Vishwanath Chintamani Bedekar (Devanagari

Devanagari

Devanagari |deva]]" and "nāgarī" ), also called Nagari , is an abugida alphabet of India and Nepal...

: विश्वनाथ चिंतामणी बेडेकर) (1906 - 1998), who professionally used the name Vishram Bedekar (विश्राम बेडेकर), was a Marathi

Marathi people

The Marathi people or Maharashtrians are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group, that inhabit the Maharashtra region and state of western India. Their language Marathi is part of the southern group of Indo-Aryan languages...

 writer and movie director from Maharashtra

Maharashtra

Maharashtra is a state located in India. It is the second most populous after Uttar Pradesh and third largest state by area in India...

, India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

.

Bedekar was born on August 13, 1906 in Amravati

Amravati

Amravati is a city in the state of Maharashtra, India and the seventh most populous metropolitan area in Maharashtra. It is also the administrative headquarters of the Amravati district...

, Vidarbha

Vidarbha

Vidarbha is the eastern region of Maharashtra state made up of Nagpur Division and Amravati Division. Its former name is Berar . It occupies 31.6% of total area and holds 21.3% of total population of Maharashtra...

. After receiving his college degree in Amravati, he went to Nagpur

Nagpur

Nāgpur is a city and winter capital of the state of Maharashtra, the largest city in central India and third largest city in Maharashtra after Mumbai and Pune...

 for his post-graduate studies. During his college days, he was drawn to English literature and theater. He moved to Pune

Pune

Pune , is the eighth largest metropolis in India, the second largest in the state of Maharashtra after Mumbai, and the largest city in the Western Ghats. Once the centre of power of the Maratha Empire, it is situated 560 metres above sea level on the Deccan plateau at the confluence of the Mula ...

 in the 1930s.

In 1938, he married Malati Bedekar, (whose maiden name was Balutai Khare).

Literary work

Bedekar wrote his only novel Ranangan (रणांगण) in 1939. It portrayed romantic love between an Indian youth and an English girl against the backdrop of World War II, and created a storm in literary circles in his times.

Bedekar received in 1985 a Sahitya Akademi Award

Sahitya Akademi Award

Sahitya Akademi Award is a literary honor in India which Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, annually confers on writers of outstanding works in one of the following twenty-four major Indian languagesAssamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri, English, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri,...

 for his autobiographical Ek Jhad Ani Don Pakshi (एक झाड आणि दोन पक्षी).

He presided over Marathi Sahitya Sammelan

Marathi Sahitya Sammelan

Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Sahitya Sammelan is a conference for literary discussions by Marathi writers. Though the conference has sometimes been held in a town outside the Indian state of Maharashtra, it is typically held annually in one of the towns in Maharashtra where Marathi is the mother tongue...

 (मराठी साहित्य सम्मेलन) in Mumbai

Mumbai

Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...

 in 1988.

Bedekar wrote several plays:

• Brahma Kumari (ब्रह्मकुमारी) (A mythological play with contemporary relevance)
• Naro Wa Kunjaro Wa (नरो वा कुंजरो वा)
• Waje Paul Apule (वाजे पाउल अपुले)
• Tilak Ani Agarkar (टिळक आणि आगरकर).

The last play depicted the emotional and intellectual conflict between Bal Gangadhar Tilak

Bal Gangadhar Tilak

Lokmanya Tilak –, was an Indian nationalist, teacher, social reformer and independence fighter who was the first popular leader of the Indian Independence Movement. The British colonial authorities derogatorily called the great leader "Father of the Indian unrest"...

 and Gopal Ganesh Agarkar

Gopal Ganesh Agarkar

Gopal Ganesh Agarkar was a social reformer from Maharashtra, India during the British Raj.-Early life:Gopal Ganesh Agarkar was born on 14 July 1856 in Tembhu , a village in Satara district now in Sangli district of Maharashtra. Agarkar had his primary education from Karad...

.

Movie Direction

Bedekar took a course in cinematography in the U.K. He directed:

• Thakiche Lagna
• Satyache Prayog
• Vasudeo Balwant
• Naradnardi
• Krushnarjun Yuddha
• Chool Ani Mool
• Ramshastri
• Pahila Palna
• Rastum Sohrab (Hindi
  Hindi
  Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...
  
  )
• Ek Nanhi Munni Ladki Thi (Hindi
  Hindi
  Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...
  
  )
• Lakkharani (Hindi
  Hindi
  Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...
  
  )