Ebrahim Alkazi

Ebrahim Alkazi is one of the pioneers of Indian theatre. He is considered as one of the most influential Indian theatre directors of all time. Initially, he was associated with the Bombay Progressive Artists’ Group and got in close contact with art pioneers like M.F.Husain, F.N.Souza, S.H.Raza, Akbar Padamsee, Tyeb Mehta. These artists have also painted and designed his sets. Nearly 50 plays including numerous Shakespeare and Greek plays, Girish Karnad’s Tughlaq, Mohan Rakesh’s Ashadh Ka Ek Din
and Dharamvir Bharati’s Andha Yug, were directed by him.

In 1950, he won the BBC Broadcasting Award. He began his theatrical career in the English-language Theatre Group of Sultan “Bobby” Padamsee, a pioneer of the English theatre movement in India. In 1954, he initiated his own Theatre Unit and began to revolutionise Indian theatre by the magnificence of his vision, and the meticulousness of his technical discipline. He became the Director of National School of Drama, New Delhi in 1962 and held the post till 1977. He also founded the Art Heritage Gallery in Delhi along Roshan Alkazi, his wife.

In 2004, he became the first recipient of Roopwedh Pratishtan’s the Tanvir Award for his lifetime contribution to the Indian theatre. For his outstanding Direction, he has been awarded The Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1962. Later, he was awarded Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship for lifetime contribution to theatre. The Government of India awarded him Padma Shri
in 1966, the Padma Bhushan in 1991 and the Padma Vibhushan in 2010.