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Jalabala Vaidya died in New Delhi at the age of 86. (Folders) Jalabala Vaidya, a legendary stage actor and co-founder of the capital's iconic Akshara Theater, died here on Sunday after a battle with respiratory illnesses, said his daughter and theater director, Anasuya Vaidya Shetty. He was 86 years old. Born in London to Indian author and freedom fighter Suresh Vaidya and English classical singer Madge Franckeiss, Jalabala Vaidya started out as a journalist, writing for various national newspapers and magazines in Delhi.
He received the Sangeet Natak Akademi Tagore Award, Delhi Natya Sangh Award, Andhra Pradesh Natya Akademi Honor, Honorary Citizenship of the City of Baltimore, USA for the Performing Arts. .
Jalabala Vaidya was briefly married to well-known journalist and columnist CP Ramachandran, but soon after met and married her longtime partner in arts and life, poet and playwright Gopal Sharman.
His theatrical life began in 1968 with 'Full Circle', a dramatized selection of poems and stories, which became an instant hit on his first European tour. The critical acclaim for Full Circle led to an invitation for Sharman to write and direct a play based on the Ramayana for the Royal Shakespeare Theatre's World Theater Season. Sharman wrote the play for a cast of 25 actors, but it became famous internationally as a solo performance in which Jalabala Vaidya played all the characters, in a style based on the traditional 'katha'.
A contemporary take on the epic as an English-language play, Sharman's 'The Ramayana' remains the only Indian production to run on Broadway, where The New York Times called it 'India's Gift to Broadway.'
Jalabala Vaidya's performances of "The Ramayana" - on Broadway, in the West End, at the UN headquarters, at national arts centers in different countries, as well as in more than 35 cities and towns across India - have sparked criticism. rave reviews from leading Indian and international newspapers.
He co-founded the Akshara National Classical Theater in New Delhi with Sharman. It is an exquisite arts complex and much-loved center for theatrical performances, designed and built by Sharman, where he has played the lead in more than 20 plays, including 'Full Circle', 'Larflarflarf', 'The Ramayana', 'Let's Laugh again', 'The Bhagavad Gita', 'El Cabuliwala', 'Gitanjali', 'The strange case of Billy Biswas', etc.
Also a director, Jalabala Vaidya has directed several plays at the Akshara Theater as well as his successful series of dramatized book readings.
Lately she had presented another version of the Ramayana, where she continued to perform the opening and closing acts of the play, supported by a group of young actors from the Akshara repertoire trained by her.
Jalabala Vaidya has produced, acted and narrated most of Akshara Theatre's TV movies like “India Alive”, “The Kashmir Story”, “The Sufi Way” etc. She is also the author of five books: "Be", "This Is Full", "That Is Full", "Life Is But A Dream" and "The Akshara Acting Method".
He is also survived by three grandchildren, singer and actress Nisa Shetty, actor Dhruv Shetty, and writer Yashna Shetty.
