(Arun Naik, Bapurao Naik's elder son speaks at the Mumbai Marathi Sahitya Sangh kickstarting Bapurao Naik's centenary year celebrations).
The period from 1964 when the new building opened till about 1972 at least, there was much activity in theatre and literature. Many new plays by new playwrights. Bapurao was a keen enthusiast for theatre education and training. The early batches of Alkazi’s NSD were passing out. Kamalakar Sontakke was a medallist. My father invited him to the Sahitya Sangh and initiated the Amrut Natya Bharati, or A Na Bha, being the initials of Dr Amrut Narayan Bhalerao. These classes went on for many years. Sontakke went to England and they stopped. Then Ramesh Chaudhari and later Waman Kendre ran them. Many successful actors and directors emerged from this course. Sontakke, upon returning, became the head of the Aurangabad University Theatre Department, the first of its kind in Maharashtra. Now we have university departments in Pune, Nagpur, Kolhapur and Mumbai. Bapurao Naik was the pioneer in this field. He even collaborated with the NSD.
