Pralhad Keshav Atre () (13 August 1898 – 13 June 1969), popularly known as Āchārya Atre, was a prominent

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India **Marathi people (Uttar Pradesh), the Marathi people in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Mar ...

writer, poet, educationist, founder–editor of ''Maratha'' (a Marathi language newspaper), and above all a noted orator.

Biography

Early life

Atre was born on 13 August 1898 in a

Deshastha Rigvedi Brahmin family of Kodit Khurd, a village near Saswad in Pune district. His father was a

clerk A clerk is a white-collar worker who conducts record keeping as well as general office tasks, or a worker who performs similar sales-related tasks in a retail environment. The responsibilities of clerical workers commonly include Records managem ...

and also a secretary of Saswad Municipality for a brief period and his uncle was teacher at MES Waghire High School Saswad. He completed his primary and High School education from MES Waghire High School, Saswad. He matriculated from

Fergusson college Fergusson College is an autonomous public-private college offering various courses in the streams of arts and science in the city of Pune, India. It was founded in 1885 by Vaman Shriram Apte, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Vishnushashtri Chiplunkar, Mah ...

in 1919. He completed Bachelor of Arts from

University of Pune Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU), formerly the University of Pune, is a public state university located in the city of Pune, India. It was established in 1949, and is spread over a campus in the neighbourhood of Ganeshkhind. The uni ...

. After graduation Atre took up a career as a school teacher. Atre did his T. D. (teacher's diploma) from the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

in 1928. Before returning to

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

he studied

Experimental Psychology Experimental psychology is the work done by those who apply Experiment, experimental methods to psychological study and the underlying processes. Experimental psychologists employ Research participant, human participants and Animal testing, anim ...

under

Cyril Burt Sir Cyril Lodowic Burt, Fellow of the British Academy, FBA (3 March 1883 – 10 October 1971) was an English educational psychology, educational psychologist and geneticist who also made contributions to statistics. He is known for his studies o ...

and taught at Harrow.

Film and theatre career

His Marathi film, ''

Shyamchi Aai ''Shyamchi Aai'' (; ) is an autobiography of social activist Pandurang Sadashiv Sane (known as ''Sane Guruji''). Its regarded as one of the greatest tributes to mother's love in Marathi literature. Story ''Shyamchi Aai'' is an autobiography of S ...

'' won the 1954

National Film Award for Best Feature Film The National Film Award for Best Feature Film is one of the categories in the National Film Awards presented annually by the National Film Development Corporation of India, the organisation set up by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in I ...

.Awards

IMDb IMDb, historically known as the Internet Movie Database, is an online database of information related to films, television series, podcasts, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and biograp ...

Atre wrote seven plays; some of them had a humorous theme while others, a serious one. All of them received high public acclaim. His comedy-play, '' Moruchi Mavshi'' was later adapted into

Hindi film Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, is primarily produced in Mumbai. The popular term Bollywood is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (former name of Mumbai) and " Hollywood". The industry, producing films in t ...

, ''Aunty No. 1'' (1998), starring

Govinda Govinda (, ), also rendered Govind, Gobinda, and Gobind, is an epithet of Vishnu and his avatars, such as Krishna. The name appears as the 187th and the 539th name of Vishnu in the ''Vishnu Sahasranama''. The name is also popularly addressed to ...

and

Raveena Tandon Raveena Tandon (born 26 October 1972) is an Indian actress primarily known for her work in Hindi films. Considered as one of the leading actresses of the 1990s and early 2000s, Tandon is a recipient of several awards, including a National Film ...

. His movie Mahatma Phule (1955) received the ''President's Silver Medal''.

Writing and Publishing

Atre was the founder–editor of four Marathi newspapers. Two of them had a short life. But the other two, ''Maratha'' and ''(Weekly) Navayug'', ran for many years with a large circulation. Below are some of his works. Poetry collections: 1.Akrava Avtar (अकरावा अवतार) (1920) 2.Zenduchi Fule (झेंडूची फुले) (1925) 3.Geetganga (गीतगंगा) (1935) 4.Panchagavya (पंचगव्य) (1958) Novels: 1.Maharashtra Mohra (महाराष्ट्र मोहरा) (1914) 2.Mohityancha Shaap (मोहित्यांचा शाप) (1921) 3.Changuna (चांगुणा) (1954) Autobiographical works: 1.Mi Kasa Jhalo (मी कसा झालो) 2.Karheche Pani (कर्हेचे पाणी)

Career

Political

* Member of

Samyukta Maharashtra Samiti Samyukta Maharashtra Movement, () commonly known as the Samyukta Maharashtra Samiti, was an organisation in India that advocated for a separate Marathi-speaking state in Western India and Central India from 1956 to 1960. The Samiti demanded t ...

