A visionary,complete theatre man

Dubey was admitted to a hospital in Vile Parle after he suffered a seizure on the evening of September 20 at Prithvi Theatre’s cafe. A huge crowd of volunteers had offered to keep a watch on him,though two ward boys were later appointed to take care of him.

The Padma Bhushan awardee has been one of the most prominent visionaries of modern Indian theatre. He dabbled in almost all aspects of theatre — acting,direction and writing — before devoting most of his time in training young theatre enthusiasts. On a regular evening at Prithvi Theatre’s cafe,he used to interact with actors and writers over sulemani chai. Playwright-director Manav Kaul,who trained under him as an actor,said,“Dubeyji’s contribution to Indian theatre in immense. In the past 50 years,every decade has a story to narrate about his theatrical work and evolution as a theatre visionary and guru.”

“Dubey became the conduit through which the theatres of four languages came together — Hindi,Kannada,Bengali and Marathi. He did plays by the big five of the times — Badal Sircar,Mohan Rakesh,Vijay Tendulkar,Adya Rangacharya and Girish Karnad,” said Shanta Gokhale,who recently edited a book on him,Satyadev Dubey: A Fifty-Year Journey Through Theatre.

Dubey was widely recognised as being responsible for spreading the word about good plays among his colleagues elsewhere in the country. Gokhale recounts one such episode. “He sent Ebrahim Alkazi the script of Dharamvir Bharati’s Andha Yug. Though it was written as a radio play,Dubey had seen strong theatrical possibilities in it. Alkazi’s production of it in Delhi established it instantly as a modern classic,” she said.

In his long career,Dubey produced and directed plays of all the prominent playwrights of India and Europe,including Karnad’s Hayavadana,Badal Sircar’s Evam Indrajit,Mohan Rakesh’s Aadhe Adhure,Vijay Tendulkar’s Gidhade,Jean Paul Sartre’s No Exit,G B Shaw’s Dear Liar,and Sophocle’s Antigone.

Dubey,who was born in Bilaspur,made Mumbai his home,also worked in films. He wrote scripts and dialogue for Shyam Benegal’s Mandi,Junoon,Nishant,Ankur and Bhumika,and directed Marathi film Shantanta! Court Chalu Aahe,based on Tendulkar’s play.