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A Specialist in Children's Theatre
 Bhaskar
Shewalkar, a theatre personality of Hyderabad has
continually brought cosmopolitan and global experiences
to the local theatre audiences.
He was born to Dattatreya and Vatsala Shewalkar
in Hyderabad. To date, Bhaskar remembers
the eventful day of May 11, 1940 when he was pushed
on to the stage to deliver a single comic line in a
children's play staged on the occasion of Ganesh
Chaturthi. This incident built his confidence and
introduced him to theatre, which was to become
his passion of a lifetime. After this, there was no
stopping him and he held plays not only in school and
in Ganesh Chaturthi melas, but also collected
like-minded people, wrote scripts and presented them
to the few audience that was interested.
He got his Bachelor's Degree in Commerce and
a Diploma in Veterinary Science. As he moved
from one job to another, he was already getting recognition
and honours for his theatre activities.
In 1983, he did a Post Graduate Diploma in Theatre
Arts from Osmania University. This was when
he started to take theatre more seriously, more actively.
He also began teaching theatre arts. In 1989, he became
a lecturer in Theatre Arts in the University
of Hyderabad and in 1993, a Reader.
Professorship was granted to him in 1998. Under his
guidance, one student has obtained a Ph.D and two more
are working on their research thesis. Shewalkar is
a Member, Board of Studies at Osmania, Andhra and
Venkateshwara universities.
He has acted and directed in 70 major plays in Marathi,
Hindi, Telugu, Gujarati, Urdu, Kannada and English.
Each of his play has given the audience something
valuable and new, drawn from all over the world, thought-provoking
or even awesome. The experience gained and the new vision
acquired has certainly influenced the Telugu, Hindi,
Marathi and Urdu theatre activities at Hyderabad.
In the course of a dedicated and prolific theatre
career, he has taken specialise interest in children's
theatre, theatre as a therapy and theatre in education.
His workshops on Grips Theatre have been lauded
by theatre persons all over India. He has organised
and participated in several workshops for students,
youth, teachers and handicapped children.
He has presented papers on theatre related subjects
at several seminars held at state, national and international
levels. While accomplishing all these, he is keeping
his feet firmly rooted to the 'stage' offering presentations
that never fails to strike a chord in every person with
an interest in theatre.
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