Annasaheb Kirloskar Biography 
Annasaheb Kirloskar’s real name is Balwant Pandurang Kirloskar. But he is fondly known as Annasaheb Kirloskar. He was a Marathi playwright from Maharashtra. Kirloskar established Bharatshastrottejak Mandali in the year 1866. His first prose play Shri Shankar Digvijay for public presentation by Kolhapurkar Natak Mandali was completed 7 years later. He founded Kirloskar Natak Mandali around 1874. He has given significant contributions to Marathi Theater.
Balwant Pandurang Kirloskar was born in 1843 in Maharashtra. He was born at Gurlhosur in Belgaum district. After schooling, around 20 years he moved to Pune to pursue higher education. He became attached to theatre that resulted in discontinue of his studies. Later he returned to his home town Belgaum, where he started his career as a teacher. For financial support, he worked as teacher for eight years. Then he worked for a few years in the police department and then as a clerk in the revenue commissioner's office. Though he lacked good formal education, he was good in Sanskrit language.
It was during his period as a teacher, he established Bharatshastrottejak Mandali. First play Shri Shankar Digvijay was staged 7 years later. Around 1874, he founded Kirloskar Natak Mandali. The first musical play on Marathi stage was staged in 1879 titled - Nal-Damayanti, by playwright and producer Trilokekar. Inspired by his work, Kirloskar too decided to do a similar musical play. He translated first 4 acts of Kalidas’ Abhidnyan Shakuntalam to Marathi and presented them on stage in 1880 as a musical play titled Shakuntal. The next year, he translated the remaining three acts of Abhidnyan Shakuntalam and staged the entire play. He also worked as a stage actor. He included 198 musical pieces in his Marathi Shakuntal. Saubhadra and Ram rajya wiyog are other noted dramas of Kirloskar. Kirloskar Natak Mandali was functional, even after his death until 1913 and has presented may landmark dramas to the public.
Published: N/A
Updated: February 19, 2014
