Theatre veteran, Arun Kakade has been conferred a Lifetime Achievement honour for 2017 for his contribution to Indian theatre.
The prestigious award was presented to him as the week-long extravaganza of theatrical events reached its culmination on Friday evening at the red-carpet awards gala of the 12th Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Awards (META).
"I am so happy that META has been promoting Indian theatre for the last 12 years. There is diverse variety in the plays that come here. I have staged my plays here thrice before, but at the age of 86, I wasn't expecting any award really. I am thankful to the META Festival organisers for this prestigious honour," Kakade said.
Like every year, this year's short-list of META was diverse and showcased the best of Indian theatre. For a week, the festival staged 10 nominated plays that revolved around motifs ranging from mythology and caste to complex love stories and human emotions.
The line-up featuring plays in English as well as several Indian Languages including Hindi, Bengali and Malayalam, among others received an overwhelming response from the audience as the shows ran to packed houses. The Jury comprised of theatre stalwart Dolly Thakore, Mahesh Dattani, Sachin Khedekar, Seema Biswas, Avijit Dutt and Maya Krishna Rao.
The annual awards, which recognise excellence in theatre nationally, celebrates the intrinsic diversity and rich cultural traditions of India. META has emerged as one of India's most comprehensive award and a premier honour for the theatre fraternity, awarding on-stage and off-stage talent across 14 award categories, including the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award.
While "Mahabharata" bagged the award for Best Production along with Best Director and Best Choreography, "I Don't Like It As You Like It," won Best Ensemble, Best Stage Design and Best Actor in Supporting Role (Female), and "Elephant in the Room" won Best Actor in a Lead Role (Female), Best Costume Design and Best Light Design, giving them three awards each.
"The journey of META has been one of the most artistically fruitful and soul-satisfying for all of us. META 2017 brought together some of the finest theatre from across the country. From the heartwarming story of an upper caste person breaking bread with a Dalit to the machinations in a corporate office, from the saga of the Mahabharata to the inner musings of Ganesha, the actors transported us across time and space and reflected the diversity and cultural richness of India," said Festival producer Sanjoy K Roy.
The award for Best Actor in a Lead Role (Male) was jointly presented to Anirban Bhattacharya (Awddyo Shesh Rajani) and Rajendra Panchal (Katha Sukavi Suryamall Ki).
--IANS
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