Sunil Shanbag Biography 
Sunil Shanbag is an Indian theatre director, screen-writer and documentary film-maker. In 1985, Shanbag founded the theatre company Arpana which concentrates on contemporary works. He has worked extensively with Satyadev Dubey, noted theatre personality. He is also known for the association with famous film and play director, Shyam Benegal. He worked as assistant of Shyam Benegal for the famous television series of Doordarshan, Bharat: Ek Khoj. He won the National Film Award for Best Non-Feature Film in 1994, for his production venture Maihar Raag. In 2009, he directed a short film titled, The Sword and the Spear, based on the contemporary dancer Astad Deboo and his Manipuri troupe. His critically acclaimed directorial play, ‘Cotton 56, Polyester 84’ won three META awards at the Mahindra Theatre Festival in the year 2007.
He was born on October 7, 1956. He graduated from Mumbai University and didn’t have any formal training in theatre. Yet his association with Satyadev Dubey earned him a lot of theater experience that he carried forward in his own direction. He regards Dubey as one of his foremost gurus. His theatre company Arpana focuses on contemporary and original texts by Indian and international playwrights. It also experiments with innovative use of music and design and uses minimized staging. He also stages plays for social causes, for the accumulation of funds.
‘Cotton 56, Polyester 84’ is one of his most noted plays which gives a brief sketch about the industrialization, especially in the mills of Girangaon. It won three META awards at the Mahindra Theatre Festival, including Best Original Script. ‘S x M rality & Censorship’, Dreams of Taleem’ and Gujarati adaptation of All's Well That Ends Well are other noted plays.
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Updated: March 05, 2014
