Author Introduction
Kanti Madia is an actor and director, known for Hazaar Chaurasi Ki Maa (1998), Thakshak (1999) and Rajlakshmi (1987).Kashino Dikro\nKanti Madia\nYear: 1979; Language: Gujarati; Runtime: 145 min; Color: Color\nCinematographer: Barun Mukherjee; Lyricist: Balmukund Dave, Ravji Patel, Madhav Ramanuj, Anil Joshi, Ramesh Patel\nCast: Rajiv, Ragini, Rita Bhaduri, Giresh Desai, P. Kharsani, Tarla Joshi, Leela Jariwala, Vatsala Deshmukh, Mahavir Shah, Arvind Vaidya, Saroj Nayak, Jagdish Shah, Pushpa Shah, Javed Khan, Shrikant Soni, Dilip Patel, Kanti Madia\n\nDebut and sole feature by theatre director and actor Madia, revitalising a Gujarati cinema inaugurated by Rathod’s FFC-supported Kanku (1969). The sentimental melodrama adapted from a noted writer’s story by Gujarat’s two leading stage personalities, Madia and Joshi, tells of Kashi (Ragini) who raises her husband’s (Desai) adolescent younger brother (Rajiv). The young man dies on his wedding night of snakebite. His widowed bride Rama (Bhaduri) is later raped by Kashi’s husband and becomes pregnant. Kashi saves the family’s and Rama’s ‘honour’ by pretending to be pregnant herself and adopting the child as her own. Kashi dies in the end as an icon of saintly motherhood. The rather slow moving narrative promotes a conservative notion of Gujarat’s brahminical joint family culture. the director , actor, producer and playwright kanti madiya ,who has died aged 72, enriched Gujarati theatre with a string of critically acclaimed plays.He directed more than 30 productions- with bold andrevolutionary themes- for the natyasampada theatre company he founded in 1967 ,while intellectuals welcomed his work , he was attacked by self-styled moral custodians of society. born in to jain family , in the erstwhile princely state of lathi, madiya went into the theatre in the face of family opposition.in 1948, he enrolled at bhavans college, Bombay, won prizes for acting and direction , and turned professional in 1952 ,his first one-act play was Raakhna ramakada,was an instant hit . in 1959 he founded and ran the bohemians theatrecompany . Despite many offers from bollywood,he directed only one film,the prize winning kashi no dikro (1979),in 1980 he founded the kavyasampada poetry club.died june 15 2004