Kanti Madia (or Kanti Madiya) was an Indian actor, director, producer and playwright from

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...

, India. He established the Natyasampada theatre company, and directed more than 30 plays. He is particularly known for directing the

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 ...

'' Kashino Dikro'' (1979), his only film.

Biography

Kanti Madia was born on 7 March 1932 into a

Jain Jainism ( ), also known as Jain Dharma, is an Indian religion. Jainism traces its spiritual ideas and history through the succession of twenty-four tirthankaras (supreme preachers of ''Dharma''), with the first in the current time cycle being ...

family in the former princely state Lathi. In 1948, he entered in

Bhavan's College Bhavan's College is a college located in Andheri West, a neighborhood in western Mumbai, India. It was established in 1946, a year before India gained independence from the British in 1947. K. M. Munshi was the founding president of the colle ...

, Mumbai where he won prizes for acting and directing. In 1952, he started his career in theatre. His first one-act play ''Raakhna Ramakada'' became instant hit. In 1959, he established Bohemians theatre company. Although he received many offers from

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...

, he directed only one film, '' Kashino Dikro'' (1979), which he adapted from the Gujarati short story, ''Dariyav Dil'', written by Vinodini Nilkanth. The film was mainly noted for a moving portrayal of actress

Rita Bhaduri Rita Bhaduri (4 November 1955 – 17 July 2018) was an Indian film and television actress.she has also work in Gujarati cinema. Career She initially appeared as supporting actress in various Bollywood films during the 1970s, 1980s, and 199 ...

. In 1980, Madia founded the Kavyasampada poetry club. He died on 15 June 2004. Kanti Madia also acted in "Episode 42 - A Horse And Two Goats" of critically acclaimed Hindi TV serial ''Malgudi Days''. Writer

Sanjay Chhel Sanjay Chhel is an Indian film director, writer and lyricist. Early life Sanjay Chhel was born on 14 October 1967 at Dwarka in Gujarat, India. He spent his childhood in Mumbai. He is son of art director and production designer Chhel Vayeda. ...

published a book on Madia in 2017. Its title was ''Mutthi Unchera Madia''.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Madia, Kanti 1931 births 2004 deaths Gujarati-language film directors Film directors from Gujarat People from Bhavnagar district