Shanta Gokhale
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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''.


Early life and education

Born in
Dahanu Dahanu (Pronunciation: Help:IPA/Marathi, əɦaːɳuː is a coastal town and a municipal council in Palghar district of Maharashtra, Maharashtra state in Konkan division. It is located 110 km from Mumbai city and hosts Adani Power’s ...
in
Palghar district Palghar District (Marathi pronunciation: Help:IPA/Marathi, aːlɡʱəɾ is a Districts of Maharashtra, district in the state of Maharashtra in Konkan Division. The headquarters of the district is the town of Palghar. Other major cities in the ...
of Maharashtra, Gokhale's family moved to
Shivaji Park Shivaji Park, officially Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Park, is a public park situated in Dadar, Mumbai. It is the largest park in the island city. Similar but bigger in size to Azad Maidan and Gowalia Tank, August Kranti Maidan (formerly Gowal ...
neighbourhood in Mumbai in 1941 when her father, GG Gokahle, joined a newspaper, ''Searchlight''. Her father later joined the Bennett and Coleman Group. 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 The University of Bristol is a public research university in Bristol, England. It received its royal charter in 1909, although it can trace its roots to a Merchant Venturers' school founded in 1595 and University College, Bristol, which had ...
. Returning to India, at the age of 21, she did her M. A. (Hons) degree in English literature from
University of Mumbai University of Mumbai is a public state university in Mumbai. It is one of the largest university systems in the world with over 549,000 students on its campuses and affiliated colleges. , the university had 711 affiliated colleges. It was est ...
. Subsequently, she joined Xavier's Institute of Communication, Mumbai, where she studied Communications and Video Production.


Career

Shanta Gokhale has previously worked as a part-time teacher at
Elphinstone College Elphinstone College is one of the constituent colleges of Dr. Homi Bhabha State University, a state cluster university. Established in 1856, it is one of the oldest colleges in Mumbai. It played a major role in shaping and developing the edu ...
, and as a public relations executive at
Glaxo Laboratories GSK plc (an acronym from its former name GlaxoSmithKline plc) is a British multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company with headquarters in London. It was established in 2000 by a merger of Glaxo Wellcome and SmithKline Beecham, wh ...
.


Writing and journalism

Gokhale initially published stories, in both English and
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 ...
, 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 Nissim Ezekiel (16 December 1924 – 9 January 2004) was an Indian poet, actor, playwright, editor, and art critic. He was a foundational figure in postcolonial India's literary history, specifically for Indian poetry in English. He was awar ...
for encouraging her to write in Marathi. She wrote the book while she still worked at Glaxo, formulating the ideas during her bus journeys and writing during her lunch breaks. Her second book, ''Tya Varshi'', was published seventeen years later, in 2008. It was later translated and published by her in English as ''Crowfall,'' in 2013. 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. She planned to release her memoirs with the tentative title of ''Here’s Looking at You, Body'' in 2018. It was later released as ''One Foot On The Ground: A Life Told Through The Body'' in 2019. 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. 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''. As an actor, she appeared in the parallel cinema classic, film, '' Ardh Satya'' (1983), directed by
Govind Nihalani Govind Nihalani (born 19 December 1940) is an Indian film director, cinematographer, screenwriter and producer, known for his works in Hindi cinema, particularly the movement of parallel cinema. He has been the recipient of six National Film Aw ...
, and in a 13-part TV series directed by
Amol Palekar Amol Palekar (born 24 November 1944) is an Indian actor, director and producer of Hindi and Marathi cinema. Early life and education Palekar was born to Kamlakara and Suhasini Palekar in a Marathi language, Marathi speaking middle-class family ...
. Her daughter,
Renuka Shahane Renuka Shahane (born 7 October 1966) is an Indian actress who is widely known for her work in the Hindi and Marathi films and several television productions. She is best known as the co-presenter of the Doordarshan TV show '' Surabhi'' (1993 ...
, made her directorial debut adapting Gokhale's novel ''Rita Welinkar'' into a Marathi film, ''Rita'' (2009). It featured her (Shahane),
Pallavi Joshi Pallavi Joshi (born 4 April 1969) is an Indian actress, writer, and film producer who works primarily in Hindi films and television. In a career spanning across films and television, Joshi is the recipient of such accolades as three National Fi ...
and
Jackie Shroff Jaikishan Kakubhai Shroff (born 1 February 1957), known by his screen name Jackie Shroff, is an Indian actor and former model from Mumbai, Maharashtra, who primarily works in the Hindi film industry. In a career spanning over four decades, he ...
in the cast. Gokhale has formerly been Arts Editor with ''
The Times of India ''The Times of India'' (''TOI'') is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by the Times Group. It is the List of newspapers in India by circulation, third-largest newspaper in India by circulation an ...
'', 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. She has previously been a columnist for newspapers like ''The Sunday Times of India'' and ''
The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
'', for tabloids like ''
Mid-Day ''Mid-Day'' (stylised as mid-day) is a morning daily Indian compact newspaper. Editions in various languages including Gujarati and English have been published out of Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and Pune so far. In 2011, the Delhi and Bangalore ...
'' and ''
Mumbai Mirror The ''Mumbai Mirror'' is an Indian English-language newspaper published in Mumbai, Maharashtra. Launched in 2005 as a compact daily newspaper, its coverage focused on city specific local news and civic issues concerning education, healthcare an ...
'' and for websites like '' Scroll.in''.


