Sangeet Natak Akademi and its associate bodies deeply mourn the sad demise of eminent designer and scholar, Akademi Awardee Shri H. Venkatarama Sharma who passed away after a prolonged illness in New Delhi on 5 October 2011.

He was born in Hyderabad in 1921 into a family accomplished in the arts. He had learnt Carnatic music from his mother and sister and was later astudent of Hindustani music under Shankarlalji Maharaj of the Benarasgharana. He had also learnt portrait-painting under Sardar Nek Singh.

Shri H.V. Sharma joined the National School of Dramain 1960 after fourteen years of teaching in schools in Andhra Pradesh. He won the Girish Ghosh Award at NSD in 1962,and the following year joined Bal Bhavan in Delhi as a teacher of drama. Shri Sharma worked as a scenic designer inthe Song and Drama Division of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting between 1968 and 1977, and was thereafter Associate Professor at NSD until his retirement in 1985.

Shri H.V. Sharma’s wide interests in the fine arts flowed into his work on the stage, centering principally on scenic design,design of stage property and costume, and mask-making for theatrical purposes. His talents were utilized inproductions by notable directors, such as in Raja Chamba aur Char Bhai by Habib Tanveer, Dard Ayega Dabe Paon by Shiela Bhatia, Cinderella by Joy Michael, Roshomonby J. Tsuzuki, The Tempest by Fritz Bennewitz, Ghasiram Kotwal by Rajinder Nath, Malavikagnimitram, and Aurangzeb by K.S. Rajendran. While at the Song and Drama Division, Shri Sharma designed scenes for a number of sound-and-light shows such as Vision 1919 at Jalianwalla Bagh, Amritsar, Badhte Qadam at Purana Qila, Delhi; Asi AsAsi Asav at Hari Parbat, Srinangar; and Subrahmanya Bharati at Rajaji Hall,Chennai.

Shri H.V. Sharma also imparted training in costume design, and scenic design to the young theatre artists as a core faculty memberof intensive residential theatre workshops organized by Sangeet Natak Akademi in Madhya Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh.

He had exhibited his non-theatrical masks, as works of art, at Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi. He wroteand directed several mask plays such as Aisa Kyun Hota Hai? His publications included Theatre of the Buddhists (1987) and Rang Sthapatya: Kuchh Tippaniyan (2004).

For his contribution to stagecraft in Indiantheatre, Shri H.V. Sharma was honored with the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for the year 2005.

With the passing away of Shri H.V. Sharma the fieldof Indian theatre has lost an outstanding artist of theatre craft.