returning to Bombay, she happened to become good friends with Satyadev Dubey. She would attend his theatre rehearsals and observe him directing plays, some of which were written by fresh new writers like Girish Karnad. This began her journey into understanding the processes of theatre making.[7] Later, she started writing plays like Avinash in 1988 (which was directed by Dubey),[4] Dip and Dop and Rosemary for Remembrance (which was premiered at the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival in 2016).[5] In 2000, she published a critical study of Marathi theatre, Playwright at the Centre: Marathi Drama from 1843 to the Present.[18] She has also edited The Scenes We Made: An Oral History of Experimental Theatre in Mumbai.[5] She has edited the book, The Scenes We Made, about the theatre scene Between the mid-70s and early 90s at the Chabildas School in Dadar, Mumbai.[19] The book was released in 2015.[3]

Translation

As a translator she has worked on veteran actress Durga Khote's noted autobiography and has published translations of several plays by leading Marathi playwrights like Mahesh Elkunchwar, Vijay Tendulkar, G.P. Deshpande, and Satish Alekar.[6] She credits her mother for inspiring her to translate the wealth of Marathi literature.[4] Her work in translation began with C.T. Khanolkar’s play Avadhya, at the suggestion of her friend Satyadev Dubey while she was living in Visakhapatnam.[6] Some of her other translations include Em Ani Hoomrao (Jerry Pinto's novel, Em And The Big Hoom translated into Marathi), Begum Barve (Satish Alekar's Marathi play of the same name, translated into English), I, Durga Khote (Durga Khote's autobiography in Marathi, translated into English) and Guru Dutt: A Tragedy in Three Acts (her ex-husband Arun Khopkar's Marathi book on Guru Dutt, titled Guru Dutt: Teen Anki Shokantika, translated into English).[7] In 2018, she published Smritichitre: The Memoirs of a Spirited Wife, translated from the original Marathi version published by Lakshmibai Tilak in four parts between 1931 and 1936.[20]

Works
Novels
  • "The Theatre of Veenapani Chawla. Theory, Practice, Performance", Publisher: Oxford University Press, New Delhi 2014. ISBN 978-0-19-809703-7.
  • Playwright at the Centre: Marathi drama from 1843 to the present. National School of Drama. Seagull Books. 2000. ISBN 817046157X.CS1 maint: others (link)
  • Tyā varshī (Marathi). Mauja Prakashan. Griha, 2008. ISBN 8174867139.
  • Rita Welinkar. Orient Blackswan. 1995. ISBN 812500324X.
  • The Scenes We Made: An Oral History of Experimental Theatre in Mumbai. Speaking Tiger Books. 2015. ISBN 978-93-85288-99-9.
  • One Foot On The Ground: A Life Told Through The Body - autobiography. Speaking Tiger Books. 2018. ISBN 9789388874854
  • Shivaji Park: Dadar 28: History, Places, People. Speaking Tiger Books. 2020. ISBN 9788194472902
Plays
  • Avinash: the indestructible. Seagull Books. 1994. ISBN 8170461073.
As translator
  • Satish Alekar; Shanta Gokhale (translator) (2003). Begum Barve. Seagull Books. ISBN 8170462088.
  • Mahesh Elkunchwar; Shanta Gokhale & Manjula Padmanabhan (translation) (2004). City plays (Playscript). Seagull Books. ISBN 8170462304.
  • Durga Khote; Shanta Gokhale (translator) (2006). I, Durga Khote: An autobiography. ISBN 0195674758.
  • Mahesh Elkunchwar; Shanta Gokhale, Supantha Bhattacharya (translation) (2008). Collected plays of Mahesh Elkunchwar: Garbo, Desire in the rocks, Old stone mansion, Reflection, Sonata, An actor exits. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0195697971.
  • Satish Alekar; Gauri Deshpande, Urmila Bhirdikar, Alok Bhalla, Jayant Dhupkar, Pramod Kale, Shanta Gokhale (translation) (2010). Collected Plays of Satish Alekar: The Dread Departure, Deluge, the Terrorist, Dynasts, Begum Barve, Mickey and the Memsahib. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0198069881.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

Personal life

Shanta Gokhale was married to Lt. Cdr. Vijaykumar Shahane, with whom she has two children, Girish Shahane, and noted film and television actress, Renuka Shahane. After their divorce, she was briefly married to noted filmmaker Arun Khopkar. She currently lives in Lalit Estate, Shivaji Park, Mumbai, with her two helpers, Alka Dhulap and Sanjay Pashte, and is neighbours with Jerry Pinto.[4][21]

Over the years, Gokhale has served as a mentor for many, including poet Arundhathi Subramaniam.[22]