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 London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
. 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 Girish Karnad (19 May 1938 – 10 June 2019) was an Indian playwright, actor, film director, Kannada writer, and a Jnanpith awardee, who predominantly worked in Kannada, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Marathi films. His rise as a playwr ...
. This began her journey into understanding the processes of theatre making. Later, she started writing plays like ''Avinash'' in 1988 (which was directed by Dubey), ''Dip and Dop'' and ''Rosemary for Remembrance'' (which was premiered at the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival in 2016). In 2000, she published a critical study of
Marathi theatre Marathi theatre is theatre in the Marathi language, mostly originating or based in the state of Maharashtra in India, and elsewhere with Marathi diaspora. Starting in the middle of the 19th century, it flourished in the 1950s and 1960s. Today, ...
, ''Playwright at the Centre: Marathi Drama from 1843 to the Present''. She has also edited ''The Scenes We Made: An Oral History of Experimental Theatre in Mumbai.'' 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 Dadar (Help:IPA/Marathi, ̪aːd̪əɾ is a densely populated residential and shopping neighbourhood in Mumbai. It is also a prominent railway and bus service hub with local and national connectivity. It is Mumbai's first planned area and i ...
,
Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...
. The book was released in 2015.


Translation

As a translator she has worked on veteran actress
Durga Khote Durga Khote (née Vita Lad; 14 January 1905 − 22 September 1991) was an Indian actress, beginning as one of the foremost leading ladies of her time. She remained active in Hindi and Marathi cinema, as well as theatre, for over 50 years, starr ...
's noted autobiography and has published translations of several plays by leading Marathi playwrights like Mahesh Elkunchwar,
Vijay Tendulkar Vijay Dhondopant Tendulkar (6 January 1928 – 19 May 2008) was an Indian playwright, movie and television writer, literary essayist, political journalist, and social commentator primarily in Marathi. His Marathi plays established him as a writ ...
, G.P. Deshpande, and Satish Alekar. She credits her mother for inspiring her to translate the wealth of Marathi literature. 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 Visakhapatnam (; List of renamed places in India, formerly known as Vizagapatam, and also referred to as Vizag, Visakha, and Waltair) is the largest and most populous metropolitan city in the States and union territories of India, Indian stat ...
. 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 Durga Khote (née Vita Lad; 14 January 1905 − 22 September 1991) was an Indian actress, beginning as one of the foremost leading ladies of her time. She remained active in Hindi and Marathi cinema, as well as theatre, for over 50 years, starr ...
'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 Guru Dutt (born Vasanth Kumar Shivashankar Padukone; 9 July 1925 – 10 October 1964; also known as Gurudatta Padukone) was an Indian film actor, director, producer, choreographer, and writer.Rajadhyaksha, Ashish, and Paul Willemen. 9941998 ...
, titled ''Guru Dutt: Teen Anki Shokantika'', translated into English). In 2018, she published ''Smritichitre: The Memoirs of a Spirited Wife,'' translated from the original Marathi version published by
Lakshmibai Tilak Lakshmibai Tilak (1868–1936) was a Marathi writer from Maharashtra, India. Life Lakshmibai Tilak was married to Narayan Waman Tilak, at the age of 11, as per the social customs of the time. Narayan Waman Tilak was an accomplished poet. He ga ...
in four parts between 1931 and 1936.


