Marathi writer, playwright SN Navare passes away at 86

On Wednesday, Maharashtra lost a famous Marathi writer, playwright and novelist, Shankar Narayan Navare. At the ripe of age of 86, Navare died of health complications at his Dombivli residence in the morning at around 8am.

Navare was popularly known as Shanna. Born in 1927, he finished his schooling in Dombivli and completed his high school and college education from St Xavier’s College in Mumbai, Fergusson College in Pune and Siddharth College in Mumbai. Despite being a bachelor of science (BSc), he was keenly interested in writing and many of his articles had been published in newspapers.

Some popular books authored by Navare include Surang, Samvad, Divse Divas and Anandache Jhaad.  He also wrote popular plays such as Ek Asto Raja, Navra Mhanu Naye Aapla and Gulam.

During his lifetime, he won the GD Madgulkar Award and various other recognitions from the government as well as private institutes for his contribution to Marathi literature.

Rahul Damle, deputy mayor of Kalyan Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC), said that Navare’s death was an irreparable loss to Dombivli itself. “A person becomes known because of the place he belongs to, but there are some people who make a place famous because of their presence. SN Navare made Dombivli famous because of the body of his work and his presence. His death is a big loss to all of us,” Damle said.