Published 20:09 IST, June 9th 2020
Uttam Gada's demise: A tribute to the well-known screenwriter and playwright
Uttam Gada was a well-known screenwriter and playwright who died at the age of 72 on June 6, 2020. Keep reading to know about his great works.
The news of the demise of well-known playwright Uttam Gada caused a great loss to the entire drama world. He was known for writing Gujarati and Hindi plays, stories for movies, screenplays and dialogues. Talking to an entertainment portal about his experience with Uttam Gada, Manoj Shah, a renowned name in the Gujarati film industry, revealed that Uttam was a great man who had an excellent experience about life; he was a man of life and a very amazing human being.
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About the art of writing a play
According to Manoj Shah, Uttam Gada had a very accurate craft of writing and knew what the Gujarati audience has always liked. He also said that Uttam Gada did not allow any director to change a single word from his script without any proper or valid reason for changing it. He was known for writing commercial and alternative plays at the same time. And that is why his plays were not only about stereotypes but also about new concepts.
Manoj Shah also revealed that Gada always taught him that one should experiment consistently. Doing so allowed one to create something new regularly. He went on to say that Uttam Gada was well aware of the need for both mainstream and alternative audience.
Manoj Shah also talked about writing an Oedipus play in collaboration with Uttam Gada. For this work, Gada came to India from America to write a play for Ideas Unlimited, and he also wanted to do a WhatsApp play in Hindi version. However, his wish remained unfulfilled. He also said that Uttam Gada always wrote plays while keeping the performer in mind, and his demise is a sudden loss to the Gujarati entertainment industry.
All about Uttam Gada
Uttam Ravji Gada was born in 1948 and got fame with his long-running play directed and enacted by Paresh Rawal, titled “Maharathi”. The play was successful and played in multiple languages and in various countries. He also wrote mainstream Bollywood movies like Khiladi 420 and Yun Hota Toh Kya Hota. He was nominated for Best Screenplay for the film Khiladi 420 in the year 2001. Uttam Gada passed away on June 6, 2020, in San Francisco, USA, because of complications due to chronic lymphocytic leukemia.
Updated 20:09 IST, June 9th 2020