Literary genius Dilip Chitre dies of cancer

Born in 1938,Dilip Chitre was one of the foremost Indian writers and critics to emerge in the post-independence era. Apart from being an important bilingual writer,he was also a painter and filmmaker. His film Godam had won Prix Special du Jury award at the Festival des Trois Continents at Nantes in France in 1984. Besides he had received a number of awards such as Ministry of Human Resource Development’s Emeritus Fellowship,the University of Iowa’s International Writing Program Fellowship,the Indira Gandhi Fellowship,Villa Waldberta Fellowship for Residence given by the city of Munich,Bavaria,Germany and so on.

His Ekun Kavita or Collected Poems published in the nineties in three volumes were awarded Sahitya Akademi Award (1994) for Ekoon Kavita-1. Travelling in the Cage is his collection of English poems. He had also edited An Anthology of Marathi Poetry from 1945-1965 . His most famous translation is of the celebrated 17th century Marathi saint – Tukaram,published as Says Tuka that won the Sahitya Akademi Translation Prize in 1994.

“I met him in 1992,when he read one of my poems and appreciated my work. He was a genius and such people are born once in generations. Very few people are able to match the kind of impressive work Chitre did in various streams,be it music,painting,literature,translation or films. He worked in a regional language keeping a global approach in mind. He would go beyond the conventional boundaries of the field and explore new dimensions,” said poet Ganesh Vispute.

Jayant Joshi,artiste and Chitre’s close friend,said,“He was much more than a friend to me. He was truly a global citizen. I am thankful that I got the opportunity to be his close friend. We would meet once in three months but every meeting was a treat that I will always cherish forever. We’ve lost a great human being.”