Awards and accolades
  • Two National Awards (for documentary film scripts)[23]
  • Two Maharashtra state awards for literary creation for her novels (one for Crowfall in 2008[23][24] and the previous one being the VS Khandekar Award for Rita Welinkar)[3]
  • Sangeet Natak Akademi Award 2015 (for her overall contribution/scholarship for performing arts)[25]
  • Ooty Literary Festival Lifetime Achievement Award (2018)[14]
  • Tata Literature Live! Lifetime Achievement Award (2019)[26]

References
  1. Sahani, Alaka (21 July 2019). "A critic takes centrestage: What makes Shanta Gokhale a renaissance person". The Indian Express. Retrieved 13 April 2020.
  2. Ramnath, Nandini (2006). "Grew up in Shivaji Park". Time Out Mumbai. Archived from the original on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 22 March 2012.
  3. Tripathi, Salil (18 January 2019). "A quiet, illuminating force". Livemint. Retrieved 13 April 2020.
  4. "फरक पडणार हे नक्की!" [Make a Difference for Sure!]. Loksatta (in Marathi). 13 October 2018. Archived from the original on 9 December 2018. Retrieved 9 December 2018.
  5. Pinto, Jerry (8 May 2016). "The modest Shanta Gokhale". The Week. Retrieved 9 December 2018.
  6. Ganesh, Deepa (18 June 2016). "I am driven by an evangelical imperative". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Archived from the original on 16 December 2018. Retrieved 10 December 2018.
  7. Paikat, Anita (24 March 2018). "Never been satisfied with films adapted from plays, says Shanta Gokhale". Cinestaan. Retrieved 9 December 2018.
  8. Ghoshal, Somak (30 November 2013). "Book Review | Crowfall". Retrieved 10 December 2018.
  9. Baliga, Shashi (2 January 2014). "It's about middle Mumbai". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 10 December 2018.
  10. Srinivasan, Pankaja (14 September 2018). "'Today's truth-tellers are not safe'". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 10 December 2018.
  11. Gill, Harsimran (23 December 2017). "These are the books that some of India's most acclaimed authors will be reading in 2018". Scroll.in. Retrieved 16 December 2018.
  12. Gokhale, Shanta. "From 'Sorry yaar, really sorry' to 'Why don't we get married?': Shanta Gokhale's memoir of her body". Scroll.in. Retrieved 7 November 2019.
  13. Raghavan, Antara (29 March 2020). "Portrait of a dynamic Mumbai neighbourhood". India Today. Retrieved 13 April 2020.
  14. Gokhale, Shanta (19 September 2018). "India has become 'a republic of fear for thinkers and writers': Critic and novelist Shanta Gokhale". Scroll.in. Archived from the original on 10 December 2018. Retrieved 9 December 2018.
  15. Shanta Gokhale at IMDb
  16. Rita at IMDb
  17. "'Rita' is a Kaleidoscopic Portrait of Life: Renuka". Outlook India. 23 August 2009. Archived from the original on 10 December 2018. Retrieved 10 December 2018.
  18. Gabrielle H. Cody; Evert Sprinchorn (2007). The Columbia encyclopedia of Modern Drama, (Vol. 1). Columbia University Press. p. 665. ISBN 978-0-231-14422-3.
  19. "The pioneering spirit of Chabildas". Mumbai Mirror. 2 December 2018. Retrieved 11 December 2018.
  20. Nabar, Vrinda (23 March 2018). "Review - Smritichitre: The Memoirs of a Spirited Wife by Lakshmibai Tilak". Hindustan Times.
  21. Marfatia, Meher (14 May 2017). "Homes around Shivaji Park have some warm tales to unfold". Mid-Day. Archived from the original on 10 December 2018. Retrieved 9 December 2018.
  22. Subramaniam, Arundhathi (30 July 2017). "Remembering an original spirit". Mumbai Mirror. Archived from the original on 11 December 2018. Retrieved 10 December 2018.
  23. Nath, Parshathy J. (12 April 2018). "Stories, she wrote". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 10 December 2018.
  24. "Shanta Gokhale gets state award for literary creation". Mumbai Mirror. Ist. 14 December 2008. Archived from the original on 11 December 2018. Retrieved 10 December 2018.
  25. "Brij Narayan, Mandakini Trivedi among winners of Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards 2015". Scroll.in. Archived from the original on 9 December 2018. Retrieved 9 December 2018.
  26. "Writer and translator Shanta Gokhale to receive Tata Literature Live! Lifetime Achievement Award". Scroll.in. 6 November 2019. Retrieved 7 November 2019.

Further reading
  • Lives of the Women (PDF). Mumbai: Sophia Institute of Social Communications Media. pp. 1–38.
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