Noted director Jaydev Hattangady passes away

Noted theatre personality Jaydev Hattangady passed away at 4.30 am today. Since the past one year Jaydev who had been diagnosed with cancer was keeping indifferent health but the firebrand that he was he continued working till his last days. He is survived by his wife the very talented Rohini Hattangady and son Aseem. He was 60. Jaydev a very respected name amongst theatre circles always kept a very low profile. He was an apprentice to Satyadev Dubey who sent him to the National School of Drama where he met his to-be-wife Rohini. Upon graduation in 1974, Rohini was awarded the Best Actress award while Jaydev who was training in direction, won the Best director award. The two got married the following year and have a son Aseem who is now a trained actor. Having started his professional career by directing plays for inter-college festivals Jaydev went on to become a much sought after name. Jaydev and Rohini started a Marathi theatre group called ‘ Avishkar ’, which went on to produced over 150 plays. The couple also runs ‘Kalashray’, a centre for research, education in arts and talent encouragement, working with the underprivileged and developing tools for powerful communication. Having learned the craft from guru Ebrahim Alkazi at NSD Jaydev was not only a fine director but also an actor. He called himself a freelance theatre and allied arts professional, who, in the last three decades, had done experimental theatre in Marathi, Hindi, English and Punjabi. He has directed over 30 productions and acted in 15 of them. Some of the plays that he directed like Aparajita, Medea, Evam Indrajit, Surya Ke Waris, Changuna, Yerma have run to full houses. Jaydev received the Best Producer’s award for his final year production of Mahesh Elkunchwar’s Yatna Ghar in the year 1973-74. He was appointed Professor in the Department of Dramatics, Faculty of Performing Arts, M.S. University, Baroda in 1994 and has been part of the visiting faculty for Maharashtra State Government, the Goa Kala Academy, the South Gujarat University and the Punjab University where he has conducted workshops. He has also directed plays and telefilms for Mumbai Doordarshan. Though Jaydev was never a Bollywood enthusiast he could not refuse friends like Saeed Mirza who cast him in films like Arvind Desai Ki Ajeeb Dastan, Albert Pinto Ko Gussa Kyon Aata Hai and Chakra . He was also seen in the Rajiv Rai serial Thoda Hai Thode Ki Zaroorat Hai . Tellychakkar pays a tribute to one of finest theatre directors and above all a great human being.