Annasaheb Kirloskar

DOB : 31-03-1843
Date of death: 02-11-1885
Lived For : 41 Years
Star Sign : Aries
Gender : Male

Skills

» Playwright

Written By - Team Nettv4u

Annasaheb Kirloskar’s full name was Balwant Pandurang Kirloskar. He was an Indian Marathi playwright, actor, composer, and play director. He was born on March 31, 1843. Annasaheb Kirloskar’s place of birth is Gurlhosur in Belgium district, Karnataka, India. He belonged to a Karhade Brahmin family. He moved to Pune to pursue higher education after completing his studies in his native place at the age of twenty. His overwhelming interest in theatre resulted in discontinuation of his studies. Therefore, he faced pressure from his parents for his continued disinterest in formal education. Later, he returned to his native Belgaum after getting pressured by his father. For financial support for his family, he then worked as a school teacher for eight years in Belgaum. Subsequently, he worked for several years in the police department and as a clerk in the revenue commissioner’s office. Despite his lack of formal education, he was well-versed in Sanskrit literature.

Annasaheb Kirloskar established “Bharatshastrottejak Mandali” in 1866 while working as a school teacher in Belgaum. After seven years, he completed the composition of his debut prose play titled “Shri Shankar Digvijay” for public presentation by Kolhapurkar Natak Mandali. He also founded Kirloskar Natak Mandali around 1874. Inspired by a Parsi theatre opera, he translated the first four acts of Kalidas’s renowned Sanskrit play “Abhidnyan Shakuntalam into Marathi. In 1880, he presented them on stage as a musical play titled Shakuntal. The following year, he translated the left three acts of Abhinyan Shakuntalam and staged the entire play. He presented on stage his musical “Saubhadra” in 1882. The play contained almost a hundred musical pieces, and he also acted in the play. Throughout his career, he had given significant contributions to Marathi theatre.

Annasaheb Kirloskar presented the first three acts of his musical “Ram Rajya Wiyog” to the audience in 1884. But he couldn’t finish his writing the planned remaining three acts of the play due to his death. He used and popularized Hindustani, Carnatic classical, and folk music in his contributions. He died on November 2, 1885, at the very young age of forty-two. After his death, the Kirloskar Natak Mandali resigned for around thirty years with the plays of Deval and S. K. Kolhatkar.