From Rangmanch to Shayari: Lucknow honours theatre pioneer

Lucknow witnessed an evening steeped in culture and nostalgia as the Urdu Academy hosted the 36th commemorative ceremony marking the 105th birth anniversary of noted theatre personality Comrade Shankar Dayal Tewari, attended by veteran screenwriter, lyricist and poet Javed Akhtar. Academicians, historians and theatre practitioners, including Surya Mohan Kulshrestha, Atul Tewari, Roop Rekha Verma, Kiran Raj Bisaria, with several eminent members of Lucknow’s cultural and theatre fraternity present at the event.
The evening began with the felicitation of veteran theatre and film actor Dr Anil Rastogi, recently honoured with the Padma Shri, by Javed Akhtar, recognising his significant contribution to Indian theatre.

The highlight of the programme was the session of Javed Akhtar where he reflected on his early years in Lucknow and spoke about literature, language and society, engaging the audience with anecdotes rooted in the city’s cultural ethos.

Theatre actor and writer Atul Tewari, talking about his father Shankar Dayal Tewari’s influential legacy, shared, “Unka kaam sirf rangmanch tak seemit nahi tha, balki ek tehzeeb ko zinda rakhne ka zariya tha,” he said.

The evening drew to a close with an interactive question-and-answer segment, where the audience asked questions to Javed Akhtar about his writing process and sources of poetic inspiration. Some requested him to recite his popular couplets, while others ended on a lighter note by asking him to choose his favourite poet between his father, Jan Nisar Akhtar and his father-in-law, veteran Urdu poet Kaifi Azmi.
— Amina Ashraf