Lit fest to pay tribute to Alyque Padamsee

Anil Dharker, director of the fest

It will be sheer coincidence when Tata Literature Live!, which is hosting the Sultan Padamsee Playwriting Awards on Sunday, will remember not one, but two veterans from the Padamsee family.

The awards - first instituted in 1966 by the Theatre Group Bombay in memory of their founder poet, actor and director Sultan (Bobby) Padamsee - will pay a special tribute to his brother Alyque at the Little Theatre, NCPA, said Anil Dharker, founder-director of the literary festival. Speaking to mid-day, Dharker said, "We are dedicating the event to him, because this award is about plays, and though Alyque was an advertising man all his life, his contribution to theatre was incredible and immense."

Dharker, who is yet to come to terms with the news, said he always "marvelled at Alyque's energy" when watching him onstage. The two friends go back nearly 40 years, when Dharker, as editor of Debonair, did a full-fledged interview with him. "Apart from the fact that we both had a shared love for theatre, we were also fighting for the same causes [Dharker is president of Citizens for Justice and Peace, co-founded by Alyque].

In the last few years, Alyque was very concerned with the country's social and political climate, especially how minorities were being treated. And, he would ring me up or send me messages regarding this. I think this is a concern he had right till the end."

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