Change to a large extent in the style of Hindi theatre was introduced by the great Hindi theatre personality, Ramesh Mehta. Rameshwar Nath Mehta, popularly known as Ramesh Mehta Born in the year 1923 on the 7th day of August, is reckoned as a name in the sphere of Hindi theatre. Famous as a playwright, director, actor and translator, Ramesh Mehta to a great extent redefined the style of Hindi theatrical form.
The childhood and early education of Ramesh Mehta had been spent amidst the serenity of Jammu and Kashmir as his father was an employee of the Jammu and Kashmir Government. After the death of his father Ramesh Mehta shifted to Lahore and completed his graduation from Dayal Singh College, Lahore. It was during this time while in college he became interested in Theatre. The scaffolding of the Coronthian Theatre`s Parsi plays for the very first time seeded his theatre interest. However it was much after his return to Delhi, Ramesh Mehta for the greater interest id limning his theatre interest, joined the "Three Arts Club". The first job that he got at the three arts club was that of a prompter. However, within no time Ramesh Mehta impressed all as he not only restricted himself into prompting but at the same time also suggested some new dialogues for the play, which improved the over all performance. That was just the beginning and with a deep interest for the art form, theatre Ramesh Mehta penned the first play of his life in the year 1949. Named as "India Today", the play was continuously staged for four days at the Messey Hall of Delhi. The following year again he wrote another play, Dahej.
The year 1950 was an important year in Ramesh Mehta`s theatre career. He wrote his third play, Dasturi, which was published with the title of Damad and had six successful shows. Gradually Ramesh Mehta established himself as the in-house writer of the Three Arts Club. More than ten full length plays, a dozen one act plays and also translation works of plays from different regional languages like Telugu (N.R. Nandi`s Maro Mohanjodaro), Bengali (Shambhu Mitra`s Kanchanranga), Gujrati (Bakul Tripathi`s Leela), Marathi (Mama Warerkar and Vasant Kanetkar`s plays) are still counted as his wonderful creations. Some of Ramesh Mehta`s plays like Under Secretary, Dhong, Hamara Gaon, Faisla became as if the milestones of contemporary Hindi theatre. Just not in the numbers of his plays, Ramesh Mehta`s greatness lies in his immense contribution through his plays. It was he who restructured the culture of drama and inculcated the habit of going to the theatre hall in the common man of the Delhi city. Ramesh Mehta, is indeed one of the very few stalwarts of Indian theatre who has so very well performed the role of writer, director and the actor. He was an institution in himself.
A number of awards have been bestowed to Ramesh Mehta to acknowledge his contribution. He has been awarded with Chamanlal Memorial Award for lifetime achievement, Sahitya Kala Parishad, Delhi Award, Delhi Natya Sangh Award, Uttar Pradesh Sangeet Natak Akademy Award, besides many other awards like the best playwright award etc. His Talent has been recognised as a great actor by offering him the Sangeet Natak Akademy Award, in the year 2007.
Plays written by Ramesh Mehta
Plays |
Year |
Plays |
Year |
India today |
1949 |
Uljhan |
1955 |
Dahej |
1950 |
Dhong |
1956 |
Dastoori (damad) |
1950 |
Under secretary |
1958 |
Faisla |
1951 |
Roti aur beti |
1960 |
Apradhi kaun |
1952 |
Bade aadmi |
1966 |
Jamana |
1952 |
Khuli baat |
1969 |
Hamara gaon |
1954 |
|
|
One act and short plays written by Ramesh Mehta
Hisab barabar |
Kya musibat hai |
Shararat |
Panch parmeshwar |
Bhai-band |
Andhera aur ujala |
Ek tha buddha |
Pagal |
Lakshmi ke pujari |
Namak ka daroga |
Swang |
Panch lakh |
Moorkh billiyan |
|
Plays directed by Ramesh Mehta
pagal |
Uljhan |
Under secretary |
Bade aadmi |
Paisa bolta hai |
Katha naqad narain ki |
Inspector general |
Faisla |
Dhong |
Roti aur beti |
Khuli baat |
Wah re insaan |
Rang kachche aur pakke |
Bin chehron ke purush |