Khadilkar, Krishnaji Prabhakar Khadilkar (English: Krushnaji Prabhakar Khadilkar, born- 25 November, 1872, Sangli; died- 26 August, 1948) was a dramatist. He was born in Sangli. His theatrical talent shone during his student days. He was a versatile talented student who always shone in examinations, sports and elocution competitions. While studying in high school and college, he studied Sanskrit and English plays deeply.
After becoming a lawyer, he became a co-worker of Lokmanya Tilak with the noble spirit of serving the country. There was a supernatural combination of elegance and seriousness in his nature. He started creating drama with the noble aim of awakening the people. Adopting Shakespeare’s dramatic style, he successfully composed about 15 artful and impressive plays. He also wrote musical plays like artistic prose plays and made the prose plays as artistic as musical plays.
In 1893, his prose and tragic play named ‘Sawai Madhavrao Ki Mrityu’ was performed which attracted the audience especially. After this, prose plays like Keechak Vadh and Bhau Bandaki increased his popularity. His play ‘Kichak Vadh’ was so successful in satirizing current political situations that the British government had to confiscate it.
He was very successful in giving poignant criticism of contemporary politics through mythological theatre. Similarly, he was also very successful in writing a historical play named ‘Bhau Bandaki’. He started writing musical plays from 1912 and wrote seven such plays by 1936. in which
Sangeet Manapaman, Sangeet Swayamvar, Sangeet Draupadi are excellent plays.
Khadilkar’s plays are artistic in every respect, from the setting of the theater’s content, character portrayal, effective narration, fulfillment of emotions, etc. His theatrical creations are filled with beauty, bravery, compassion etc. Dramatic literature and theater flourished significantly due to his dramatic creations. The source of his work was idealism which often emerged in his life. He has clearly said that the main objective of my theater art is to create public awareness or provide public education in such a way that it helps in national progress. The playwright should present ideal character portrayals in front of the audience so that they get influenced by them and practice Karmayoga.
Khadilkar was also a keen patriot and a brilliant editor who successfully edited the daily newspaper Navakal in Bombay for about 16 years. He is called Shakespeare of Marathi. In the last days of his life, he also wrote serious texts on spirituality.
