Vishram Bedekar
Vishwanath Chintamani Bedekar (1906-1998), who used Vishram Bedekar as his professional name, was a prominent and immensely popular Marathi writer, playwright and film-maker. His first and only novel, Ranaangan, was published in 1939 and created a sensation in the literary circles of the time. Among the several plays he wrote are Bramhakumari, Naro Va Kunjaro Va, Vaje Paul Apule and Tilak ani Agarkar—the last, which investigates the ideological conflict between two friends who were also towering social reformers, is a classic of Marathi theatre. In 1984, he published his autobiography, Ek Zhaad Ani Don Pakshi (A Tree and Two Birds), which won the Sahitya Akademi Award the following year. A trained cinematographer, Bedekar also directed over fifteen films, among them, Thakiche Lagna, Satyache Prayog, Vasudeo Balwant, Ramshastri and Pahila Palna in Marathi; and Andheri Duniya, Talaash, Do Bhai, Rustom Sohrab and Ek Nanhi Munni Ladki Thi in Hindi. Vishram Bedekar was married to Malati Bedekar, also a leading Marathi writer and a pioneering feminist.
