This is felt more in the original versions of my plays because of the nuances and variations in speech I attribute to my characters.” On characterization in his plays, in his Sri Ram Memorial Lecture, The Play is the Thing, he states, “My characters are not card-board characters they do not speak my language rather I do not speak my language through them they are not my mouth-pieces but each of them has his or her own separate existence and expression. Sometimes my plays jolted the society and I was punished…I was adamant as it is an old habit with me to do what I am asked not to.” The philosophy behind Tendulkar’s writing is based upon his perception of society and its values - his life experiences, and observing what he had seen in others around him: “I did not attempt to simplify matters and issues for the audience, though it would have been easier to do so through such a medium.

Tendulkar’s plays, though originally written in the author’s native Marathi, have been translated and performed in English.

Naipaul described him as India’s best playwright.

Vijay Tendulkar (1928-2008), India’s prolific playwright, wrote over seventy works which include 32 full-length plays, seven one-act and six children plays.