Theatre legend Ebrahim Alkazi passed away at the age of 94 on Tuesday. He died of a “massive heart attack” at Escorts Hospital in New Delhi, his son and theatre director Feisal Alkazi confirmed the news to a media portal.
“Dad died this evening at 2.45 pm after a massive heart attack. He was admitted to the Escorts hospital the day before yesterday,” his son Feisal Alkazi said.
Here’s everything to know about Ebrahim Alkazi
Alkazi became one of the most prominent theatre artistes in Mumbai during the 1940s and 1950s and is known for bringing a revolution in theatre in India.
However, at 37, Alkazi moved to Delhi and served as the director of National School of Drama (NSD) for the next 15 years (1962 to 1977) — the longest tenure ever in the history of the institute.
As director of the National School of Drama, he shaped the course for modern Indian theatre, establishing links between traditional vocabulary and modern idiom. In Bombay, Alkazi did powerful renditions of Greek tragedies, Shakespeare, Henrik Ibsen, Chekov and August Strindberg.
At 50, Alkazi quit the NSD and theatre and set up the gallery Art Heritage with his wife in New Delhi, and built his collection of art, photographs and books.
This is not known to everyone that Alkazi was also a noted art connoisseur and collector. He was close to the members of the Progressive Artists’ Group such as FN Souza, Akbar Padamsee and MF Husain — some of who later painted and designed sets for his plays.
