J&K Academy of Art, Culture and Languages pays rich tributes to Mushtaq Kak

JAMMU : J&K Academy of Art, Culture and Languages condoles the sad demise of renowned theatre personality Mushtaq Kak here today. Several theatre and cinema personalities paid tributes to the departed soul.

Born on 11 September 1961 in Jammu, Shri Mushtaq Kak a recipient of the prestigious Sangeet Natak Akademi Award is a well-known theatre director. A former director of Shri Ram Centre for Performing Arts, New Delhi, Shri Kak has been continuously working on new plays, and conducting workshops nation-wide. Shri Kak started working in theatre as a back-stage artist, and as a designer of lighting, costume, make-up and sets. Later, he turned towards directing plays. He has directed plays in Dogri, Urdu, English and even Sanskrit language. Shri Mushtaq Kak has directed more than 100 plays including Manto-Ba Qalam Khud, Main Manto Hoon, Siyah Hashiye, Kahani Kahani based on short stories by Saadat Hasan Manto, Anton Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard and The Seagull, Jean Paul Sartre’s Men Without Shadows, Pirandello’s Six Characters in Search of an Author, Krishan Chander’s Ek Gadhe ki Wapsi and Ek Gadhe ki Atam katha, Dilli-6 based on William Shakespeare’s Two Gentlemen of Verona, Oma in Dogri based on Shakespeare’s Othello, and Shakespeare’s Macbeth in Dogri, Sharadjoshi’s Alladad, Mahesh Elkunchwar’s Vasaansi Jeernani, Dharamputra and Holi, Vasant Kanetkar’s Kasturi Mrig, Moti Lai Kemmu’s Nagar Udaas, Federico Garcia Lorca’s The Blood Wedding, Meera Kant’s Kali Baraf, Premanand Gajvi’s Mahabrahman, Chekhov in My Life based on Lydia Avilov’s autobiography and Max Frisch’s./4Worra. A recipient of both Junior and Senior Fellowships of the Department of Culture, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Shri Mushtaq Kak has conducted many production-oriented theatre workshops.

As an actor, Mushtaq Kak made significant contributions to Indian cinema, featuring in popular movies between 2007 and 2022. Some of his notable roles include Amal (2007) as Doctor, Hijack (2008) as the main villain (Mushtaq), Sikandar (2009) as Moulvi Allah Baksh, Vishwaroopam-I (2013) as Manawar, Dishoom (2016) as a Shopkeeper, M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story (2016) as a Shopkeeper, Vishwaroopam II (2018) as Manawar, Romeo Akbar Walter (2019) as Joker, Shikara (2020) as Masudahib, Tejas (2023) as Khatooni, and others.

For his contribution to the field of theatre, Shri Mushtaq Kak has been felicitated by many reputed institutions including Snageet Natak Akademi, Jammu and Kashmir Academy of Art, Culture and Languages, Srinagar/Jammu; and the Sahitya Kala Parishad, New Delhi.

While expressing his views Bharat Singh, Secretary JKAACL said that real tribute to Mushtaq Kakji will be to follow his path and vision.

Prominent among others who presented condolences included Khalid Hussain, Dr. Javaid Rahi, Arvinder Singh Amn, Dr. Liaqat Jafri, Deepak Kumar, Sandeep Ratan Verma, Ravinder Koul and many others. Various Artists from different art fields were present and expressing grief over the loss of this legendary artist.