Veteran Arun Kakade selected for META Lifetime Achievement

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New Delhi: Theatre veteran Arun Kakade is set to be conferred with a Lifetime Achievement honour for 2017 at the upcoming 12th Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Awards (META).

The 85-year-old theatre producer is best known as the man behind the success of the Marathi theatre group Aavishkaar. 

He started his career in Pune, and later shifted to Mumbai, where he was associated with theatre greats like Vijaya Mehta and veterans Vijay Tendulkar, Arvind Deshpande, and Madhav Watve. 

"META to confer Lifetime Achievement Award on theatre veteran Arun Kakade," according to a statement released on Wednesday.

The announcement comes ahead of the week-long META festival to be held in the capital from March 4 to March 9, where the ten nominated plays will be staged. 

The awards will be presented in a ceremony on March 10, which will celebrate the best of Indian theatre from the previous year.

In past years, the META Lifetime Achievement Award has been conferred upon several stalwarts of Indian theatre, including Late Zohra Sehgal, late Badal Sarkar, Late Khaled Chowdhary, Ebrahim Alkazi, Girish Karnard, Heisnam Kanhailal and Padmashree Ratan Thiyam.

"Kakade's contribution to Indian theatre has been immense and META is privileged to confer him with the Lifetime Achievement Award," said Mahindra Cultural Outreach Head Jay Shah. 

"There is a multitude of talent in this art form, which is the source code of all performing arts and we are proud to present META each year as an inclusive, empowering, and prestigious canvas," he said.

Earlier this month, META announced the 10 shortlisted plays -- Lassanwala, Bhima, Elephant in the room, Outcaste, Kaali Naadakam, Dhumrapaan, Mahabharata, Awddyo shesh rajani, Katha Sukavi Suryamall ki, I don't like it as you like it

These will be showcased during the festival and judged across various award categories by the esteemed jury.