during 1956–60. He was arrested in 1956 under the Preventive Detention Act for his agitation. * Member of

Maharashtra Vidhan Sabha The Maharashtra Legislative Assembly (ISO: ''Mahārāṣṭra Vidhāna Sabhā'') is the lower house of the bicameral legislature of Maharashtra state in western India. It consists of 288 members directly elected from single-seat constituencie ...

from Dadar constituency (18) 1962

Novels, Biographies, and Essays

* Gharābāher (1934) * Bhramāchā Bhopalā (1935) * Udyāchā Sansār (1936) * Lagnāchi Bedi (1936) * Moruchi Māwashi (1947) a Marathi comedy play * To Mi Navhech (1962) * Chāngunā (1954) * Battāshi Wa Itar Kathā (1954) * Mahātmā Jyotibā Phule (1958) * Suryāsta (1964) (On the life of

Jawaharlal Nehru Jawaharlal Nehru (14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat, and statesman who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20th century. Nehru was a pr ...

) * Samādhiwaril Ashru (1956) * Kelyāne Deshātan (1961) * Krantikarkanche kulpurush Savarkar (1983) * Atre Uwāch (1937) * Lalit Wāngmaya (1944) * Hashā Āni Tālyā (1958) * Dalitanche Baba (Remembering Dr. Ambedkar) *Mi Kasā Jhālo (1953)

Movies

* Brahmachari (1938) * Vasantsena (Marathi and Hindi 1942) * Shyāmchi Aai (1953) * Premveer (Script writer) * Dharmveer (Script writer) * Brandichi Bātali (Script writer) * Paayaachi Daasi (Hindi: Charanon Ki Daasi). Producer. * Mahātmā Phule (1954) * Parinde (Hindi, Director under name of Principal Atre) (1945)

Journalism

* Founder/Editor of (weekly) ''Sāptāhik Navyug'' (1940–1962) and ''Tukārām'' (1954) * Evening newspaper ''Jai Hind'' (1948) * Daily ''Marāthā'' (1956 – Till the end)

Honors

* President of 38th ''Natya Sammelan'' at Belgaon (1955) * President of 10th ''Maharashatra Patrakar Sammelan'' (1950) * President of ''Regional Sahitya Sammelan'' at

Baroda Vadodara (), also known as Baroda, is a city situated on the banks of the Vishwamitri River in the Indian state of Gujarat. It serves as the administrative headquarters of the Vadodara district. The city is named for its abundance of banyan ...

Indore Indore (; ISO 15919, ISO: , ) is the largest and most populous Cities in India, city in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. The commercial capital of the state, it has been declared as the List of cleanest cities in India, cleanest city of In ...

and

Gwalior Gwalior (Hindi: , ) is a major city in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh; It is known as the Music City of India having oldest Gwalior gharana, musical gharana in existence. It is a major sports, cultural, industrial, and political c ...

* In his honor there is an ''Acharya atre bhavan'' in Saswad

Awards

;

National Film Awards The National Film Awards are awards for artistic and technical merit given for "Excellence within the Cinema of India, Indian film industry". Established in 1954, it has been administered, along with the International Film Festival of India ...

(India) *

1st National Film Awards The 1st National Film Awards, presented by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India to felicitate the best of Indian Cinema released in the year 1953. Ceremony took place at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi on 10 October 1954 and awards were ...

(1953) – President's Gold Medal for the All India Best Feature Film –

* 2nd National Film Awards (1954) – President's Silver Medal for Best Feature Film in Marathi –

Mahatma Phule Jyotirao Phule (11 April 1827 – 28 November 1890), also known as Jyotiba Phule, was an Indian social activist, businessman, anti-caste social reformer and writer from Maharashtra. His work extended to many fields, including eradication of ...

References

* ''Prahlad Keshav Atre'', by A. N. Pednekar. Sahitya Akademi Publications. .

External links

*
Prahlad Keshav Atre
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Atre, Prahlad 1898 births 1969 deaths Marathi-language poets Marathi film directors Businesspeople from Pune Maharashtra MLAs 1962–1967 Marathi film producers Indian male novelists Indian autobiographers Indian newspaper editors Indian magazine editors Indian magazine founders Presidents of the Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Sahitya Sammelan 20th-century Indian poets 20th-century Indian novelists 20th-century Indian dramatists and playwrights Indian male dramatists and playwrights Indian male screenwriters Marathi politicians Writers from Pune Politicians from Pune Screenwriters from Maharashtra Novelists from Maharashtra Poets from Maharashtra 20th-century Indian male writers Producers who won the Best Feature Film National Film Award Directors who won the Best Feature Film National Film Award Independent politicians in India 20th-century Indian screenwriters