Theatre doyen and legendary teacher Ebrahim Alkazi died on Tuesday afternoon after suffering a heart attack, his son said. He was 94.
Alkazi, who was the longest serving director of the National School of Drama, produced plays such as “Girish Karnad’s “Tughlaq” and Dharamvir Bharati’s “Andha Yug” . He mentored generations of actors, including Naseeruddin Shah and Om Puri. “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 told PTI.
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 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.
