The busy Bandra Gate Chowk in the city will be renamed after renowned Hindi author-journalist Dharamvir Bharati.
Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan will inaugurate the christening ceremony on Saturday evening in the presence of MPs Poonam Mahajan and Sanjay Raut, and other local leaders and ward officials of the civic administration.
A real tribute
Mumbai BJP general secretary Amarjeet Mishra said the naming of the chowk after Bharati is a real tribute to the eminent social thinker and legendary poet who spent a lot of time in Mumbai as an editor of a Hindi magazine till his demise in 1997.
A long association
“Dharamvir Bharti ji and Harivansh Rai Bachchan ji, the father of Amitabh Bachchan, had a long association with each other right from their teaching days in Allahabad University to the city of dreams. Hence, the inauguration of the chowk by the legendary actor assumes significance,” he said.
Born on 25 December 1926, Dharamvir Bharati was the chief editor of popular Hindi weekly magazine ‘Dharmayug’ from 1960 till his death in 1997. He was awarded the Padma Shri for literature in 1972 followed by Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in playwriting (Hindi) in 1988.
A classic
His novel ‘Gunaho Ka Devta’ became a classic, while ’Suraj ka Satwan Ghoda’ is considered a unique experiment in story-telling and was made into a national film award-winning movie by the same name in 1992 by Shyam Benegal. - PTI
