In 2010, the META Lifetime Achievement Award was instituted to acknowledge the dedication, energy, and hard work that leading theatre-practitioners in India have put into the field. Their unstinted efforts have contributed significantly to the growth and development of theatre as an art form. Over the years, the META Lifetime Achievement Award has become a prestigious accolade to reward a vast body of theatrical work. Past awardees have included: the late Badal Sircar (2010), the late Zohra Sehgal (2011), the late Khaled Chaudhury (2012), Ebrahim Alkazi (2013), the late Girish Karnad (2014), the late Heisnam Kanhailal (2015), Ratan Thiyam (2016), Arun Kakade (2017), Vijaya Mehta (2018), Mahesh Elkunchwar (2019), Barry John (2020), Sushma Seth (2023) and Ram Gopal Bajaj (2024)
The Nature of Silence: The Art of Successful Direction by Barry John
Amitabh Srivastava
An alumnus of the National School of Drama, Amitabh Srivastava has been acting on stage since 1971 in plays directed by eminent theatre personalities such as E. Alkazi, B.V. Karanth, Satyavrat Sinha, Fritz Benewitz, Barry John, Ranjit Kapoor, Devendra Raj Ankur, M.K. Raina, Prasanna, Amal Allana. He has acted in more than 100 plays. Founder Member of Delhi’s prestigious theatre group Sambhav, he was nominated in the Best Actor category in Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Awards, 2007. Besides theatre, have also acted in many films and TV serials under the direction of reputed directors like Basu Chatterjee, Richard Attenborough, Govind Nihlani, Dev Benegal and Priyadarshan. The disciplines of writing & scripting have always been his forte and he has adapted major world classics of drama like The Fool, The Tempest, Good Woman of Setzuan, The Visit, Hedda Gabler, The Odd Couple and many others. He is a recipient of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for Acting in 2011.
Anurupa Roy
Shanta Gokhale was born in Dahanu and raised in Mumbai. Gokhale has worked as an English lecturer at Elphinstone and H.R. Colleges, a sub-editor at Femina, a PR Executive at Glaxo Laboratories, and as an Arts Editor at The Times of India. A writer and translator since 1960, she has authored multiple novels, plays, short stories, film scripts, and numerous articles. She has been a culture columnist for The Independent, The Sunday Times of India, Mid-Day, and Mumbai Mirror. She has translated works by Vijay Tendulkar, Mahesh Elkunchwar, and others between Marathi and English. Gokhale has also written a history of Marathi theatre, edited books on Satyadev Dubey and Veenapani Chawla, and compiled an oral history of Mumbai’s experimental theatre titled The Scenes We Made.
Anirban Ghosh
Anirban Ghosh is an arts entrepreneur, musician, composer, and avid adventure lover. He has more than 15 years of experience as a professional musician, performing and recording worldwide with artists such as Bernie Marsden, Murad Ali Khan, Susmit Sen, Kamal Sabri, Rabbi Shergill, Derek Beckvold, among others. He is a recipient of the ARThink South Asia Fellowship, RSA Fellowship (UK), British Council’s Young Creative Entrepreneur award, Goethe Institut’s SAMUR Fellowship, and the Gates Foundation’s Fellowship in Leadership & Innovation.
Deepan Sivaraman
Deepan Sivaraman is a distinguished theatre director, scenographer, and Dean at Ambedkar University, Delhi. He’s designed/directed over 60 performances globally, earning accolades including the Kerala Sangeet Nataka Akademi Award and Mahindra Excellence National Theatre Award. He is the founder/ Artistic Director of the Kerala-based Oxygen Theatre Company.
Sanjoy K. Roy
Sanjoy K. Roy, an entrepreneur of the arts, is Managing Director of Teamwork Arts, which produces over 33 festivals in 42 cities and 17 countries, including the world’s largest literary gathering — the Jaipur Literature Festival and international editions of JLF. He is a founder-trustee of Salaam Baalak Trust, working to provide support services for street and working children in the inner city of Delhi where over 1,30,000 children have benefited from education, training and residential services. Roy is the Co-chair of the Art and Culture Committee of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry and former President of Event and Entertainment Management Association. He lectures at and works in collaboration with leading universities across the world and has been conferred the honorary degree of Doctor of the University honoris causa by University of York, UK, in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the arts and society.
Sushma Seth
Sushma Seth is a versatile actress known for her work on stage, in television and films. She is also a children’s theatre activist, founder member of ‘Yatrik’, and a Founders Scholar from Carnegie Mellon University, U.S.A. Throughout her career, which began in 1960, she has played lead roles in 80 plays in Hindi, Urdu, and English. Seth has acted in over 100 films and television series, including ‘Humlog’ and ‘Dekh Bhai Dekh’. She established Children’s Creative Theatre in 1973 and initiated children’s drama workshops at the National School of Drama. As an author, she wrote ‘Stageplay’ and translated 'Rangmanchan' into Hindi, which was published by the National School of Drama. Seth has directed over 40 plays and has been on the faculty of several institutions. She is currently the Honorary Cultural Director of NGO Arpana, where she has conducted many production-oriented workshops from 1998-2020. Seth has been felicitated and honoured with several awards, including the Rashtriya Priyadarshini Award, Bharat Nirman Award, Sahitya Kala Parishad Best Actress award, Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, and National Vayoshrestha Award, among others.
A riveting tale of caste, gender, class, conflict and politics, 'Agarbatti' is based on the Behmai massacre committed by Bandit Queen Phoolan Devi and her gang to avenge her gangrape by the upper-caste Thakur men of Behmai. In order to rehabilitate the widows of the massacred Thakurs, the government opens an incense stick factory in the village. One of the widows, Lala Ram Thakurain, reserves the last rites of her husband until Phoolan Devi has been executed. The story begins after Phoolan’s death and explores its implications and consequences on a series and spectrum of events.
Shanta Gokhale
Shanta Gokhale was born in Dahanu and raised in Mumbai. Gokhale has worked as an English lecturer at Elphinstone and H.R. Colleges, a sub-editor at Femina, a PR Executive at Glaxo Laboratories, and as an Arts Editor at The Times of India. A writer and translator since 1960, she has authored multiple novels, plays, short stories, film scripts, and numerous articles. She has been a culture columnist for The Independent, The Sunday Times of India, Mid-Day, and Mumbai Mirror. She has translated works by Vijay Tendulkar, Mahesh Elkunchwar, and others between Marathi and English. Gokhale has also written a history of Marathi theatre, edited books on Satyadev Dubey and Veenapani Chawla, and compiled an oral history of Mumbai’s experimental theatre titled The Scenes We Made.
