Jayanti Ghelabhai Dalal (18 November 1909 – 24 August 1970) was an Indian author, publisher, stage actor, director and politician. Born in family of theatre organiser and involved in politics during and after independence of India, he was influenced by

socialism Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...

and

Gandhian philosophy Gandhism is a body of ideas that describes the inspiration, vision, and the life work of M.K. Gandhi. It is particularly associated with his contributions to the idea of nonviolent resistance, sometimes also called civil resistance. The ter ...

. He wrote one-act plays, short stories and edited publications.

Life

Jayanti Dalal was born on 18 November 1909 at

Ahmedabad Ahmedabad ( ; Gujarati: Amdavad ) is the most populous city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is the administrative headquarters of the Ahmedabad district and the seat of the Gujarat High Court. Ahmedabad's population of 5,570,585 (per t ...

. His father Ghelabhai was organiser of Deshi Natak Samaj, a theatre group. So he had his primary and secondary education at various places. He completed his matriculation in 1925 and joined

Gujarat College Gujarat Arts & Science College, popularly and previously known as Gujarat College, is one of the oldest educational institution of India and second arts and science college of Gujarat, near Ellis Bridge, Ahmedabad. The institution was founded ...

for further studies. He left studies in 1930 when he was in final year of Bachelor of Arts as he participated in

Indian independence movement The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events with the ultimate aim of ending British Raj, British rule in India. It lasted from 1857 to 1947. The first nationalistic revolutionary movement for Indian independence emerged ...

. He started publishing house in 1939 and published until his death. He was involved in Mahagujarat Movement in 1956 helping

Indulal Yagnik Indulal Kanaiyalal Yagnik (22 February 1892 – 17 July 1972) was an Indian independence activist, who purchased indian tri colour flag from Germany to India. He was a leader of the All India Kisan Sabha and one who led the Mahagujarat Movement, w ...

and he published ''Navgujarat'' daily during that period. He was elected to

Bombay state Bombay State was a large Indian state created at the time of India's Independence, with other regions being added to it in the succeeding years. Bombay Presidency (roughly equating to the present-day Indian state of Maharashtra, excluding Sou ...

assembly in 1957. In 1962, he again contested but lost the election. He died in Ahmedabad on 24 August 1970. Alongside his political career, he directed and acted in the amateur theatre group Rangmandal.

Works

Plays

He is known for his

one-act play A one-act play is a play that has only one act, as distinct from plays that occur over several acts. One-act plays may consist of one or more scenes. The 20-40 minute play has emerged as a popular subgenre of the one-act play, especially in writi ...

s. They were innovative, related to life and filled with thoughtful and satirical dialogues. His childhood experiences with his father's stage play company impacted his brilliance in plays. Some of his popular plays are ''Soi nu Naku'', ''Draupadi no Sahkar'' (1950), ''Jeevandeep'' (1940) and ''Joiye Chhe, Joiye Chhiye''. His one-act play collections are ''Javanika'' (1941), ''Pravesh Bijo'' (1950), ''Pravesh Trijo'' (1953) and ''Chotho Pravesh'' (1957). ''Rangtoran'' is collection of children's plays while ''Avataran'' (1949) is a three-act play. ''Kaya Lakdani, Maya Lugdani'' (Bodies of Wood, Fascination for Clothes, 1963) is a treatise on stagecraft and plays showing his attitude towards the theatre production. His plays are collected in 'Javnika' (Curtain, 1941) and 'Pravesh' (Entry, four volumes, 1950–7).

Editing

He edited magazines on theater and literature, ''Rekha'' (1939-1940) and ''Ekanki'' (1951). He also edited ''Gati'' weekly and later ''Navgujarat'' (New Gujarat, 1956) daily during Mahagujarat movement. He edited the complete works of Dahyabhai Jhaveri. He edited cinema magazine based in Delhi and also produced

Gujarati film Gujarati cinema, also known as Gollywood or Dhollywood, is the Gujarati language film industry. It is one of the major regional and vernacular film industries of the cinema of India, having produced more than one thousand films since its inc ...

''Bikhare Moti'' in 1935.

Others

He wrote short stories and novels also. ''Dhimu ane Vibha'' is an example of his innovative stories which focus more on psychological aspect of lead character than external world. His stories like ''Junu Chhapu'' (1939) and ''Agiyar ne Panch'' (1944) are influenced by

existentialism Existentialism ( ) is a form of philosophical inquiry that explores the problem of human existence and centers on human thinking, feeling, and acting. Existentialist thinkers frequently explore issues related to the meaning, purpose, and valu ...

. ''Padar na Teerath'' (1946) is about political climate of India in 1942 including

Quit India movement The Quit India Movement, also known as the August Kranti Movement, was a movement launched at the Bombay session of the All India Congress Committee by Mahatma Gandhi on 8th August 1942, during World War II, demanding an end to British rule in ...

. ''Adkhe Padkhe'' is his short story collection. He translated ''

War and Peace ''War and Peace'' (russian: Война и мир, translit=Voyna i mir; pre-reform Russian: ; ) is a literary work by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy that mixes fictional narrative with chapters on history and philosophy. It was first published ...

'' by

Leo Tolstoy Count Lev Nikolayevich TolstoyTolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; russian: link=no, Лев Николаевич Толстой,In Tolstoy's day, his name was written as in pre-refor ...

in Gujarati.

Awards

He was awarded

Ranjitram Suvarna Chandrak Ranjitram Suvarna Chandrak, also known as the Ranjitram Gold Medal, was founded by Gujarat Sahitya Sabha and is considered the highest literary award in Gujarati literature. The award is named after renowned Gujarati writer Ranjitram Mehta. It is ...

in 1959 and

Narmad Suvarna Chandrak Narmad Suvarna Chandrak (Gujarati: નર્મદ સુવર્ણ ચંદ્રક), also known as the Narmad Gold Medal or Narmad Chandrak, is a literary honour in Gujarat, India. It is bestowed by the organisation known as Narmad Sahitya Sa ...

for his contributions in field of literature.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dalal, Jayanti Film producers from Gujarat 1909 births 1970 deaths Indian independence activists from Gujarat Gujarati-language writers Gujarat politicians Recipients of the Ranjitram Suvarna Chandrak Indian dramatists and playwrights Indian editors Indian short story writers Indian novelists Indian theatre directors Indian stage actors Bombay State MLAs 1957–1960 Gujarat MLAs 1960–1962