Tanveer Sanman for veteran actress Sulabha Deshpande

Roopvedh Pratishthan has decided to honour veteran actress Sulabha Deshpande with the Tanveer Sanman for her unparallelled contribution to theatre and films.

Roopvedh honours senior theatre personalities with the award annually for their service to theatre at the national level.
This year, actress Veena Jamkar has been selected for the Tanveer Natyadharmi Puraskar. The award has been instituted to encourage young theatre artists.

The awards will be given away at a function at Yashwantrao Chavan auditorium, Kothrud, on December 9 at 6.30 pm. Invitations for the programme will be available at the theatre from December 7 between 9.30 am and 11.30 am and from 5 pm to 8 pm.

The awards have been instituted in the name of thespian Shreeram Lagoo’s son, Tanveer, who died when a miscreant flung a stone at him while he was travelling in a Pune-Mumbai train in 1994. Tanveer in Persian means ‘divine light in the sky’.

Roopvedh was established by Lagoo in 2004 and since then, Lagoo and his wife Deepa have been giving away the awards.
Announcing the awards, Lagoo and Deepa said, “Senior actors have set an ideal for youngsters and their hard work in the development of theatre should be remembered. That is the aim of Tanveer Sanman. Natyadharmi is to appreciate young artists,’’ said Deepa.

Known as a hardcore actress, Sulabha Deshpande started her career in theatre in the 1950s. She came into the limelight after winning awards in state competitions for plays like Madhlya
Bhintee, Sasaa Ani Kasav.

Shantata Court Chalu Ahe, which was staged in 1967,
cemented her position as a talented actress.

In 1971, she established the theatre group, Avishkar, with Arvind Deshpande and Arun Kakade and continued to serve theatre.
Deshpande was in the forefront to start the Chabildas theatre movement in 1974, which became a platform for Marathi amateur theatre activity.

Her significant contribution to children’s theatre came through Chandrashala, the children’s theatre wing of Avishkar, which produced excellent plays like Baba Harvale Ahet, Raja Ranila Ghaam Hava and Pandit Pandit Tujhi Akkal Shendit.
With the help of guru Parvatikumar, Chandrashala produced the popular dance drama Durga Zali Gauri.

Sulabha has acted in over 200 films and television serials in Hindi and Marathi. She has several awards to her credit, including Sangeet Natak Academy award, Nanasaheb Phatak award, Ganpatrao Joshi award, Vasantrao Kanetkar award, Kusumagraj Puraskar and others.

She has represented India at programmes and meets on children’s theatre in Russia, America, Japan and Australia.
Jamkar made her presence felt through films like Valu, Gabhricha Paus and Viheer. But it was the children’s plays, Ushir Hotoy and Vairee, that set her base as an artist. She got her early lessons from Sudha Karmarkar’s workshops. She got the national fellowship for acting in 1997 and later took Kathak lessons under Birju Maharaj.

Her acting talent was further polished at workshops by theatre guru Satyadev Dubey. Her talent was visible in plays like Payrya, Kalookh, Tich Ti Diwali, Khel Mandiyala and Davedar. Her role in the play Ek Rikami Baju, based on breast cancer was widely
appreciated.