Works

;Novels *"The Theatre of Veenapani Chawla. Theory, Practice, Performance", Publisher: Oxford University Press, New Delhi 2014. . * * ''Tyā varshī'' (Marathi). Mauja Prakashan. Griha, 2008. . * * * ''One Foot On The Ground: A Life Told Through The Body'' - autobiography. Speaking Tiger Books. 2018. * ''Shivaji Park: Dadar 28: History, Places, People''. Speaking Tiger Books. 2020. ;Plays * ;As translator * * * * *


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 Renuka Shahane (born 7 October 1966) is an Indian actress who is widely known for her work in the Hindi and Marathi films and several television productions. She is best known as the co-presenter of the Doordarshan TV show '' Surabhi'' (1993 ...
. After their divorce, she was briefly married to noted filmmaker Arun Khopkar. She currently lives in Lalit Estate,
Shivaji Park Shivaji Park, officially Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Park, is a public park situated in Dadar, Mumbai. It is the largest park in the island city. Similar but bigger in size to Azad Maidan and Gowalia Tank, August Kranti Maidan (formerly Gowal ...
,
Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...
, with her two helpers, Alka Dhulap and Sanjay Pashte, and is neighbours with Jerry Pinto. Over the years, Gokhale has served as a mentor for many, including poet
Arundhathi Subramaniam Arundhathi Subramaniam is an Indian poet and author, who has written about culture and spirituality. Life and career Subramaniam is a poet and writer based in Mumbai. She is the author of 13 books of poetry and prose. She has received the Ra ...
.


Awards and accolades

* Two National Awards (for documentary film scripts) * Two
Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...
state awards for literary creation for her novels (one for ''Crowfall'' in 2008 and the previous one being the VS Khandekar Award for ''Rita Welinkar'') *
Sangeet Natak Akademi Award Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (IAST: Saṅgīta Nāṭaka Akādamī Puraskāra), also known as the Akademi Puraskar, is an award given by the Sangeet Natak Akademi, India's National Academy of Music, Dance & Drama. It is the highest Indian recogni ...
2015 (for her overall contribution/scholarship for performing arts) * Ooty Literary Festival Lifetime Achievement Award (2018) * Tata Literature Live! Lifetime Achievement Award (2019) *
Sahitya Akademi Translation Prize Sahitya Akademi Translation Prize or Sahitya Akademi Prize for Translation is a literary honour in India, presented by Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, given to "outstanding translations of creative and critical works" in 24 ...
2021 for her translation ''Smritichitre :The Memoirs of a Spirited Wife'' originally written in Marathi by
Lakshmibai Tilak Lakshmibai Tilak (1868–1936) was a Marathi writer from Maharashtra, India. Life Lakshmibai Tilak was married to Narayan Waman Tilak, at the age of 11, as per the social customs of the time. Narayan Waman Tilak was an accomplished poet. He ga ...
.


References


Further reading

*


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gokhale, Shanta 1939 births Living people People from Dahanu Alumni of the University of Bristol University of Mumbai alumni 20th-century Indian translators Translators to English Indian theatre critics Indian women critics Indian women theatre critics Indian women columnists Indian columnists Women writers from Maharashtra English-language writers from India Marathi-language writers 20th-century Indian women writers 20th-century Indian novelists 20th-century Indian dramatists and playwrights Indian women novelists Indian women dramatists and playwrights Novelists from Maharashtra Dramatists and playwrights from Maharashtra Recipients of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award