Vijay Tendulkar

Rudraprasad Sengupta

Vijay Tendulkar was a very interesting person, apart from being one of the finest contributors to the stage and screen. He was a very private person, withdrawn from the media but very socially aware, a crusader of sorts. And this is reflected in his plays, where the social issues never really obliterate the individual. That I think was a sign of ideal creativity.

Koushik Sen

The only time I saw Vijay Tendulkar was in Pune some years ago. I had been invited to read a paper at a seminar arranged by Satish Alekar. Tendulkar sat through my talk on Bengali and Marathi theatre and seemed to like it. So I was introduced myself to him at the end of the programme. He was looking very nice in a blue shirt. I had read all his plays and frankly was tongue-tied. I could only touch his feet. We are arranging a session in his honour at Sujata Sadan on June 1 where Shamik Bandyopadhyay and a few others will speak on him.

Usha Ganguli

People all over India, even in small villages, know his plays. I saw him for the last time in June 2007 in New Jersey, at the South Asian Festival. We were there for 20 days. He was very ill but he had come to see my plays and asked me why I don’t do his plays. I admired him a lot. He never hesitated to speak his mind. I remember the inaugural day when he spoke up for a group of Muslim actors who had been denied visas because of the London blasts.

Bratya Basu

It’s a great loss. Though I had never met him, I have read all his plays like Shantata! Court Chalu Aahe, Ghasiram Kotwal.... These are not only great plays but they prove that theatre cannot be bound by language or region. As a playwright I admire him because he never became a part of the theatre bureaucracy and functioned independently.