Ask Shanta Gokhale what plays have left an impression on her in the 60-odd years of her career as a writer, translator, and theatre critic, and the 84-year-old says with a laugh, “I’ve been watching plays since I was 12. I’ll have to draw up a list of 60 to 70 plays to answer that question!” We are talking to her about her upcoming keynote address on the evolution of Marathi, Hindi, Gujarati, and English plays and literature in Mumbai, in which, as a translator and critic, Gokhale has played an essential role.

The theatre critic will be presenting the address at the sixth Tikekar Memorial Fellowship awards ceremony, organised by the Dr Aroon Tikekar Centre for Advanced Studies, set up the Asiatic Society to honour the scholar, researcher and writer. This year, lecturer and researcher Dr Himanshu Smart will be the sixth recipient of the fellowship. Since the research studies are based on theatre and literature in Mumbai, Gokhale said she chose to represent these aspects through the lens of language.