'''Radheshyam Kathavachak, (b. 1890)'''


Writer born in Bareilly. Major 1920s Parsee
theatre playwright, e.g. for New Alfred Co. In
plays like Shri Krishnavtar (1926), Rukmini
Mangal (1927) and Shravan Kumar (1928) he
more or less invented the mythological in its
familiar Hindi film version, still practised in e.g.
Sagar’s TV serial, Ramayan (1986-8).
Established as the most successful playwright
of his generation with the hit Abhimanyu (New
Alfred, 1916), whose book was a bestseller. He
drew upon his strong familial roots in the
performative traditions of the Ramleela and
pioneered the mediation of Northern and
Central Indian folk performances into the later
mass cultural manifestation of the genre in
Hindi cinema. Unlike e.g. Betaab, he made
few claims for classicism beyond that of writing
in ‘pure’ Hindi (as distinct from Urdu). He
attempted to link up with the devotional rather
than with the spectacular and addressed a
proletarian audience through the publications
of his Radheshyam Press in Bareilly. Worked
briefly for Madan Theatres as scenarist and
songwriter and freelanced often for former
New Alfred colleagues. His autobiography
(1957) is considered a classic description of the
early 20th C. commercial theatre and also gives
a first-hand description of the Madan film
factory. Also scripted or wrote lyrics for
Bhavnani’s Shakuntala (1931), Dhrupad Rai’s
Shri Satyanarayan (1935), Varma’s Usha
Haran (1940), Sohrab Modi’s Jhansi Ki Rani
(1953) and Sharad Desai’s Shravan Kumar
(1960).

[[Writer]]