Awardees

Citation

Shree Shankar S. Melkote is a man of many parts.

He completed all of his higher studies through a succession of merit scholarships. Having done his law, he won an exchange scholarship to study business management in the University of Minnesota.

He did not pursue his law practice but went into management. Working in various companies he is now the Managing Director of Margadarsi Marketing Company.

However it is not his professional competence but for his hobby that is being acknowledged today.

He is interested in theatre and films. In the last 20 years, he has acted in numerous plays and about 140 feature films.

He has a deep and abiding interest in books. He not only reads widely but also has found a novel way of motivating others to do so. He set up the Little Theatre in 1996. This group reads extracts from original writings and translations of eminent authors by using some of the simple techniques of the theatre, without any physical props. He is an innovator who has expanded the scope of the presentation and appeal of the written word in all its forms. He has thus been an agent for the spread of a new type of literacy amongst lay audiences. Till now the Little Theatre has given about 150 performances in many cities of India. Audiences everywhere have always enjoyed his free presentations.

The trustees of the Yudhvir Foundation have therefore great pleasure in awarding the seventeenth annual award to Shri Shankar S. Melkote for his outstanding and unusual contribution for the popularization of literature through innovative theatre.