In what appears to be an acute case of colitis, playwright, director and actor Chetan Datar passed away on Saturday, 2nd August 2008. His death comes as a huge blow to the theatre people who knew him and to Awishkar, a Marathi theatre institution with which Chetan was closely associated. He was in his mid forties.

Plays like SAVLYA, ZULVA, RADHA VAJE RANADE and JUNGLE MEIN MANGAL established Chetan�s reputation as a writer and director who was interested in new ideas and new ways of doing theatre. With productions like Mahesh Elkunchwar�s HARAVLELE PRATIBIMB and GIRIBALA (based on Rabindranath Tagore�s eponymous story), he tried to bring a contemporary approach to the medium of dance-drama.

He was an integral part of Awishkar and an inspiration to younger actors. Of late he had begun working on projects with Rangashankara in Bangalore and Rangakarmee in Kolkata. A few months back he was in Bangalore putting together a production of Mahesh Elkunchwar�s HOLI. His untimely death has left behind a vacuum that perhaps only time can heal.