Manaswini Lata Ravindra

Manaswini Lata Ravindra is a Marathi playwright, screenwriter and director, known for writing the play Amar Photo Studio and also being one of the writers of the Marathi sitcom Dil Dosti Duniyadari.^[1] In 2016, she is a recipient of the Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar for her short story collection, Blogchya Aarshyapallyad.

Early life

She started writing poetry at the age of 3.^[2] She joined Lalit Kala Kendra of Pune University after her 12th and got a Bachelor of Arts degree.^[3][4] She graduated from Lalit Kala Kendra in 2003.^[5] Manaswini and some of her friends and alumni of Lalit Kala Kendra have started a theatre group called Lalit Mumbai.^[6]

Career

Ravindra wrote her first play Cigarettes when she was 20.^[5] In 2006, she won the Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar in Playwriting, given by Sangeet Natak Akademi.^[7][8] In the same year, she attended the Royal Court Theatre workshop at Vasind.^[9] In 2007, she wrote the play Alvida.^[10] In 2010, she was also part of Pratibimb, the first ever contemporary Marathi theatre festival, organised by NCPA at Mumbai. She is also credited to have directed the play, Ekmekaat in 2009.^[11][12] In 2014, her play Lakh Lakh Chanderi was staged at Pratibimb Marathi Theatre Festival.,^[13] she won the Sahitya Akademi Award in the youth category, for Blogchya Arshapalyad (a collection of short stories).^[14]

In 2017, she also spoke at Jawab Do, an event organised by Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti.^[15] She also won the first position for best writing in the Maharashtra State Marathi Professional Drama Competition, in 2017, for her play Amar Photo Studio.^[16] She is also an executive committee member of Screenwriters Association, Mumbai.^[17] She was nominated for Filmfare Awards (Marathi) for best screenplay, for the movie Ti Saddhya Kay Karte in 2018.^[18]

Works

Plays

Year	Play	Notes
2006	Cigarettes
2007	Alvida
2009	Ekmekaat	Writer/Director
2014	Lakh Lakh Chanderi	Writer/Director [19]
2019	Daavikadun Chouthi Building	Writer [20]
	Majhya Vatnicha Kharakhur	[21]
	Amar Photo Studio	[22]

TV shows

• Lek Ladki Hya Gharchi (aired on ETV Marathi)
• Eka Lagnachi Dusri Goshta (aired on Zee Marathi)
• Dil Dosti Duniyadari (aired on Zee Marathi)
• Bun Maska ( aired on Zee Yuva )
• Ti Phulrani ( aired on Sony Marathi )

Movies

• Rama Madhav.^[6][23]
• Ti Saddhya Kay Karte
• Kaccha Limboo

Personal life

She is married to director Satish Manwar.^[6] Her parents were social activists. Her mother, Lata Pratibha Madhukar, is an activist with Narmada Bachao Andolan^[24] whereas her father, Ravindra, is a campaigner against female foeticide.^[3][25] She uses her parents' name instead of her surname.^[21] She and her mother were jointly awarded the Prerna Puraskar in 2014 by DD Sahyadri on their Mother's Day special.^[24]